Journal of Tourism Analysis | 2026
Authors: Kovaleski A.; Eusébio C.; Vieira A.L.
DOI: 10.53596/k0jexk52
Journal: Journal of Tourism Analysis
Year: 2026
Publisher: Asociacion Espanola de Expertos Cientificos en Turismo
Document Type: Article
Open Access: All Open Access; Gold Open Access
Cited by: 0
In recent years, festivals have been growing and adapting to the cultural diversity of a globalized world. More recently, researchers have been paying attention to the expenses generated by these events and their implications for tourism. The aim of this article is to analyze the state of the art on festival spending, identify current scientific production and understand/explore the different approaches used. The originality of this study lies in the fact that it is the first systematic review of the literature on this subject. Using the PRISMA protocol, searches were carried out in two scientific databases, SCOPUS and Web of Science, yielding a total of 279 published documents which, after filtering, resulted in fifty-four articles considered relevant to this study. The main results were that the majority of studies were carried out in the United States and South Africa on different types of cultural festivals, and that the most analyzed expenditure components include accommodation, food and beverages and transport. The results show that age and income are the sociodemographic factors that most influence spending on festivals, with older individuals and those with higher incomes tending to spend more. The study also highlights the predominance of quantitative methods, especially surveys carried out at festival venues. As a contribution to this theme, this analysis identifies gaps in the literature, in particular the limited focus on studies of organizers and artists and the under-explored influence of psychographic variables such as lifestyle and cultural capital. It proposes new lines of research, including (1) the need to incorporate experience and psychographic traits as determinants of spending, (2) the analysis of post-COVID-19 behavioral changes among festival-goers and (3) the expansion of the geographical focus beyond the dominant regions. These directions aim to support more comprehensive and globally relevant studies on tourism and festivals1. © 2026 Asociacion Espanola de Expertos Cientificos en Turismo. All rights reserved.
components; expenditure; factors; festivals; systematic literature review