一項盛大節慶活動的舉行，不但能夠在短時間之內吸引數百萬的人潮來參觀，亦可增加當地居民的收入、人民對文化的認同、地方政府對該地的建設等。例如，日本、巴西、德國、美國等國家都利用其具有代表該國民族性或地方特性的節慶活動來吸引外國遊客的拜訪，並藉此以達到宣揚該國的傳統民俗文化及促進觀光外匯收益之效。又如世界三大藝術節：英國愛丁堡藝術節、法國亞維儂藝術節與美國紐約下一波藝術節都各有其成立的背景與特色，而因其成功地創下藝術節的典型，現今世界各地的藝術節或民俗節慶活動莫不以其爲活動舉辦的參考對象。在台灣有關於文化藝術的節慶方面，亦如雨後春筍地不斷湧現，但某些節慶活動對觀光的發展似乎並不如預期顯著，甚至被評論爲大拜拜活動，並未明顯地爲地方帶來相關商機。因此本研究問題在於如何建立一套節慶活動經營診斷模式，以提升其經營績效。另外回顧相關研究，許多企業透過行銷組合制定其行銷策略以達成其經營計畫，所以本論文擬以嘉義市國際管樂節爲例，(1)計畫以「產品理論、落差理論、IPA(Important-Performance Analysis)法及SWOT(strength, weakness, opportunity, threat)分析」爲一模式來診斷嘉義市國際管樂節，並(2)探討嘉義市國際管樂節遊客之個人背景、對其節慶活動產品之重視度、體驗度、滿意度、忠誠度、及其之間的關係。藉此以作爲日後節慶活動主辦單位永續經營之參考。

A big and successful festival not only can attract many thousands of visitors in a short time, but also can improve local residents' income, cultural recognition, and physical environment. Countries such as England, France, and the United States have used their distinctive cultural or ethnic festivals to attract foreign visitors for promoting their traditional culture and generating revenue from festival tourism. For example, the Edinburgh Festival in England, Festival d' Avignon in France, Next Wave Festival in New York, USA are ones of the most successful art festivals and became the models for other festivals in the world. As for the art festivals in Taiwan, they are numerous but some of them are not successful. They are even criticized as meaningless and criticized because they do not develop significant business opportunities for local communities. The research problem in this study is how to improve festival performance. Based on the Chiayi International Band Festival, this study is to examine festival performance considering the three levels of product, gap theory, IPA (Important-Performance Analysis) and SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, threat). Its audience's demographics are to be considered in assessing importance-performance, satisfaction, loyalty and the interrelationship among these. The findings of this research are expected to guidance for the sustainable management of the art festivals.