Background

The Dunfermline Bruce Festival is one of Scotland’s largest free historical festivals, celebrating the legacy of Robert the Bruce and other important figures associated with Dunfermline, including Andrew Carnegie, Queen Margaret and King Malcolm. Held annually in Pittencrieff Park, the festival combines historical re-enactments, entertainment, family activities, storytelling, food and drink, attracting both local residents and visitors from across Scotland and beyond.

As the festival continues to grow, organisers and funders sought robust evidence of audience profile, visitor satisfaction, economic impact and the event’s contribution to perceptions of Dunfermline. Scotinform was commissioned to design and deliver an independent visitor research programme to help inform future planning and demonstrate the value of the festival to stakeholders and funders.

Understanding Audiences and Measuring Impact

The research was designed to answer several key questions. Who attends the festival? What motivates visitors to come? How effective are marketing activities? How satisfied are visitors with the different elements of the event? And what impact is the festival having on perceptions of Dunfermline and spending within the city?

The study also explored visitors’ experiences of specific attractions, including the Andrew Carnegie Tableaux, the Queen Margaret and King Malcolm Tableaux and the Children’s Tented Arena, providing detailed feedback to support future programming decisions and funding applications.

Our Approach

Scotinform designed and implemented a face-to-face visitor survey conducted across both days of the festival. Seven trained fieldworkers worked across all festival exit points, interviewing visitors as they left the site. Nearly 400 interviews were completed, providing a robust and representative sample of festival attendees.

The methodology was designed not only to capture visitor experiences but also to enable comparison with previous years, helping organisers understand trends in attendance, engagement and satisfaction over time.

Alongside measuring visitor satisfaction and loyalty, the survey captured visitor expenditure within Dunfermline, awareness of festival marketing activity, barriers to enjoyment and suggestions for future improvement. This provided a comprehensive assessment of both the visitor experience and the festival’s wider contribution to the city.

Impacts

Scotinform was able to demonstrate high and improved levels of satisfaction. Average satisfaction was 9.2 out of 10. 91% of respondents planned to return to the Festival next year and 98% would recommend it to friends or family. The expenditure data captured in the survey allowed the Festival to conduct an economic impact assessment that estimated it generates more than £600,000 annually for the Dunfermline economy.

“Scotinform responded well to our requirements, providing fieldworkers who were well briefed and who achieved our target sample. The research report was timely and insightful and is already being used to inform our discussions with funders and stakeholders as well as to plan next year’s event. It was fantastic to be able to partner with a local company who knew the area and understood what we needed.“

Sandy Sewell, Visit Dunfermline

Why Scotinform?

Scotinform has extensive experience evaluating events, festivals, visitor attractions and cultural programmes across Scotland. For this project we were able to work quickly and flexibly to provide the resource required.

For the Bruce Festival, our expertise lay in designing research that captured both visitor experience and wider destination impact. By combining robust face-to-face fieldwork with detailed analysis and year-on-year comparison, we provided organisers with clear evidence of the festival’s success and practical recommendations for future development.

The findings demonstrated that the Dunfermline Bruce Festival is not only delivering an outstanding visitor experience but is also strengthening perceptions of Dunfermline, attracting visitors from a wider catchment area and generating valuable economic activity for the area.