LAUSR

This study examines some challenges and draws lessons for a new cultural city promoting an emerging festival. This was done by considering the valuation of the festival and its determinants by foreign tourists, domestic tourists, and potential attenders (a group often ignored in the literature). For a young festival, it was encouraging to find that the festival's social value to tourists, local attenders, and potential attenders exceeded the entry fee. Overall, the Biennale was more popular with younger people, and local attenders appreciated the educational dimension of the event. This augurs well for the future of this festival. However, for the festival's sustainability, it is important to strike a balance between catering to preferences of international and local attenders as well as avoid trying to achieve multiple objectives that may lead to a dilution in the focus and identity of the new festival.