Destination Image of Taiwan From the Perspective of Hong Kong Residents: Revisiting Structural Relationships Between Destination Image Attributes and Behavioral Intention

Destination image plays an important role in how tourists make their travel and purchase decisions. This study examines the perceived image of Taiwan as a travel destination from the perspective of Hong Kong residents. The Hong Kong outbound tourism market is important for Taiwan. Using a self-completed questionnaire, this research examines the destination image of Taiwan among 213 Hong Kong residents. The results indicate that affective image is a stronger predictor of travel intention than cognitive image. Affective image also plays a mediating role in the relationship between cognitive image and behavioral intention. Hence, affective image is an important intangible quality for today’s destinations.     

Analysis of Blogs and Microblogs: A Case Study of Chinese Bloggers Sharing Their Hong Kong Travel Experiences

Blogs and microblogs became popular in recent years among people who would like to share their travel experiences online. This is a phenomenon which marketers are interested in but know very little about. This exploratory study analyzes blog and microblog contents created by mainland Chinese visitors sharing their Hong Kong experiences, with the objective of gaining insights into how bloggers communicate their travel experiences and how this could help market a destination. Three hundred blog posts and 300 microblog posts are analyzed. Research results indicate a generally positive image of Hong Kong as a destination among the mainland Chinese bloggers. The study also profiles the bloggers by their usage pattern and identifies opportunities for using the social media for destination marketing purpose. While the case study is about Hong Kong, the research method and blogging patterns identified would also apply in other destination situations.     

Factors Affecting Outbound Tourists' Destination Choice: The Case of Hong Kong

Trip expenditure, length of stay during the trip, size of the travel party, monthly household income, discovering new places and/or things, and getting away from daily routine, role, obligation, stress and troubles have significant influence on Hong Kong residents' destination choice. Hong Kong residents' destination choice is highly associated with trip characteristic in comparison to socio-demographics and travel motivation factors. Destinations close to Hong Kong can focus on packaging their products with shorter trip lengths and making the packages attractive to travel companions in addition to the travelers. Destinations that are relatively far away from Hong Kong should focus on packaging their products to attract the Hong Kong outbound travelers with longer trip lengths and plan activities that cater to individual needs.     

Projected Images of Major Chinese Outbound Destinations

This study aimed to explore the projected images of major outbound destinations based on popular travel magazines in China. Travel articles on Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan from 2006 to 2008 were content analyzed. Japan was reported on most, and the projected images of the six destinations are dominated by leisure and recreation, and culture, history and art. Correspondence analysis was used to examine relationships between destinations and popular image attributes. The results showed that South Korea and Macau had distinct projected images, whereas Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam shared many similar image attributes. Practical implications for destination marketing organizations are provided.     

Tourism and online photography

This paper documents the use of online travel photo-sharing technologies among Hong Kong residents. The advent of Web 2.0 is changing fundamentally the tourist information search and destination choice process. Yet, to date, no study has documented Web 2.0 usage levels and preferences for certain media for posting travel photographs across an entire community. This study reveals that some 89% of pleasure travelers take photographs and that 41% of them posted their photographs online. Social network sites (SNSs), instant messaging, online photo albums and personal blogs were the most popular media used. In general, people who post photographs online tend to be younger, better educated, and earn a higher income than those who do not. The study determined that most people also use multiple media platforms to disseminate their images. Cluster analysis based on the four major styles of online platform identified five cohorts of users who differed in number and type of media used, demographic profile and travel motive. Implications for destination promotion are discussed.     

Mainland Chinese residents' perceptions and motivations of visiting Hong Kong: Evidence from focus group interviews

Focus groups were employed to identify Mainland Chinese residents' perceptions, motivations and perceived behavioral inhibitors of visiting Hong Kong. Three group discussions were conducted in Beijing and two groups in Guangzhou, with a total of 36 participants. Results showed that Mainland Chinese residents perceived Hong Kong mainly as a shopping destination. Accordingly, their most prominent visitation motivation to Hong Kong was shopping. Other motivations identified from the group interviews were knowledge enhancement, curiosity, family togetherness and kinship enhancement, sightseeing, experiencing different culture and lifestyle, and visiting friends and relatives. In addition to time and money as the most salient perceived behavioral inhibitors, language, complexity of getting travel documents, and improper accommodation supplies were perceived as inhibiting factors for Mainland Chinese residents to visit Hong Kong. Based on the results, implications on destination management and marketing were discussed.     

The implicit measurement of destination image: The application of Implicit Association Tests

The previous studies about destination image measurement mainly focused on measuring tourists’ explicit cognitive processes without measuring their implicit cognitive processes. This study introduces the Implicit Association Test (IAT) into the domain of destination image measurement, and utilizes a traditional questionnaire to measure Chinese tourists’ perceived image of Japan and Hong Kong both at explicit and implicit level. Results show that Chinese tourists’ explicit preference between Japan and Hong Kong is insignificant, but there is significant implicit preference for their perceived image of Hong Kong over that of Japan. This study advances the research on destination image and enriches the method on the measurement of destination image.     

