The Transformational Experience of the Sicilian Boutique Festivals: The Participants’ Perspective

Abstract

Drawing on the recent debate on transformational tourism, this paper presents a territorial analysis of the boutique festival’s experience, based on the evaluation of satisfaction of a sample of participants of three Sicilian festivals with the attributes which mostly define the significance of their transformational potential on the touristic territoriality. The high level of visitor satisfaction with the principal dimensions and the socio-spatial attributes of the transformational experience seems to confirm the potentials of this model in terms of tourism innovation. Nevertheless, some critical concerns emerge with respect to the incorporation of the global model in the local contexts, and even the need for future research is underlined concerning the festival effect, with particular reference to the production of a new sense of place and to the reconfiguration of the relations between festival collectivities and local communities.