CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the related literature and studies which were undertaken to

provide the researchers knowledge and background of the subject under study after the

thorough and in-depth search done by the researchers.

Related Literature

Origin of Festivals

According to Collin’s Dictionary (2015), the origin of the word ‘festival’ can be

traced to the Latin ‘festa’ meaning ‘a religious holiday’. The adjective connected with

‘festa’ was ‘festivalis’, and that word came into English through French, as the adjective

‘festival’ relates to a religious feast. Days that were celebrated as religious feasts were

called ‘festival days’. Eventually, the adjective became a noun, as people stopped

talking about ‘festival days’ and shortened this to ‘festivals’.

Festivals have been an attraction to men since time immemorial. Festivals are

usually connected to religious or cultural aspects. Both religion and culture have always

been twin pillars to which the human civilization has been tied up. Festivals being an

explosive manifestation of religious and cultural features used to be promoted by the

kings and monarchs. The resulting frenzy of celebration and merrymaking was quite

contagious affecting people from all walks of life throwing them into fits of extreme glee

(Prem, 2021).
 In the Philippines, festivals are considered town fiestas celebrating moments in

history that defined identity, polity and locality (Carino, 2011). Festivals actually

originated in pagan traditions. When the Spaniards came to the Philippines, they

noticed the early Filipinos’ love for celebrations. Hence, fiestas became celebrated

events in the country during the Spanish regime. These were used by the Spanish

colonizers as a means of enticing the natives (Mawis, 2019).

Tan (2009) identified that “Most festivals in Philippines are religious in origin, but

nowadays the religious component is usually secondary to the general spirit of

celebration. Philippines has dozens of festivals and most towns have their own in

addition to the national ones. Filipino hospitality is legendary and at no time is it more in

evidence than at festival time”.

Nowadays, festivals or fiestas have become important avenues for artistic

engagement and local tourism. The country is known around the world not only for its

stunning natural wonders but also for its long list of colorful festivals that are

characterized by history, artistry, creativity, and passion of the people. While some of

them take place for just a day, a lot of them are celebrated for a week and even for an

entire month (Muzones, 2022).

Festival as a Local Tourism

Several tourism practices and management experience have shown that festivals

and local special events have become one of the fastest growing types of tourism

attractions (Getz, 2008). They are characterized by all kinds of art such as visual, plastic

and performing arts (Noordman, 2004). Based on tourism attractiveness theory, tourists,
despite having strong personal motivations and preferences, choices of destinations

and activities still depend on the diverse resources and properties of the destination as

well as their perceptual evaluations on the resources and properties (Neves, 2012).

A festival is a thematic public grand occasion or annual celebration involving

tourism, leisure and cultural elements, which is an important attractive factor of a

destination (Getz, 2007). The widespread festival events appeal to more people thereby

boosting the tourism economy (Richards, 2007). These give an important contribution

in the economic development of the local areas where they are being conducted (Getz,

2007).

One perfect example of festival in the Philippines that contribute to local tourism

is the Sinulog Festival. Attracting millions of people every year, the Sinulog Festival in

Cebu is considered to be one of the biggest Philippine festivals. It is being attended, not

only by Filipinos, but people coming from different parts of the globe. It is being referred

to it as the “Mother of all Festivals”. From the colorful and well-made costumes of the

dancers, to the beautiful dances and to the music brought by the drums, trumpets, and

the native gongs, the Sinulog Festival never ceases to amaze its audience. In fact, it

was recently selected by the International Events and Festivals Association (IFEA) as

one of the top three festivals in Asia (Israel, 2022).

Related Studies

Foreign

The researchers like Getz (1991) and McKercher et al. (2006) has mentioned the

effects of festivals on tourism with their global attractiveness. Festivals catches

thousands of tourists to the destinations where they take place every year because

there are cardinal activities evoking the tourist to travel to those destinations and the

visitors have a tendency to join the festivals with different motivations.

Li, et al. (2020) in their study based on the analysis of various kinds of festival

data in Guangzhou, it summarizes the dimensions of festival attractiveness, which may

provide some implications for festivals in other cities. From a practical perspective, the

findings of the study can help festival organizers create a festival atmosphere with

strong local characteristics, so as to enhance tourists’ perceptions of festival

attractiveness and to improve their affective connection to the destination as well as

their identification with the meaning of the destination. The festival attractiveness scale

developed can provide detailed guidance for enhancing tourists’ perceptions. To

strengthen tourists’ interactions and create a bustling but peaceful festival atmosphere,

festival organizers can do the following things: (1) further exploring the cultural

characteristics and traditional ritual activities of the destinations; (2) exhibiting cultural

festival symbols about decorations, rites and diets; (3) organizing diverse festival

activities.

