Cultural events

Motivations
Motivation is an important topic in event research (Uysal et al., 1993; Li & Petrick, 2006). According to Nicholson & Pearce (2001), the study of motivation is one of the most complex areas of tourism research because it poses many challenges due to the intangible nature of the phenomenon and the issues of multiple motivation and measurement and interpretation. For Sharpley (2006), the study of tourism motivation is concerned with the analysis of people's need to be tourists and how different needs can be satisfied by different tourism experiences. Motivation makes a person mobilize for something (Ryan & Deci, 2000), being the basis of behavior to travel or attend a festival or other type of event.
The motivation of tourists has been pointed out as the basis for the way a tourist behaves (Crompton, 1979), where and when he travels, the activities in which he participates in the destination (Hudson, 1999) and his level of satisfaction ( Yoon & Uysal, 2005). In the field of tourism, in psychological terms, motivations can be defined as the set of needs or psychological forces that predispose a person to participate in a tourist activity (Pizam et al., 1979).
People travel to 'dive' into the 'authentic' cultures of the places they visit. Thus, a new type of tourist emerges who, due to new information and communication technologies, has access to different cultures and develops within himself a set of motivations to visit them. The motivations of event tourists may be strictly related to the benefits sought, for example, at a festival. In psychological terms, the tourist motivation to attend an event can be seen as an intrinsic force that induces an individual to travel and consume a certain event. It is highlighted that not all visitors are motivated to visit a certain destination with the intention of participating in a festival or other type of event (Prentice & Anderson, 2003). Visitors who participate in various festivals are more likely to share the same reasons for visiting these events, even though they come from different cultures and levels (Lee et al., 2004). According to these authors, the recent recognition that events are one of the fastest growing tourism businesses in the world prompted researchers to explore the motivations of visitors who participate in festivals or other types of events.
The importance of culture in the motivation to participate or observe a party or festival is linked to the meaning and interest of the culture that celebrates the events (Schofield & Thompson, 2007). Keep in mind that the motivation to observe, get to know and experience other cultures has emerged in recent years as a key factor in visiting traditional cultural events. The motivations to participate in a party are multidimensional and can be related to push factors (socialization, escape, learning, novelty, experience, etc.) or pull factors (cultural nature of the party, etc.) (Marujo, 2012).
Dimmock & Tiyce (2001) highlight that there are seven motivations for which people participate in events:
a) Escape: most of the time tourists travel to get out of the daily routine, so participation in an event can contribute to that escape;
b) Leisure, relaxation and recreation: the search for leisure, relaxation and recreation is one of the reasons why people visit events, especially festivals;
c) Observation and participation: Observation and participation in the culture of another people are strong reasons to visit a cultural event. Tourists express interest in learning and experiencing different cultures.
d) Socialization: socialization at an event not only contributes to increasing the family spirit or meeting friends, but also to establishing social contacts with other peoples and cultures. According to Gelder & Robinson (2011), socialization is the most consistent motivational factor to participate in an event;
e) Learning: cultural events, especially traditional ones, offer tourists the opportunity to get in touch with different cultures by learning about their habits and customs;
f) Nostalgia: traditional events are a way of preserving the memory of a people. That is why tourists during the event can relive a story from the past;
g) Experience: experience is one of the greatest motivations for participating in a cultural event. In fact, "diving" into another culture and experiencing its customs is something that visitors increasingly demand from a traditional event (Marujo, 2012).