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An Exploratory Analysis of Visitor Spending at a Cultural Event in Eswatini

Tourism is seen as a crucial part of the economy of eSwatini. eSwatini now focuses on marketing itself as a cultural tourism destination where tourists are able to experience ancient Swazi ceremonies such as the Umhlanga (Reed Dance) ceremony. Research into traditional rural, cultural events such as the Umhlanga ceremony has not received significant attention. This study presents an exploratory spending profile of visitors to the Umhlanga ceremony. A quantitative research method was utilised for the study. Data was analysed to determine general spending by event visitors on spending associated with the event. Lastly, data was analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) comparisons with Tukey's multiple comparisons and t-tests in order to determine if there were any significant associations between the demographic variables and the spending patterns. Findings indicated that place of residence, employment status, level of education, age, travel party size, local residential location, gender, transportation and number of visits had a significant influence on the average expenditure within the destination. This was the first study of its kind on a cultural event in eSwatini and it provides an insight into the complex nature of such events which may assist event stakeholders in enhancing the sustainability of these types of events in future.