WHAT MOTIVATES US TO VISIT EVENTS? CASE OF THE ST JOHN'S EVE BONFIRE FESTIVAL IN THE CITY OF KARLOVAC

Purpose - The main purpose of the research was to examine the visitors' attitudes regarding the motives for visiting the St John's Eve Bonfire festival in the City of Karlovac, satisfaction with the festival, repeat visits and recommendations to others as well as regarding sharing the experience through social networks. Methodology - An exploratory research of the visitors' motives to visit the St John's Eve Bonfire festival in the City of Karlovac was conducted on a convenience sample of 150 visitors on June 23, 2019. Data have been collected using two methods: interview and survey. The questionnaire consists of 23 statements of agreement or disagreement. Statements were measured by a five-level Likert scale (1 - strongly disagree, 5 - strongly agree) using Uysal, Grahan and Martin (1993) scale. The data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, inferential and multivariate statistics. Findings - The main motive of visiting the St John's Eve Bonfire festival is to enjoy socializing. There is a positive correlation between satisfaction with the festival and the intention to visit again, recommending it to others and sharing the experience through social networks. There is also a positive correlation between making a repeat visit and recommending it to others. There is a weak correlation with making a repeat visit and sharing the experience through social networks and a positive medium correlation between recommending the festival to others and sharing the experience through social networks. Contribution - Identifying the motives for visit a particular event is important for identifying visitors' needs and preferences. The paper contributes to understanding what motivates visitors to visit different events. The results of this research are aimed at helping the organizers of various events improve the quality of service and content for different target group of visitors. Further research could investigate visitors' attitudes before the event, during the event and after the event. The researchers should also investigate the correlation of each of the motives for visiting an event with satisfaction and the difference in tourist experience as well as satisfaction between locals and visitors from other cities in Croatia and foreign visitors.