Because of these changing trends in the marketplace, festivals and
events need to differentiate themselves to remain distinctive, and, as a result,
the event manager must be willing to provide better value (as perceived by
the consumer) than their competitors. Thus, customer-focused service activities
that are more highly perceived as a value are essential to gain loyalty and
market leadership. This requires businesses to effectively engage themselves
in an ongoing process whereby the internal mechanisms of an operation are
tailored to meet the changing needs of the customers, while simultaneously
allowing each to differentiate itself from its competition through its services.
Such a process necessitates the identification and adoption of a range of
service-oriented activities that are seen to be valuable to the consumer on a
regular basis (Solnet & Kandampully, 2008).