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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the motivation and satisfaction of visitors, both tourists and residents, of a sacred urban complex located in Santa Catarina, Brazil.

This descriptive research uses quantitative and survey methods to collect the data. The sample of this study consists of 400 visitors, comprising tourists and residents who were in Vale das Graças, Santa Catarina, Brazil, between August and September 2019. Descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis were used to analyse the data.

The results of this study showed people who visit the site for reasons of religious belief, cultural pleasure and mental relaxation feel satisfied and emotionally touched by the religious atmosphere. It was also perceived that all dimensions of satisfaction significantly influenced the motivation to visit the Vale da Graça; that is, tourists and residents tend to feel more motivated to visit the Sacred Complex when they are satisfied with the contact with faith provoked by the visit.

This research provides theoretical and managerial contributions. Initially, this study contributes to research related to urban religious tourism and the perception of residents and tourists (visitors) in relation to a sacred complex. In general, this research on the subject investigated only the tourist's perspective. In addition, this study also brings management contributions for the destination administrators by understanding the behaviour of visitors to religious tourist sites located in the urban area of municipalities and giving their opinions on the satisfaction and motivation of aspects related to religious contact to visit such sites, thus helping in the management process of the attraction and surroundings.

Legitimacy is a classic theme, quite present in organisational studies in general, but in the field of tourism it still has room to advance. For that reason, this research seeks to delimit the concept of legitimacy and adapt it to the context of tourism events; and seeks to validate a measurement instrument that allows to evaluate of its recognition in the imagination of residents, and to evaluate the impacts of this construct on residents’ trust in the organisers of Brazilian Oktoberfest, on the negative externalities of those events and, ultimately, on the achievement of residents’ loyalty.

The locus of the research are the cities of Blumenau, Santa Catarina and Santa Cruz do Sul, Santa Catarina, both located in southern Brazil, whose residents answered an online questionnaire about the legitimacy of the Oktoberfest held there. A total of 365 valid questionnaires were collected, tabulated in statistical software and interpreted using exploratory-confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

The results show that festival legitimacy is a theoretical construct that can be measured as either a first-order or second-order factor, consisting of three factors, called moral legitimacy, pragmatic legitimacy and cognitive legitimacy.

This research provides a valid and reliable tool for assessing local residents' acceptance of ethno-cultural festivals. It also shows variations in the perception of legitimacy, demonstrating that this can influence other aspects of residents' perception of ethnocultural events.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically evaluate residents’ perceptions about the impacts caused by Oktoberfest, in Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil. More specifically, in addition to identifying how the residents of the destination perceive the impacts promoted by the festival, the study also seeks to validate an instrument that allows the objective measurement of the phenomenon over time.

The data collection instrument is composed of 25 items adapted from Gursoy et al. (2004), Prayag et al. (2013) and Small (2007), and 10 questions obtaining the sociodemographic characteristics of respondents. In data collection, the authors used a non-probability convenience sampling method. This gathering was in September 2016, reaching up to 520 valid questionnaires. The data analysis included mean tests, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.

Results show management and academic implications. Three dimensions were identified representing the festival’s advantages (economic, identity and socio-integrative benefits), and two other factors corresponding to the drawbacks (environmental costs and psychological and social costs), perceived by residents. The analysis of the factors identified through the various demographic cuts identified the existence of some crucial differences of evaluation between the residents of different genders or ethnic groups, and different ages or length of residence in the municipality. On the other hand, no significant differences were found regarding perceived costs and benefits of the event, among respondents from different civil status, schooling levels or family income.

From the academic point of view, the work offers a reliable instrument to measure the costs and benefits of a consolidated festival, in the view of residents, that can be replicated in the destination studied, or even adapted to other tourist destinations.

The present research seeks to contribute to the existing literature on the impacts of festivals in destinations, combining the theme with residents’ perception, seeking not only to identify the residents’ perceptions about the festival but also to relate these to the characteristics of the population.