Tourism

Festivals and special events are often termed as the backbone of community living. As such, their fundamental nature and existence is seen as the glue that holds communities and society as a whole, bound in harmony and peaceful coexistence. Their development and functionality is often essential to ensure that society, the economy and the general public opinion is kept in the positive (Rizzo, 1997).

The role of governments and their influence in making festivals and events a success is crucial. Governmental role in the development of festivals and events is crucial in ensuring the smooth functionality of the functions (Allen et al, 2005). At the same time, higher motives such as promoting culture, heritage and tourism can only be done through concrete direction, which the government can give.

It is important to consider what special functionalities a government can bring to the overall success of a festival. As such, information regarding the said circumstance will be analyzed. A few festivals which involve heavy governmental involvement will also be discussed and finally a conclusion will be offered.

Importance of festival success to governments
When governments promote or assist festivals, there is an underlying objective behind their reasons to support them. Obviously, being servants to the citizens, they have responsibilities towards the country and thus, try to take part in activities which promote community and the national culture.

One of the reasons why festivals and their developments are so critical to governments is because it results in the development of tourism. Festivals can often get international acclaim (Arabia 2000, 2007). In such scenarios, foreigners and tourists become curious of the offerings of the country and end up visiting the region to find out more. Some tourists are so strongly affected, that they make it a point to visit the country every time their favorite festival is taking place (OBrien, 1999). These events provide a source of revenue and international reputation development for the government which can go a long way later (Allen et al, 2005).

Second, festivals help the society and community grow. Through the use of festivals, governments often send messages to their people and help culture and develop them into sophisticated and cultural human beings in society. As such, festivals play a heavy role in determining the development of society as a whole (Leonard, 1994). The more cultural the festival is, the more development of the audience will take place.

Finally, festivals prove as a source of economic rehabilitation (Hoyle, 2002). The amount of sponsors, investments and interest that goes into a festival is profound in nature. Thus, when one such event is taking place, it causes a multiplier effect on various other industries. One festival can rejuvenate the entire consumer culture in a region. At the same time, it can help provide businesses and jobs to many people. In the end, the economic benefits are quite high for the government as it helps them gain greater revenue and sustainability.

Role of governments in festivals and events
The role of a government can be categorized into two main functions that help support, develop and sustain festivals. It is true that governmental involvement can bring about rapid changes in the entire structure of the festival and its broadness and appeal. Governments generally play a role through monetary means or provisional means (Hoyle, 2002).

Monetary means
An example to illustrate what is meant by the use of monetary means to assist the development of festivals can be explained through the Australian Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Basically, monetary means includes monetary and financial help on the part of the government to help sustain, build and assist festivals. This is very important because when it comes to the private sector, such initiatives are rare since the private benefits are not substantially higher than private costs (Magnan, 2005). However, it matters to the government because social benefits are particularly high in regard to the establishment of festivals.

Thus, using the Australian Department of Communication, Information Technology and the Arts as an example, we can see that the Australian government actually provides a grant of 500,000 Australian Dollars to festival promotions. This campaign is highlighted as the Festival Australia campaign (Inkei, 2007). This fund is used to develop the arts and other activities related to festivals. The point essential to mention here is that the government only assists the development of festivals but does not directly fund the entire festival itself. Preference is given to areas which are underdeveloped or which require assistance in remote areas of the country.

Similarly, the Major Festivals Initiative is another support program developed by the Australian Government in regard to the assistance of festivals, especially in regard to those dealing with performing arts. Basically, this program provides monetary funding to organizers who are controlling and managing the event to help subsidize their costs and to encourage them to continue taking part in such activities, fundamental to the growth of society. Therefore, the government, in an effort to ensure the sustainability and the continuity of the festival itself provides funding through financial sources to enable organizers to hold such festivals easily. It is, to some, a source of encouragement to those who plan such festivals for society. To shed further light on the issue, the finances can be examined. For one, the MFI (Major Festivals Initiative) provided 3.75 million Australian dollars from 1996-2001 for the aid of festivals. This fund was extended to a commitment of another 3 million dollars between the years 2002 and 2006 (Inkei, 2007).  It is true that the government, when providing such hefty funds, will choose which festivals to favor with the funding and which not to. Therefore, the government basis these actions through various committees and association which guide the government on where to invest in and which festival will benefit society the most, encourage tourism or develop the local culture and promote it internationally.

Provisional Means
Sometimes, governments do not directly take part in the funding of festivals. However, in their effort to promote and manage festivals crucial to society and the culture itself, they take part in roles which help assist the smooth running of the festival itself (Ganeri, 1999). Often, organizers find themselves in a fix where they cannot get hold of resources, materials or even man power in time, or effectively for the festival (Hoyle, 2002). In such circumstances, to assist the development of the festival, the government intervenes and provides such services to the organizers to help them manage the festival and promote it.

The government in such scenarios ends up playing a consultancy role. They guide organizers, through their enormous experience on how to manage the event, market it and allocate resources effectively. Since the government has adequate sources and experience in these divisions, it is far easier for them to make arrangements for technical support, venue placements and the use of labor for the festival (Hoyle, 2002).  They can often provide organizers with marketing possibilities such as the use of promoting an event through conferences and seminars, hosted and publicized by the government itself.  Their simple advocacy towards the festival can help organizers gain massive support in industry circles where contacts and networking are extremely important to get the job done.

Often there is a circumstance when the community itself is organizing the festival and no professional organizer is involved. In this scenario, it is generally a few people, who are devoted enough to carry the dream of the festival. However, realistically speaking, without professional support, such initiatives end up failing and the government realizes this. Therefore, in such circumstance they intervene specially to provide operational support, which includes day to day running of the festival and gaining sponsors for the event. This includes the basics such as helping the community develop plans for the festivals and which aspects to approach through it, feasibility studies to determine the sustainability and workability of the festival and help with the data management process (Visser, 2005).