The Effect of Distance on Tourism in Hong Kong: A Comparison of Short Haul and Long Haul Visitors

This study reports on a pilot project examining the effect of distance on the profile and trip characteristics of vacation visitors to Hong Kong. Secondary data are used. The study reveals a clear long haul/short haul dichotomy in visitor profile and resultant behaviors in Hong Kong. Long haul tourists tend to be older, more affluent and view Hong Kong as a stop-over destination, whereas short haul visitors are younger, less affluent and see it as their main and only destination. The resultant socio-demographic and destination role differences translate into substantially different in-destination behavior patterns. The authors argue that these differences are, at least in part, a function of the discriminating effect that distance has on the ability of some people to travel to long haul destinations.     

The Impacts of Mass Media on Organic Destination Image: A Case Study of Singapore

The shaping of organic destination image received limited investigation though it is an important factor influencing destination image and tourist's intention to travel. This study explores the impacts of mass media on shaping the organic destination image of tourism destinations. The organic destination images of Singapore in the views of Hong Kong residents were explored. This study explores the consumers' subconscious awareness of Singapore, and identifies that organic destination images are the outcome of readers' assimilation of material from newspapers, publications and books. The findings also demonstrate the process underlying the changes of organic destination images due to the information feeding of mass media. The findings indicate the importance for destination marketing organizations to monitor the new reports related to the destination in its main tourist origin countries/regions, and strategically deploy their marketing efforts to leverage the impacts of positive news reports, minimize the negative influence of unfavorable news.     

China in the Eyes of Western Travelers as Represented in Travel Blogs

Travel blogs provide a new way of understanding consumers' perceptions on destination and its associated products. The purpose of this study was to examine international tourists' destination image of China as represented in travel blog discourse. Data were obtained from blog entries relating to trips to China posted on three dominant travel blog websites. Content analysis facilitated by Atlas.ti 6.0 was performed on a total of 89 China-related travel blogs. The study identified the most frequently discussed aspects of tourists' experiences in China. The results also indicated that the blog authors had mixed and paradoxical images of China as identified by previous research. Marketing implications for China's tourism development based on the results were discussed.     

Trip destinations, gateways and itineraries: the example of Hong Kong

Trip itinerary data present analytical problems because of the great diversity of routes that travelers follow and the varying significance of destinations along those routes. Most of the models that have been proposed to deal with this complexity have focused either on the total number of travelers from one country to another, or on the overall pattern of entire trips. An alternative and complementary approach is to examine the relative location of a destination within the larger itinerary pattern. Depending on their location within the overall trip itinerary, places can exhibit characteristics of one or more destination types: Single Destination, Gateway Destination, Egress Destination, Touring Destination, or Hub Destination. Data collected on international air travelers to Hong Kong exhibited the first four of these five patterns. Taiwan and Singapore residents primarily used Hong Kong as a Single Destination for short break shopping holidays and for business. US and Australian residents were the most likely to use Hong Kong as a trip Gateway and as a Touring Destination, especially as the Gateway for a trip to China, but Hong Kong also served as a Gateway for trips to destinations in East and Southeast Asia and, for US residents, to Australia. Residents of China were more likely to use Hong Kong as a trip Egress Destination than were others. Hong Kong has traditionally considered itself primarily as a ‘gateway to China’ and an ‘Asian travel hub’. Hong Kong, and other destinations, could benefit from being more aware of their role as an Egress Destination and of their relationships with destinations that travelers visit before and after their arrival.     

ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF INTERNET HOTEL MARKETING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Despite the continuously increasing number of published work on the use of the Internet in tourism and hospitality literature, little has been written specifically on issues faced by hoteliers in developing countries and how they could learn from other successful practices. Indeed, analyzing the well performing destinations would provide useful insights for hoteliers in less performing counterparts around the world so as to better exploit the advantages of Internet technologies within their own constraints. Using Northern Cyprus and Hong Kong as examples, this study attempts first to find out the typical issues and usage of Internet marketing in a less developed tourist destination—Northern Cyprus, and compare the Internet‐related practices carried out by hotels in another well developed tourist destination—Hong Kong. A set of self‐administered questionnaires were mailed to members of major hotel associations in both locations. Results revealed that hoteliers in Hong Kong used the services of professionals in designing their websites and launched their websites before their Cypriot counterparts. A discussion of the findings, implications, and limitations are also given.     

A spatial–temporal analysis of hotels in urban tourism destination

This study investigates the spatial associations of urban tourism phenomena by using GIS and statistical methods to examine the relationships between hotels and land use types, attractions, transportation facilities, and the economic variables of the tertiary planning units in which the hotels are located. Hong Kong is used as an example. The study first introduces the spatial characteristics of hotels and attractions development in Hong Kong. A geographical information system is then used to map hotels and investigate the characteristics of the land use, attractions, and transport facilities around hotels. The spatial relationships are then analyzed with a set of logistic regression models. The results reveal that commercial land type and the number of attractions around hotels are significantly related to the distribution of upper-grade hotels in Hong Kong. The determinants vary over time and the spatial structure changes accordingly. The analysis is important theoretically as it enriches the methodologies for analyzing the relationships between hotels and urban structure, and for conceptualizing and identifying tourism functional zones. It is important for practitioners as it provides useful information for selecting sites for hotels.     

