Music Event Tourism as a Means to Encourage Local Travel: The Case of the World Choir Games, South Africa

Abstract

Events offer destinations the opportunity to showcase unique local resources and despite the challenges posed to this niche market, it can serve as part of post-COVID-19 recovery. Music events present experiences centred around unique local culture and serve the trend toward growth in domestic tourism. However, there is a dearth of literature on music event tourism from the Continent despite Africa being known for its rich cultures and popularity of music. Although a globally popular musical style, choir events are also underrepresented in the literature. This article describes local spectator segments of the World Choir Games held in South Africa, a first for the African continent, to identify the factors that drive positive perceptions of the host as a music event tourism destination. Data was collected from 350 spectators and segmentation carried out using cluster analysis. Results indicated two groups of spectators: Avid Exploring Supporters and Experienced Particular Supporters. Though the groups differ in motivations and experiences, both can contribute to sustaining this niche.

Keywords

• niche tourism
• music events
• choral music
• spectators
• world choir games