Research on the efficiency evaluation of rural festivals based on DEA modeling

As a special form of cultural tourism, rural festival activities have a significant driving effect on regional development. Based on the DEA model, this paper constructs a three-stage DEA model by adjusting the decision-making unit and combines the Malmquist index method at each stage to establish a three-stage DEA-Malmquist’s efficiency assessment model to launch the research on the efficiency of rural festival activities. On this basis, the efficiency evaluation index system of rural festival activities was constructed, and 15 rural festivals in place M from 2015 to 2020 were selected as research objects, and the model was applied to analyze their static efficiency and dynamic total factor productivity. The study shows that in the first stage, there are 8 rural festival activities with a comprehensive efficiency greater than 1 (53.33%), and the comprehensive efficiency of the eastern and central parts of Land M is greater than 1, and the overall rural festival activities in this land are at a higher level. Seven rural festivals in Stage 1 had combined efficiencies greater than 1 (46.67%), with both East and Central having combined efficiencies greater than 1. Seven festivals (46.67%) in Stage 3 had combined efficiencies that were DEA effective, and the regional rankings of combined efficiencies for all four years between 2015 and 2020 were East>Central>West. The Malmquist Index mean before adjustment was 1.103, which was a 10.3% improvement, while the mean after adjustment was 1.091, which was a 9.1% improvement. Changes in technical efficiency and the rate of technological progress have a combined impact on the efficiency of rural festivals.