Festival tourism is exploring a region at its height of fun, amusement, cheerful crowd and colorful spirit when the entire community is out to celebrate an event or a festival that had been ingrained in the local tradition and culture dating back to the distant past. Upon landing on your travel destination exactly when the country is in a mood to celebrate is a great experience. You catch the local crowd neck deep in the ocean of extreme mirth. You can feel the pulse of the community involved in fun, frolic and celebration. The air becomes thick with joy, and you see a sea of smiling faces around you. You feel very much a part of the crowd and become vibrant with glee.

During the festive season, the locality or the country observing the festival practically throbs with activities. The activities are multifarious and go on with a feverish pitch. Usually, the weather is at its all season best, and it is a crucial reason behind the selection of a festival time when the climate has bloomed to its utmost beauty. There you find a bright shinny blue sky overhead, moderate temperature and the air loaded with a natural fragrance. It makes you feel that you have come to a fancied fairyland pulsating with amazing carnivals, booming commercial activities and lively events and shows displayed with awesome grandeur. The feel of joy in the air is infectious in the truest sense. Although you may be visiting a foreign land whose culture is alien to you, but the moment you arrive there in a festive season all the cultural demarcation disappears. Surprisingly, the language barrier disappears as well. A festive season has its own language and is understood by all. It is the language of universal mirth. It cuts across all religions, communal and cultural barriers. It makes you unified with the spirit of the merry making crowd, and gives you the feeling you are lucky to have visited the destination during the festive season.

Festival is a wonderful exposure. You get to taste local food and wine, buy local handicrafts and clothing, and attend local carnivals and functions which mark the very spirit of the festive season packing the entire nation into a hilarious frenzy.

The cultural significance of the festivals prompts the hotels and accommodations to hike their tariffs because of the mounting demand. This is basically the operation of supply and demand mechanism that pushes the price up. This may not seem to be fair, but it is a usual way in which the equilibrium of economics works its way. Fair or not it is a fact that you find a heavy rush of crowd and not only the hotels, but the transportations are also booked well in advance. Since the festive season grips the locals as well as the tourists in a delirium of joy, opportunists and touts try to make some extra money devising deceptive means.

Negative sides of festival tourism exist as well. The spirit of the festival, the rush and the urgency to participate in the mass enjoyment often affects rationality and the logical thinking that dictates you to take insensible decisions. This aspect has to be kept under serious focus or else it will land you in neck deep trouble.

The Christmas through the last week of December till New Year is a big festive time sending ripples of mirth across the length and breadth of the globe. The streets snake in and out fed with throngs of tourists and the hotels rooms literally overflow. The entire sea of humanity finds a fresh gush of vigor flowing overnight, and it is a fact the tourist is seeing the tour destination at its dramatic best.

The Brazilian Carnival or more famously known as the Rio carnival is a big tourist draw. It is held annually during February - March prior to Easter and is literally an explosive display of color, dance, bright and bizarre clothing and head gear. The entire nation irrespective of tourists and locals mingle in amusement loaded with indulgence in a plethora of food, wine and other modes of entertainment.

Festival tourism is a great way to dive into the culture of a destination thrown into a riotous spell. The tourist is enchanted and feels very much a section of the community. Festivals usually have their roots in religion and tradition. They welcome everyone both local and strangers with open arms. The tourist at the end of his stay leaves the country with a wonderful experience to recall in the future.