I am currently a student at Rochester Institute of technology, majoring in Hospitality & Tourism Management. I have always had a profound interest in event management, especially in events and arrangements associated with the Middle East culture. Speaking from the perspective of further research, I am particularly interested in management of food festivals in Saudi Arabia.
Taking into consideration that "food festivals can contribute to building a destination brand as well as promote the attraction of a particular region", it is of paramount importance to investigate unique visitors' experience in food festivals in Saudi Arabia in order to introduce and apply improvements to management of the above-mentioned events in Saudi Arabia (Lee & Arcodia, 2011, p. 355).
At the close of the 20th century, Saudi Arabia "did not have as many holidays or festivals as other countries, but it took great pride in the ones it did celebrate" (McCarthy, 1997, p. 59). Nevertheless, due to the globalization processes and dynamic development of international relations in the 21st century, the country began to hold various food festivals to attract more visitors and raise awareness of its unique culture. Therefore, speaking from the organizers' prospective, identification and investigation of visitors' experience in food festivals in Saudi Arabia is a focus of fundamental importance to them. In this respect, investigating visitors' experience and management improvement proposals made thereon might help "ensure a consistent number of visitors to food festivals and their hosting community" (Lee, 2010, p.1).
Taking everything mentioned above into consideration, my research interest in management of food festivals in Saudi Arabia has wide practical application aimed at attracting tourists and producing revenue for the country in general.
References
Lee, J. Y. (2010). Investigating the effect of festival visitors' emotional experiences on satisfaction, psychological commitment, and loyalty. Texas A&M University.
Lee, I., & Arcodia, C. (2011). The Role of Regional Food Festivals for Destination Branding. International Journal of Tourism Research Int. J. Tourism Res., 13(4), 355-367. doi:10.1002/jtr.852
McCarthy, K. (1997). Saudi Arabia: A desert kingdom. Minneapolis, MN: Dillon Press.
