Festivals as a Resource of Heritage Tourism: A Bibliometric Analysis Using the Vosviewer

Introduction

Since ancient times, people have expressed their cultural celebrations and ceremonies to express their achievement, happiness, and delight. Around the whole world, various events are held cyclically on a community, provincial, nationwide, and international level. Festivals are becoming the key players in the development and promotion strategies of several destinations since they serve as imperative tourism motivators.

Festivals have been an integral component of the intangible cultural inheritance that communities have created through their qualities. It is more difficult to safeguard tangible cultural legacy than intangible cultural heritage, nevertheless. A community's traditions, customs, folklore, beliefs, dialect, music, dance, phrases, stories, and poetry are anthologies of intangible and invisible elements. One can only simply preserve festivals by frequently commemorating it, and by doing so, we may pass on our cultural heritage to subsequent generations (Yenipinar & Yieldiz, 2016).

In terms of possibility and connotation, the word “festival” positions not without its limitations. The term “festival” has the potential to symbolize everything, particularly enormous geopolitical graphics. Most people agree that a “festival” can be distinguished from other cultural events by either its frequency or the fact that it cannot be organised over so many different locations, making year-round celebrations unsustainable (Perry, Ager, & Sitas, 2020). These are global phenomenon and cultural activities with many different forms and expressions.

Festivals are extensively studied as social rituals that shape crucial, sometimes competing, patterns of human behaviour, according to sociology, anthropology, and other literature. Because festivals “hold a special place in practically all societies,” Among these disciplines, the historical analysis of festivals is well-established (Getz, 2010). They are tangible traditions that have been used by early human cultures to organise time, behaviour, and the pursuit of pleasure.

Festivals are very important in the development of exciting municipal programs because they can promote a joyous and festive environment (Richards & King, 2022). Festivals' cultural components are crucial in establishing a connection between the host community and guests. To promote their cultures to tourists, several nations, regions, and towns have devised and designed festival programs. Precisely, a festival is a way to preserve the past of communities that have undergone urban development (Richards & Leal Londoño, 2022).

In addition to its social and cultural significance, festivals are becoming more and more popular as tourism attractions. They are treasured for their potential to bring life into towns, hotels, and destinations and are regarded as instruments in place development and destination designing. Therefore, cultural and social decision-makers as well as place promotion and tourism organisations are interested in how much longer they can serve as attractions while still upholding their social and cultural duties at the regional level (Andersson & Getz, 2008).

Festivals and events are a particularly effective instrument for development because they are adaptable and can be designed to address both local and global requirements. Due to their capacity to foster a euphoric, celebratory atmosphere, cultural festivals are particularly significant in the creation of eventful urban programming (Richards & King, 2022). Additionally, festivals are in a strong position to support the socio-cultural and economic aspects of the host and national communities. Festivals are events that uphold and promote heritage while creating destination branding, generating economic advantages, combating seasonality, and supporting local communities and regional businesses (Sinha & Murdia, 2018). Visitors learn about the local community's customs, traditions, values, and celebrations of their culture, and the host community shares its way of life with them by exchanging knowledge and experience through such religious and regional festivals. It also provides tourists with an opportunity to interact with the local community to meet their cultural needs, which fosters greater understanding and brotherhood (Sinha & Murdia, 2018).