Visitor Satisfaction

Abstract

The number of Chinese tourists travelling internationally has increased significantly during the last decade and this trend looks set to continue, making this population an important tourism market. This study provides an analysis of the visitor satisfaction of Chinese tourists to the Gold Coast, based on the recognition of the importance of satisfaction in encouraging word of mouth recommendations and repeat visitation. The data required for this paper was collected using a questionnaire that was distributed to a convenience sample of Chinese tourists holidaying on the Gold Coast between January and February 2003. Analysis of the data indicates a relatively high level of overall satisfaction with the destination, but room for improvement in areas relating to shopping and food provision.     

Understanding Chinese cultural tourists: typology and profile

ABSTRACT

This study aims to offer a clear and up-to-date typology and profile of Chinese cultural tourists in mainland China following the framework based on cultural centrality and depth of cultural experience. Using a sample of mainland Chinese tourists (n = 656) at three cultural attractions in Guangzhou, China, a typology of Chinese cultural tourists (namely casual, sightseeing, purposeful, serendipitous, and incidental) was developed and trip characteristics (e.g. prior knowledge, time spent to get to know the site before visit, change in knowledge, and on-site activities) and sociodemographics of each segment were also examined. In addition, slight differences are found between local day-trippers and tourists from outside Guangzhou in terms of their types and characteristics (prior knowledge, change in knowledge, and sociodemographics). Destination marketing and management implications are provided.     

A cross-cultural study of perceptions of medical tourism among Chinese, Japanese and Korean tourists in Korea

The purpose of this study is to observe factors related to perceptions of and possible participation in medical tourism by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean visitors to Jeju Island in Korea. It aims to identify cultural differences among them, and how those differences affect their pursuit of medical tourism in the future. The research results illustrate that significant differences exist in how Chinese, Japanese and Korean visitors view factors of choice, discomfort and preferred product items. The study establishes four factor groups regarding medical tourism with exploratory factor analysis. Based on these findings, differences of participation intention and behaviors among the three groups are explained. From this, the study describes distinct characteristics of medical tourism among the three cultural groups. The differences among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean tourists with regard to the selection of destination, inconveniences, and preferred products were found to be all significant. Korean tourists placed most significance on selection factors, followed by Chinese tourists, and, lastly, the Japanese. On the other hand, inconveniences related to medical and care services, stay and cost, and information and insurance elements were most strongly associated with Japanese tourists. This may be a reflection of a possible tendency of Japanese tourists to value safety and cost effectiveness. For Chinese tourists, the importance of stay and cost was equally high as those of their Japanese counterparts, which is indicative of Chinese tourists’ cost sensitivity. Light treatments (minor surgery) were preferred by Chinese tourists, while more significant treatments (major surgery) were preferred by Japanese tourists. In terms of aesthetic and healthcare services, Chinese tourists showed the most interest, while Japanese tourists placed emphasis on rehabilitation (lifestyle-related), which may reflect the Korean Wave’s influence in certain Chinese market segments, leading to an increased demand for cosmetic or plastic surgery.     

A panel data-based analysis of factors influencing market demand for Chinese outbound tourism

This paper presents data on the top 50 outbound destinations for Chinese tourists from 2002 to 2013. The total number of Chinese tourists traveling to these 50 destinations accounts for 95.38% of outbound travelers from China. We built a dynamic panel data model to measure factors that influence market demand for Chinese outbound tourism. The results show that economic variables such as income, tourism prices, and exchange rates have a significant influence on outbound tourism volume. The effect of bilateral goods trade and leisure time significantly differ between the full sample and the two subsamples, whereas political stability of the destinations and special incidents in China have no significant impact on demand for outbound tourism. Based on these findings, this study proposes strategies to strengthen the management of China’s outbound tourism market.     

