Raleigh, North Carolina Abstract Short-term events such as festivals are important components of heritage tourism.
Heritage tourism provides economic benefits and cultural sustainability to local communities.
This dissertation analyzes perceived levels of authenticity and spending by visitors to heritage festivals. Existing and potential visitor target markets are identified. The festivals studied are Scottish Highland Games, and analyses are based on survey data collected from Grandfather Mountain Highland Games and Flora Macdonald Highland Games held in North Carolina. Perceived authenticity is measured as the average authenticity rating of events offered at the Games and statistically related to visitor characteristics. Second, visitor expenditures are compared across age and income groups and regressed on other visitor characteristics, including the visitors' experience at the event.