This handbook offers a comprehensive evaluation of the most current research, debates, and controversies surrounding festivals. It is divided into nine sections that cover a wide range of theories, concepts and contexts, such as sustainability, festival marketing and management, the strategic use of festivals and their future.

Judith Mair is an Associate Professor in the Tourism Discipline Group of the UQ Business School, University of Queensland, Australia.

Part I Introduction 1. Introduction 2. Methodological approaches to festival research 3. The value of festivals 4. The meaning of festivals: reconfiguring the semiotic approach Part II Sustainability 5. Valuing the impacts of festivals 6. Festivals and social sustainability 7. Evaluating the sociocultural effects of festivals: developing a comprehensive impact correlation model and its application 8. Influencers of environmental sustainability success at festivals Part III Festival management 9. Managing festival volunteers: the HELPERS model 10. The role of harm minimisation to prevent alcohol and drug misuse at outdoor music festivals 11. Social media and the transformation of the festival industry: a typology of festivals and the formation of new markets 12. The innovation of arts festivals: concepts, approaches and effects 13. Managing networks of meaning in arts festival productions Part IV Festival marketing 14. Festivals and sponsorship: a strategic marketing approach 15. Festivals' role in branding a destination: a case study of the Barbaros Strawman Festival in Izmir, Turkey 16. Branding cultural events using external reference points: Cervantes and the Festival Internacional Cervantino, Mexico 17. Festivals and social media: a co-created transformation of attendees and organisers Part V Strategic use of festivals 18. Leveraging a festival to build bridges in a divided city 19. Extending the exit brand: from Serbia's fortress to Montenegro's coast 20. The eventful city in a complex economic, social and political environment: the case of Macau 21. Protesting @ Auckland Pride: when a community stakeholder becomes alienated 22. Festivals as devices for enhancing social connectivity and the resilience of rural communities 23. Geelong's rousing motoring Part VI Festival experiences 24. Understanding feelings, barriers, and conflicts in festivals and events: the impact upon family QOL 25. Festivity and attendee experience: a confessional tale of discovery 26. Information and communication technology and the festival experience 27. How do residents experience their own festivals? A qualitative approach to meanings and experiences 28. Feminist politics in the festival space Part VII Types of festivals 29. Food and wine festivals as rural hallmark events 30. Positioning in Montserrat's festivals: music, media, and film 31. Music events and festivals: identity and experience 32. Religious and spiritual festivals and events 33. Australia celebrates: an exploration of Australia Day festivals and national identity Part VIII Cultural perspectives on festivals 34. Herding livestock and managing people: the cultural sustainability of a harvest festival 35. Festivals as products: a framework for analysing traditional festivals in Ghana 36. Tourism pressure as a cultural change factor: the case of the Guelaguetza festival, Oaxaca, Mexico 37. Festivals for sustainable tourism development: a case study of Hadoti region, Rajasthan 38. Placemaking betwixt and between festivals and daily life 39. A festival of song: developing social capital and safeguarding Australian Aboriginal culture through authentic performance Part IX Festival futures 40. Virtual reality: the white knight of festival management education? 41. Industry perceptions of potential digital futures for live performance in the staging and consumption of music festivals 42. Utopian futures: Wellington on a Plate and the envisioning of a food festival in Tuscany