The study conducted by Kulkarni and Bhopatkar (2013) showed that festivals

have contributed in the development of cultural tourism. They attracted culture tourists
to local community events to promote cultural exchanges between tourists and resident

with the example of Ganesh Festival in Pune. Tourism festivals have major effects on

the local economy directly and indirectly that the spending by visitors on local goods

and services by event-tourist had a direct economic impact on local businesses and

also passed the benefit more widely across the economy and the community. The study

also found that local transport, hotels, restaurants, small shopkeepers, hawkers got

profit during the period of festival. Number of visitors was increasing year by year which

affected the local economy. The tourists and visitors spent money within the community,

enhanced the local economy and supporting restaurants, hotels and other tourism-

related businesses.

Celik and Cetinkaya (2013) revealed that Event Tourism examined as a concept

of special interest tourism had contributed significantly to tourism, travel, leisure and

recreation and lodging industries recently by becoming a strong tourism demand

generating factor. In addition this, event tourism was an important way to catch social,

economic, environmental goals and provide benefits for the societies and destinations.

Events are one of the important attractions of destination and provided tourists with

updated information about culture, society and history. Festivals and public celebrations

found in all societies were increasingly seen as unique tourist attractions and

destination image makers with a variety of other special events. They played a big role

in making contribution to the cultural exchange among the people of the world and

provided important contributions to the development of the cities and making them a

brand city. As a result of the research, it was understood that Izmir International Art
Festival organized for the last 26 years had a significant role in recognition of Izmir in

international area.

Congcong (2014) discovered on his research “The Study of Festival Tourism

Development of Shanghai” that although Shanghai festival tourism development in

domestic was in the lead, but relative to foreign famous brand festival activities still had

great gap, but with the development of economy in our country, further development of

urban tourism and leisure tourism, the festival tourism in Shanghai will continue to

mature, through continuous research, perfect, utilize internationalization, marketization

development as a breakthrough the bottleneck of effective measures, Continue to

strengthen and expand the Shanghai festival industry.

Esu (2009) investigated on the “Tourists’ Satisfaction with Cultural Tourism

Festival: a Case Study of Calabar Carnival Festival, Nigeria”. The study showed that

cultural tourism festival attributes have significant effect on overall tourists’ satisfaction.

This was partly supported by the result of the multiple regression analysis. The result of

multiple regression analysis revealed some festival attributes (organization, promotion,

facilities and friendliness of locals) were predictors of the level of attendees’ overall

satisfaction with the festival. These attributes could be packaged and manipulated by

way of strategy formulation to increase the level of satisfaction of attendees to the

event. There was the tendency of consumers responding positively when exposed to

the right cues. The basic theoretical underpinning was that the festival attributes that

were explanatory of attendees’ satisfaction should be factored into the product

development and marketing strategy.

 Chen (2011) on his study “Residents’ Perceptions of the Impact of Major Annual

Tourism Events in Macao: Cluster Analysis” suggested that similar studies should be

carried out every year to monitor residents’ perceptions of the development of event

tourism in Macao. Further, a comparison of these findings with those obtained in the

other two major tourism sectors in Macao, namely gaming tourism and heritage tourism,

should give the local government a clearer understanding of how local residents

perceive each of the three main sectors overall. This study was the first to include a

personal factor in the construct of the impact of event tourism and one of the few to

examine a set of tourism events simultaneously. It is hoped this study will stimulate

more discussion on these issues.

Xu (2014) stipulated that “Today, with the development of economic globalization

and China’s market economy, people liberated their thought, provided conditions for

western culture merging into our society. Some western festivals have become popular

among the new generation in China. This acceptance of the western culture and

traditional festivals reflected the fusion of the Chinese and western cultures. Chinese

traditional festivals are the soul of national spirit and the epitome of Chinese ancient

civilization. We should change the ignorant customs and maintain the excellent ones

which can embody national features. The precondition of learning foreign culture is to

get a good knowledge of our own national culture. In cross cultural communication, we

should not have blind faith in foreign things and ignore national dignity, and we should

prevent the culture erosion phenomenon when communicating with westerners”.