家庭旅游研究进展——基于2000-2019年英文文献的综述

家庭旅游是全球旅游业最重要的细分市场。近年来,我国家庭旅游市场的规模和发展潜力受到业界的广泛关注,但相对于我国家庭旅游市场的发展实践,国内学术界对这一细分市场的研究明显不足。文章对2000-2019年发表在英文期刊的136篇家庭旅游文献进行了系统梳理,研究发现国际学术界日益关注家庭旅游,文献数量不断增长,但研究地域主要集中在北美和欧洲等发达国家和地区。研究方法以定量研究为主,研究主题、数据获取方法呈现出多元化的趋势,研究对象聚焦儿童参与的核心家庭旅游活动。研究主要以家庭消费的计量模型、家庭角色和家庭资源/权力理论、体验理论和家庭功能理论等为基础,可归纳为消费、决策、体验和功能等4个研究视角。基于英文研究的局限,并结合中国的文化、家庭、市场和社会特征,文章提出了中国家庭旅游研究应该重点关注的4个方向:(1)中国文化价值观及其影响;(2)中国家庭角色和结构特征;(3)家庭旅游市场的供给研究;(4)积极老龄化(active aging)和社会功能。     

Sexual health education for young tourists

There is a pressing need for developing effective sexual health education for a high-risk group of young tourists. The purpose of this study was to explore the necessity of sexual health education for young tourists and to identify the characteristics of potentially successful sexual health messages. The data were obtained from three mixed-gender focus groups and 13 individual interviews (N = 32) and analyzed using constructivist grounded theory. The findings highlight the necessity for innovative sexual health education methods supporting young adults' decision-making in tourism. Participants' recommendations for sexual health education for tourists included informing decisions about safer sex instead of condemning sex; developing tourism-focused, age-specific, and gender-sensitive messages; varying messages’ emphases on risks vs. benefits; and individualizing the messages based on risk perceptions and motivations. These recommendations can be explained and applied using context-specific, harm reduction, and health promotion approaches as well as the methods of targeting, framing, and tailoring.     

房车旅游在中国大陆的发展及其战略相互性分析

房车旅游是中国旅游业的新概念，在当前旅行社产品同质性过高从而价格过度竞争的情况下，房车旅游作为一种被国外经验证明前景广阔的旅游产品，引起了各方的注意。本文首先介绍了国内外房车生产与经营的情况，随后对中国大陆房车市场的发展趋势和格局做了分析与预测。随后，从投资的角度，依靠基本的博弈理论，研究了投资旅游房车市场的战略相互性行为及其路径和时机。最后，在理论分析的基础上提出了现实的对策。     

When Western hosts meet Eastern guests: Airbnb hosts' experience with Chinese outbound tourists

As the number of Chinese tourists using Airbnb for their holiday accommodation is steadily increasing, this study investigates western Airbnb hosts' experiences with Chinese outbound tourists. In an analysis of hosts' self-reported posts on the Airbnb community forum, the main issues that emerged relate to Chinese guests' daily habits and lifestyles, cultural differences, and language barriers. This research highlights the role that cultural differences and tradition play in guest–host encounters, and offers a theoretical framework on inter-cultural host–guest relationship that provides an initial understanding of this phenomenon. This study extends the knowledge on the host–guest paradigm in the peer-to-peer accommodation literature from an inter-cultural perspective. This article also launches the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on Peer-to-peer accommodation networks, a special selection of research in this field.     

Wine tourism involvement: a segmentation of Chinese tourists

ABSTRACT

This study profiles the Chinese wine tourist market based on levels of consumer involvement. Using a sample of 503 Chinese wine tourists visiting Australian wineries, the study identified four dimensions of involvement in wine tourism among Chinese tourists: Interests and Importance, Risk Importance and Possibility, Risk Avoidance, and Status Value. Based on the various levels of involvement, four clusters of Chinese wine tourists were identified: low-involvement wine tourists, highly involved wine tourists, interest-driven wine tourists, and high-risk perception wine tourists. For the group size, high-risk perception wine tourists included the highest number of people in the sample, while a relatively small number of people belonged to the interest-driven group. Significant differences were found for behavioral variables and activity participation level across the four clusters, but similarity outweighed the differences among demographic and socio-economic variables. The research proceeded to theoretical and marketing implications.     

Tourist market segmentation with linear and non-linear techniques

The need for in-depth knowledge of tourist market segments and the need to overcome the limitations of using linear techniques to analyse non-linear relationships requires a re-assessment of generally used approaches such as cluster analysis and multiple linear regression. The objectives of the research are (1) to consider the use of self-organising (SOM) neural networks for segmenting tourist markets and (2) to analyse the predictive ability of backpropagation (BP) neural networks for classifying tourists from follow-up surveys by using the output provided by a SOM neural network. The findings of the SOM neural network modelling indicate three natural clusters. In addition, the predictive ability of the BP neural network model appears to be superior to that of MLR static filter and logistic regression models. The BP neural network model developed for this application appears suitable for deployment (i.e. classification of tourists from follow-up surveys).     