Example of Festivals and Government roles
One of the biggest festivals that take place is that of the Hajj. Saudi Arabia plays host to millions of people around the world who gather in the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina to celebrate the Hajj festival (Yagmur, 2007). When such a heavy population influx exists, it is essentially important that Governments are involved in the procedural management of the festival itself.

As such, the government of Saudi Arabia takes charge, annually, to prepare for this festival. Providing services and provisions for the Pilgrims who reach the holy cities is of utmost importance to the Saudi Government (Long, 2005). One, because it is a religious festival, and two because of the spiritual nature of the festival the event is highly important for billions of people across the globe. At the same time, the revenues generated for the economy, the numerous businesses they benefit from added customers and the general invigoration of the wheels of economics give this festival a high level of importance amongst the government quarters (Andersson, 2009).

The first role that the government plays in assisting the development of the festival is that of constant improvement and sustainability. The government realizes that to make sure the festival continues peacefully and is better with each passing year they have an entirely separate ministry that deals with all affairs relating to the Hajj. This is called the National Establishments for Hajj Affairs which deals with all improvements that need to be made on an annual basis.

Since millions of people are entering the country, it is important to develop the infrastructure to sustain such a population. Therefore, the government has divided its role through other ministries to make sure that pilgrims have transportation requirements met. Similarly, they build upon the services relations they provide to their guests through various forums and publications which are specially printed during this time for the convenience, guidance and information of the touring people.

As mentioned above, governments often market festivals and events through the use of seminars and conferences (Hoyle, 2002). The Saudi Government does the same as they hold various seminars and conferences in which they invite highly regarded and noted scholars to talk about the religious aspects of the festival and event. This promotes the whole idea of the event all together. Sometimes, this is done while the pilgrimage is being done, or before.

Those who are involved in dealing with the touring parties need to be trained to be able to handle any untoward incident or extra normal circumstance. The government itself provides these training courses to local people to help them take part in the event, gain employment and help sustain the festivalevent itself (Hoyle, 2002).

Though many examples of festivals such as Christmas and Hanukkah can be stated as well, this event promotes the highest degree of government involvement and signifies the role the government can play in developing, assisting and often entirely controlling a festival or event for the betterment of society or any other cause the government finds reasonable. All in all, the example was used to illustrate the level of government involvement in certain types of events because they simply cannot be developed, maintained or sustained through the private sector. Government involvement often becomes necessary on high scale events because at that level, a much broader and resourceful form of governance and organization is needed something only the government can provide.

When Governmental intervention goes wrong
One of the problems that occur with festivals and government intervention is that when the government intervenes, it tries to produce welfare. What this means is that, if ticket prices are to be sold at a particular price to maintain the prestige of the event and cover the costs, the government will purposely dictate a lower ticket price (Frey, 2000), if it has been allowed to intervene. This will be done by the government to make sure that the majority of people have availability to this form of entertainment. However, in the end, what happens is that the low ticket prices enforced by the government, though beneficial for many, end to loses for the event. The demand generally always over steps the supply and this means that a new arena of black marketing and ticketing opens up (Frey, 2000). This not only hurts the government because by selling subsidized tickets, they inflict a cost on the tax payer, but also the event, which can often lose its prestige and exclusivity. At the same time, there is a good likelihood that the event cannot sustain itself and discourages future investment possibilities as independent organizers see the festival as a failure.

Second, when it comes down to efficiency and effectiveness, organizers give up on both as they see rising governmental intervention. Because there is massive support from the government, there is a fall back option for all organizers. This fall back option is so great, that often organizers take advantage of this fact. Not only are they wasteful in their expenditures but are also negligent of efficiencies, which without governmental intervention, they would have strived to achieve (Frey, 2000). At the same time, since a lot of the funding or provisions are coming from the government, many organizers feel compelled to arrange the most outrageous festivals, which are often out of their league and expense sheets. Since they are least worried about the consequences, knowing the government is involved, the festival does become high end, but the costs of bringing it to that point is very high.

The above paper highlighted the importance of festivals to governments and communities. Based upon that, the paper built a case, highlighting the role of governments in developing and assisting the formation of festivals and events. Theories relating to the above mentioned fact were analyzed and thoroughly considered as to how governments actually intervene and influence the development of festivals. In light of the above research, a comparative example was provided on how one festival can result in heavy assistance from the government ie, the Hajj festival. Based on these facts, it was clearly established that the role of governments in the developmental factors of a festival are highly important. A governments involvement can clearly provide benefits, both monetarily and provisionally to organizers (Hoyle, 2002). Towards the end, the paper highlighted some noteworthy points regarding over intervention and how things can go wrong with festivals if governments over intervene. A few points elaborating this position were discussed, with adequate examples.

It is clear though that governmental intervention can work wonders for the establishment and development of festivals. However, over indulgence by the government can also create negative consequences which can be hard hitting to the local tax payer and the essence of the festival itself. Thus, governments should play a role in making sure festivals are successful for the sake of their sustainability (Gleadell, 2005). However, they should not exceed their roles to the point where they end up hurting the festival all together. The government should ensure facilitation, co-ordination and perhaps in some circumstances funding. These abilities will help local independent organizers to really feel the culture and learn more than they would had the government enforced the development of festivals and events entirely on themselves (Beijing Review, 2005). The community must work for the community for the true essence of festivals and events to be viewed. Governments are all but go betweens and thus, their emphasis should be on providing basic resources and developing sustainability with organizers.