Local
 Various researches and studies previously conducted have shown the impact of

festivals to the economy and tourism of a certain locality. In a study conducted by

Punongbayan (2018) on the impact of Kambingan Festival of Tuy, Batangas to the

tourism industry and culture of the Tuynians wherein questionnaire and Interview were

utilized by the researcher to gather data needed for the study, it was revealed that the

said festival promotes Tuy, Batangas as tourism spot in District I. It also increases

variety of entertainment in Tuy, showcases the talents and Tuynians and offers new

employment opportunities. The respondents in the study agreed that Kambingan

Festival was promoted, prepared, participated and implemented successfully.

In another study conducted by Calopez (2011) which aimed at assessing the

economic and tourism impact of the Ati-Atihan Festival to the Municipality of Kalibo,

Aklan, he selected 120 respondents composed of residents, businessmen and local

government officials using the purposive sampling method. The data revealed that

respondents believed that the Ati-Atihan festival had an impact on the economy of the

town in a way that it brings about the expansion and improvement of local products and

in increasing the economic activity in the town. As to the tourism industry, it attracts

local and foreign tourists. However, significant differences were found concerning the

impact of Ati-Atihan festival and therefore, certain recommendations were formulated for

the enhancement of the celebration as well as to boost the tourism industry and the

economy of the municipality.

Luna (2015) made a study on the perceived effects of the Bañamos festival on

the economy and tourism industry of Los Baños, Laguna. The respondents of this study

were the festival organizers and participants, barangay officials, as well as, the local
businessmen. They were selected through non-purposive sampling. The researcher

employed a descriptive method and content analysis and data obtained from the

respondents were analyzed using frequency and percentage. From the study, it was

revealed that most respondents believed that the festival had an impact on the economy

of the municipality. According to them, the festival seemed to have led to an increase in

the economic activity of the municipality such as the expansion and improvement of

local products and services which help generate more income for the locals. The

respondents also believed that the festival had an impact on the tourism industry of the

municipality, as it seemed to have resulted to an increase in the variety of entertainment

in the municipality where the locals were able to showcase their talents.

Another study was conducted by Magpantay (2014) to determine the socio-

cultural effects of festivals in the province of Batangas as part of the cultural tourism

industry. It also aimed to test the significant difference between perceived socio-cultural

and economic effects when grouped according to their profile variables and to propose

a plan of action to enhance and promote the cultural tourism industry of Batangas

Province. The study revealed that the income class of the respondents affects their

perception about the cultural benefits of festivals. The benefit depends on how a

resident feels the benefits of the celebrated festival when they belong to the low,

average or high-class earners. Income class is highly significant for they have different

opinion. Lower income class residents stressed out that only those in the higher income

class enjoys the cultural benefits of festivals for they don’t need to work and earn during

those days and all they have to do is to just enjoy the event and relax. But, on their part

they still need to work hard for them to earn money for their everyday life. The
respondents strongly agreed that one of the socio-cultural effects of festivals was it

provided unity in the community and in terms of economic effects, hosting a festival is

expensive. Based on the results of survey and some interviews with the local officials

and respondents, the researcher proposed a tourism strategic plan which can be

implemented by Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office. Through this, festivals

will be more appreciated by the local government and will be given more attention for it

has positive benefit not only for the government but for the community as well.

Coliat (2014) conducted a study to assess the Tinapay Festival in Cuenca,

Batangas. Specifically, it determined the development strategies of community-based

tourism in terms of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling; evaluated the effects

of development of community-based tourism Tinapay Festival in Cuenca and proposed

an action plan in promoting tourism in Cuenca. Results of the study revealed that the

respondents agreed that in order to achieve the success of the Tinapay Festival, there

must be careful planning, organizing, directing and controlling. Most of the respondents

were 60 government officials and 40 locales who agreed that the community involved

and the committee in charge proved their incomparable teamwork which made the

Tinapay Festival successful. They developed great teamwork through fair distribution of

task resulting to respect and trust of the residents.

Ylagan and Laguador (2014) concluded that tourism really provided opportunity

to create employment for local residents by nourishing the Filipino traditions through

celebrating various festivities and religious activities that symbolize the rich culture of

the country. The researchers have always recommendation to the Local Government
Units of each municipality to strengthen the tourism development programs in

cooperation with the private sectors who owned the resorts and other business firm.

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