There are more than 1,000 local festivals every year, which are organized by local governments. Local festivals, as attractive tourism resources, are becoming critical factors not only for city but also for national competitiveness. Accordingly, research on success factors of local festivals has an important meaning. Although there have been many studies on festivals, there are controversial results. There is an urgent need to reflect the objectives and characteristics of the local festivals. The study investigated factors affecting intention to revisit and intention to recommend local festivals, focusing on the Gangneung Danoje Festival, which is classified as an traditional cultural festival. Factors are classified into two categories; core and peripheral factors. Core factors include 'amusement' and 'experience', peripheral factors are 'surrounding landscape', 'courtesy', and 'local products'. The survey was conducted with 155 festival participants living in Gangneung and Gangwon province. The results showed that 'amusement', a core factor, was the most influential factor on intention to revisit, followed by 'courtesy' and 'accomodation and food', peripheral factors. Regarding intention to recommend, 'courtesy', a peripheral factor, was the most influential factor, followed by 'experience' and 'amusement', core factors. On the other hand, the peripheral factor has more effect on intention to recommend than the core factor. It is interesting that there was no significant effect of surrounding landscape and local specialty on intention to revisit. It is expected that the study will contribute to the development of theory relating to the success factors and evaluation of local festivals. The study will provide useful guidelines for festival practitioners. It is expected that further research can yield useful results if various types of local festivals and participants from different areas.
Key Words : festival, amusement, experience, courtesy, food and wine, surrounding landscape