Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the event experience literature by examining the effects of Craft Beer Festival attendee’s event experience on their satisfaction and behavioural intentions. The study also investigates whether these relationships are moderated by the attendee’s past history with the festival and the distance they have travelled to attend the event. Design/methodology/approach The theoretically derived model was tested on a sample of 354 attendees of the Capital Craft Beer Festival in Pretoria, South Africa. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. Findings The results indicated that only affective engagement positively influences attendee’s satisfaction, which, in turn, positively influences attendee’s intentions to revisit and recommend the beer festival. The authors found no evidence of the effects of cognitive and physical engagement and experiencing novelty on event satisfaction and no moderating effect of previous attendance and distance travelled to the event. Originality/value The findings advance the knowledge base in the field of a gastronomic event experience regarding critical factors that affect event satisfaction which, to date, have only been tested on sports events.

This study explores key motivators of wildlife tourism to Manyeleti Game Reserve, a private nature reserve in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The primary objective of the study was to establish what motivates tourists to visit privately owned game lodges in Mpumalanga, and Manyeleti game reserve in particular. The intention was to focus on both the supply and demand perspective of wildlife tourism. The Push and Pull theory was adopted to contextualise its applicability on Manyeleti Nature Reserve. This study is quantitative in nature. Structured questionnaires were used through a convenience sample of 400 visitors to Manyeleti Nature Reserve. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was adopted to identify the fundamental wildlife motivational constructs. Six pull factors were identified as motivators of wildlife tourists (escape, relaxation, social, enriching and learning experiences, novelty, and adventure) as well as four push factors that emerged from the study. Although nature – based parks serve as a key tourist attraction for nature enthusiasts, this study revealed that there is a need for park managers to promote outdoor activities (recreational) and ‘visitors’ learning experiences’ as these were rated highly by the visitors.

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Studies show very little evidence to support the concept that slogans and logos are not the only issues destination marketing companies should focus on in their branding efforts. Therefore, this study aims to figure out auxiliary critical issues of branding tourism destinations using Gauteng province as the study area. A mono quantitative survey method was used to validate and factor several issues which were identified in literature. A principal component factor analysis with Varimax rotation method was also conducted to identify the factors which were addressed by the destination managing authority. Five critical factors were identified, namely: destination image, market analysis, political stability, interior configuration and investment potentials. The results of this study therefore substantiated the supposition that branding is a useful marketing factor which succeeds if various aspects are taken into consideration. Establishing auxiliary critical issues is therefore vital for Tourism Destination Marketing Organisations (TDMO) as it can contribute knowledge towards the systematic and comprehensive brand implementation. Given that “product” includes a variety of things, among others provinces, towns, countries and organisations, application of the study results to a wide array of merchandises cannot be underplayed.

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