Festivals are a worldwide phenomenon. As the number of festivals grows and as communities recognize their economic contribution, planners and host communities begin to view these events from a tourism perspective (Chacko & Schaffer, 1993) and as tourist attractions which have a considerable economic impact on the surrounding region (Frisby & Getz, 1989). To enable festivals to become more profitable, festival marketers need to understand what makes visitors satisfied or dissatisfied.; The first purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among service performance (SERVPERF), the circumplex model of affect, and visitor satisfaction in a festival context. The second purpose of this study is to examine the role of involvement in an integrated satisfaction model (service performance and affective model). In this study, the theories of service performance and the circumplex model of affect have been adopted to explain visitors' satisfaction with the Flower Blossom Festival in JeJu Island, South Korea.; In order to collect the data needed for this study, an on-site questionnaire was developed. English and Korean language versions of the questionnaire were prepared. Service performance attributes were based on the work of Childress and Crompton (1997), Crompton and Love (1995), and Wicks and Fesenmaier (1993). Affect attributes were adopted from the work of Floyd (1997). Involvement was assessed using evaluation statements developed for a camping area (McIntyre & Pigram, 1992). Satisfaction was based on the work of Duman (2002).; A systematic sample of subjects was obtained from visitors who attended the Flower Festival. Data were collected through on-site surveys by face-to-face interview for three days between April 4th and April 6 th, 2003.; Data were analyzed in seven stages: descriptive analyses, reliability test, model conceptualization, validity and confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, an alternative model, and multiple group analysis.; Three hypotheses were examined to represent the relationships between service performance, affect, and satisfaction. The proposed hypotheses suggested that there are significant and positive relationships between service performance, affect and visitor satisfaction. A statistically significant and positive relationship between service performance and affect suggested that quality service increases the level of pleasure and arousal. At the same time, service performance increased the level of the visitor's satisfaction. The final hypothesis dealt with under which conditions affect (or service performance) would play a more important role in the process of making satisfaction judgments. The results suggested that, regardless of the level of involvement condition (high vs. low), affect played a more important role than service performance in the process of making satisfaction judgments. This result suggests that affect, consisting of pleasure and arousal, is a very powerful determinant of post-consumption behavior (i.e., satisfaction) within the festival.; The findings of this study offer several managerial implications for directors in managerial positions. For example, the results of the evaluation can be used as a background for allocating budgets and other management resources (e.g., facility management).
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