An Analysis of the Network Structure in the Festival Industry Ecosystem: Focusing on Honorary Cultural Tourism Festivals

The demand for the industrialization of festivals has become increasingly prominent both academically and in policy discussions. Approaching festivals from an industrial perspective is regarded as a key strategy for improving supply chain efficiency and expanding the festival business ecosystem. The demand for the industrialization of festivals is increasingly strong, both academically and in policy discussions. This study aims to analyze the structural characteristics (connectivity and cohesion) and positional characteristics (influence) of South Korea's festival industry through social network analysis, grounded in industry ecosystem theory. The research utilizes 595 expenditure data points from four major cultural tourism festivals in Korea. The data were preprocessed in Excel, using pivot tables to identify relationships between attributes. After data cleaning, the dataset was divided into node and edge files, which were analyzed using Gephi 0.10, an open-source Java-based software optimized for large-scale network analysis. This multidimensional approach was critical in visualizing and optimizing the network data. The findings reveal that Korea’s festival business ecosystem displays characteristics of early-stage industrialization, characterized by low network density and limited two-way interactions between actors. While cohesive clusters within the network show diversity, the influence of major networks remains low, highlighting the need for focused efforts to strengthen them. In terms of positional characteristics, festival organizations, venue construction industries, and content development companies were identified as influential actors. Academically, this study contributes to the empirical identification of the network structure within the festival business ecosystem, providing foundational data for understanding its dynamic changes. Practically, it offers policy recommendations, including fostering key actors to enhance cohesion and expanding opportunities for inter-company collaboration to further develop the ecosystem.