Investigation on Festival Consumption Promotion Mechanism in the Post-Pandemic Period: The Case of the Qingdao International Beer Festival

As governments in various countries and regions issue tourism-friendly policies in the post-pandemic period, the voices for tourism consumption recovery and innovative transformation have attracted great attention. Many scholars, experts and industry professionals in the field of festivals are actively exploring efficient solutions for festival marketing and sustainability. It is worth rethinking tourists’ consumption psychology and perceived image regarding exiting festival products as well as the antecedents that affect festival loyalty. The Qingdao International Beer Festival, as one of the most influential festivals in China, was selected as the research case for this study. The main goal of this study was to investigate festival consumption promotion mechanisms by proposing a conceptual framework in which the associations between destination familiarity, product familiarity and loyal intentions (re-patronage and recommendation) were examined with mediators of overall festival image, perceived value and overall satisfaction. The moderating role of visitor involvement in the proposed framework was also adequately demonstrated. Moreover, the causal recipes for loyalty intentions have also been identified by employing a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and a necessary condition analysis (NCA). The research findings are expected to provide a significant reference for the recovery and improvement in competitiveness of the entire festival industry.