Festivals have been in existence since time immemorial. Festivals serve as cultural celebrations for the locals and international tourists who wish to look into the local culture. The concept of sustain ability has crossed boundaries from its original environmental issues into tourism and festivals. As a means towards ensuring festivals remain a core rather than a peripheral leisure activity for both locals and international attendees, this study aimed at comparing the motives and perception of festi val impacts for the two groups. A self-administered questionnaire was used in collecting data during the annual Sauti za Busara music festival in Zanzibar. Chi-square and t-tests were used to ascertain group differences where motivation to attend the festival indicated significant differences between locals and international attendees. Both groups of attendees indicated to have positive perception of the festival impacts onto the economic, environment, and socioculture. The results have policy and management implications that can aid festival stakeholders to make the festivals sustainable.