Carrying capacity analysis and destination development: a case study of Gangotri tourists/pilgrims’ circuit in the Himalaya

The Himalaya has numerous natural, cultural, aesthetic, and adventurer tourists/pilgrims’ destinations, which are the major source of income and employment to the local people and revenue generation to the government. Meanwhile, tourism carrying capacity of these destinations is poor and thus tourism development could not take shape. This article examines carrying capacity and destination development of the Gangotri tourists/pilgrims’ circuit, which is also known as Gangotri eco-sensitive zone. We conducted this study using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, in which we collected data on tourists/pilgrims flow, accommodation, transportation, and infrastructural facilities. Primary data were collected through interview of 160 persons of 8 tourists/pilgrims centres who are involved in tourism activities. Further, we employed a participatory observation method after an extensive visit of Gangotri tourisms/pilgrims circuit in January 2017. Secondary data were collected from the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, Dehradun. We used correlation and rank method and analysed infrastructural facilities, carrying capacity dimensions, proposed destination development model for the circuit, and observed that a sustainable tourism development may enhance economic activities such as income generation and employment augmentation as the whole circuit obtains natural, cultural, and aesthetic importance.     

Off-season tourists and the cultural offer of a mass-tourism destination: The case of Rimini

This paper assesses the potential implications on off-season tourism of enhancing the cultural offer of Rimini, a popular Italian seaside holiday destination hosting about 12 million overnight stays per year. Since more than 9 million of these stays are concentrated in the summer season, in the last 20 years. Rimini has been undergoing a policy of seasonality smoothing, which mainly pivots around business and cultural tourism. This assessment has been carried out through discrete choice experiments submitted to a sample of about 800 tourists who visited Rimini outside the summer months. Since tourism can be viewed as a composite good, which overall utility depends on how the component characteristics are arranged, the choice experiments allow to disentangle the importance and the willingness to pay of tourists for different attributes of the holiday. The choice model incorporates a number of possible changes to actual tourism features (which are also the subject of public debate), including them in hypothetical alternative “holiday packages”. The conditional logit analysis of the choice experiments can highlight any synergy or trade-off between cultural and business tourism. Results suggest that business and leisure tourists share many features related to the use of the territory, while there are important trade-offs between these two groups and cultural tourists. Since business tourists have a higher willingness to extend their stay, a softer budget, and their demand is also complementary to the demand of summer tourists (Brau, Scorcu, & Vici, 2009), from the destination point of view investing in this market segment would be the best option. Although a “second best”, however, cultural tourists share with the local population of Rimini many aspects of the demand of territory (Figini, Castellani, & Vici, 2009). Hence, cultural tourism can play a fundamental role in the intermediate season as a tool for smoothing seasonality, to diversify investments and to give value to the city’s cultural heritage.     

Copysites / duplitectures as tourist attractions: An exploratory study on experiences of Chinese tourists at replicas of foreign architectural landmarks in China

This study aims to clarify the position of duplitectures/copysites in the theoretical stream of tourism authenticity. It does so by exploring the meanings assigned by domestic Chinese tourists, based on their socially and culturally held beliefs, while they interact with architectural imitations imported from alien cultures. The primary research method is an emergent qualitative design that involved in-depth interviews of Chinese tourists at the eight copysites considered in this study. The findings reveal three relevant themes. Reconceptualization of authenticity indicates that the concept of imitation has very different connotations in China compared to those in the West. Cultural self-exploration reflects an evolving stage of intercultural maturity manifested by Chinese tourists. De-globalization has led to cultural homogenization of the tourist spaces in China. The findings fill the lacuna in existing theoretical streams of tourism authenticity by clarifying the position of copysites and has practical implications for domestic tourism marketing organizations in China.     

Cultural Tourism And Flamenco In The City Of Cordoba (Spain)

Flamenco is a tourist product that can attract many visitors from around the world, and the city of Cordoba (Spain) has an important role in the origins of flamenco. This work studies whether the satisfaction of cultural tourists who visit the city can be influenced by cultural offers related to flamenco. To achieve this objective, fieldwork was carried out based on 709 surveys conducted in the most important flamenco “tablaos” (stages) of the city. The techniques of factorial analysis and linear adjustment were used. The results show that flamenco can be a product that complements the satisfaction of cultural tourists.     