Hotel employees’ perceptions on corporate social responsibility: The case of Hong Kong

This study examines the perceived importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) attributes of Hong Kong hotel employees and their hotels’ performance on those attributes, and to determine underlying performance factors that ultimately lead to the perceived overall CSR effectiveness of hotels. The importance–performance analysis results show that Hong Kong hotels generally performed well on 17 out of the indicated 30 CSR attributes. Furthermore, the attribute “promote innovation in products and services” was considered to be overkill, and another attribute, “demonstrates a commitment to the environment,” requires the immediate attention of hotels. Six performance factors were extracted and Hong Kong hotels performed best in the area of finance. The factors “state of affairs” and “novelty” positively and significantly affected employees’ perceived overall CSR effectiveness of their hotels. Almost 70% of the respondents agreed that Hong Kong hotels had been effective in carrying out their CSR. Hotels in Hong Kong should find our study results helpful in pinpointing CSR attributes considered of various importance and performance levels from the perspective of one of their important stakeholders, their employees. In particular, the relatively low awareness toward the environment of both the employees and the hotels should alert the hotel management to invest greater efforts in environmental protection.     

Examining destination images from travel blogs: a big data analytical approach using latent Dirichlet allocation

ABSTRACT

In the big data era, destination images have played an increasingly important role in tourism development. However, seldom tourism research has utilised big data analytics to examine destination images from travel blogs. Therefore, this study proposes and evaluates a big data analytical approach using latent Dirichlet allocation to extract attributes of online destination images from 140,286 travel blogs about 20 cities in China. Results reveal 14 dimensions with 54 attributes of destination images of the studied cities. Interesting findings are discovered between online destination images and tourism cities. This study also summarises the implications for tourism research and practice.     

Energy use and management in hotels in Hong Kong

This paper reports on a study of energy use in 16 quality hotels in Hong Kong. An overview of energy use in these hotels is firstly presented, and this is followed by a detailed analysis of energy use in one of the 16 hotels. The overview indicates that the energy use situation in hotels in Hong Kong is very much diversified. The total energy use in a hotel is dominated by electricity, with the greatest portion for air conditioning because of sub-tropical climate. A detailed multiple variable regression analysis indicated that a number of hotel operating parameters as well as climatic condition can affect electricity, diesel and gas use in a hotel building. In order to achieve both operating cost saving and environmental protection, it is recommended that an energy management programme be established, and key elements of such a programme based on the experience of implementing energy conservation strategies in hotels in Hong Kong are highlighted.     

Perceptual content analysis for city image: a case study of Hong Kong

This paper presents a case study investigating the most salient impressions and unique attractions of Hong Kong, perceived by government officials, inbound visitors and local residents. The study utilizes neural network analytical content analysis as a tool to understand the shared and disparate images and perceptions of the uniqueness of Hong Kong by quantifying the occurrence of open-ended self-reported textual answers by the respondents. The clustering of the answers and perceptual mapping confirms that the stakeholder groups think of Hong Kong as a conventional tourist destination and as a cosmopolitan metropolis. This strong stereotype, which displays an obvious knowledge gap between visitors and residents, as well as inter-group discrepancies, has created obstacles to innovating Hong Kong's image and branding.     

The comparative analysis of Hong Kong as an international conference destination in Southeast Asia

The purpose of this study was to analyze the competitiveness of Hong Kong as an international conference destination in Southeast Asia. Survey questionnaires were sent to the conference end-users, organizers, and venues in Hong Kong and Singapore to study the limitation of holding a large conference in Hong Kong, and the importance and satisfaction of site selection criteria for holding conferences in Hong Kong and Singapore. The pair mean t test was used to compare satisfaction differences on the selection criteria in Hong Kong and Singapore. The ANOVA analysis was conducted to identify the selection criteria perceived differently by end-users, organizers and venues. The finding showed that Hong Kong was perceived as less competitive than Singapore as an international conference destination. The study suggested that Hong Kong must overcome its weaknesses and develop competitive advantages to maintain itself as an ideal international conference destination in Southeast Asia.     

Stakeholders’ views of travelers’ choice of Airbnb

This study investigated the views of travelers’ choices of informal accommodations, Airbnb in Hong Kong from the perspectives of three stakeholders. A qualitative approach was applied, both interviews and focus group discussions were conducted. A total of 69 participants shared their views on why users choose Airbnb over traditional hotels. The findings highlighted that hoteliers and Airbnb users presented different rankings on the determinants of accommodation choice. The implications of the destination image and the population density were discussed. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for any city/country where has a similar cultural background and population density.