文化创意旅游需求及其差异性分析——以上海世博会为例

大众对文化和精神的消费需求为文化创意产业的发展提供了广阔的市场前景,世博会就是文化创意旅游产业在特定空间高度集聚而成的产物.文章基于旅游者的问卷调查,从核心内容和衍生产品两方面对上海世博会文化创意旅游需求及其差异性进行分析.结果显示,旅游者对文化创意旅游需求呈现多元性、娱乐性、符号性、实用性和虚拟性体验的趋势.在核心内容的需求方面,旅游者需求较高的依次为:展馆、文化演艺活动和论坛;在衍生产品的需求方面,旅游者对特许旅游纪念品中的世博护照、海宝和世博纪念徽章的需求较大,对出版发行服务中地图的需求较多,对网络文化服务的需求度正逐步提高.分析发现,基于不同的人口统计学特征和旅游行为特征,旅游者文化创意旅游需求存在显著差异,主要体现在年龄和月均收入因素的影响,而性别、职业、文化程度、进园次数和出游方式的影响较小,文章并据此探讨未来文化创意旅游的发展方向.     

A Comparative Study of the Motivations,Activities, Overall Satisfaction,and Post-Trip Behaviors of International Tourists in Macau: Mainland Chinese,Hongkongese, Taiwanese,and Westerners

Cross-cultural differences are a vital issue in international tourism; the success of international tourism marketing strategies depends upon understanding tourists from different cultures and regions. To understand the diverse and lively Macau international tourism market, this study explored the cross-cultural differences in push and pull motivations, participating activities, and overall satisfaction level of traveling to Macau for four international tourist groups: Mainland Chinese, Hongkongese, Taiwanese, and Western. Using exploratory factor analysis, this study identified three push (knowledge and fun, relaxation and escape, and shopping and nightlife) and four pull motivation factors (exciting and relaxing atmosphere, local and cultural resources, gambling and entertainment, and famous destination). The results indicated that significant differences among the four tourist groups were found in the characteristics, motivations, activities, overall satisfaction, and post-trip behaviors. These findings will assist the development of promotional strategies and better communication that acknowledge cultural differences.     

网络志评析:智慧旅游时代的应用与创新

Web 2.0技术在全球的迅猛发展为网络与旅游的结合提供了重要的基础,并为现代旅游业开启了一个崭新的时代。人们的旅游搜索和分享方式都与互联网密切相关。该研究认为,互联网不仅为游客提供了信息搜索和分享的便捷平台,也为旅游学研究提供了良好的数据信息。如何深度挖掘和利用这些数据,并为旅游业的健康发展做贡献,成为旅游学研究面临的一个重要问题。在此背景下,文章重点介绍网络志研究方法。网络志是人类志在网络时代的应用,在智慧旅游的大背景下具有很强的用武之地。研究认为,网络志能有效帮助我们快速了解新兴的、变化的旅游市场,并做出相应的市场反应。文章结合旅游业的一个新兴现象"间隔年",重点阐述网络志的实用操作步骤(包括前期准备、数据收集、数据解释以及成员检测),并提出该方法在使用过程中所存在的问题以及改进建议。     

女性旅游者研究综述

作为旅游市场的重要组成部分,女性市场已经成为业界普遍关注的重点,但理论研究相对滞后和缺乏.文章搜集了国内外关于女性旅游者的所有可检索到的文献,按照从一般到特殊的研究方法将以往研究成果归纳为一般女性旅游者研究、特殊女性旅游者研究两类,而后者又分为特定区域女性旅游者、特殊群体女性旅游者、特定时期女性旅游者三个研究方向.文章在对文献的总结和梳理的基础上,指出国内外对女性旅游者的研究角度各有偏颇和利弊,国内的研究在总体上落后于国外.     

Who is a tourist? Classifying international urban tourists using machine learning

A key issue in tourism management relates to the lack of consensus regarding a theoretical and practical definition of the term “tourist.” In turn, this results in a range of methods for counting tourists and measuring tourism. This paper presents a novel non-linear model for classifying international tourists in urban settings, based on machine learning classification methods. These methods utilize innovative feature engineering derived from photos posted on the Flickr social media platform combined with the specific urban destination street structure. The data science model that we developed for identifying international tourists produced an overall accuracy of 69% for Manhattan and 94% for Vienna and Prague, offering new tourism indicators such as repeat visits, travel distances, and short stays. The outcome of this study offers a better understanding of travel patterns among international tourists, which could improve international tourism management and promote a more practical and adaptable model for measuring and analyzing international tourism using machine learning and user-generated content.