Understanding Mainland Chinese Tourists’ Motivation and Constraints of Visiting Taiwan

ABSTRACT

China has been by far the fastest growing source market in recent years and is now the largest tourism source market in the world. Mainland Chinese travelers were permitted to directly visit Taiwan in 2008. Within a short period of time, the Mainland Chinese travel market has become the top source market for Taiwan’s tourism industry. However, limited attention has been paid to the travel behavior of this significant market, such as why Mainland Chinese travelers visit Taiwan and why do they not. Using interviews, this study identified a list of motivation factors and travel constraint factors. Three themes, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and contextual factors, influenced Mainland Chinese tourists’ intention to visit Taiwan. In particular, contextual factors, such as ‘the cross-strait relations’ between Mainland China and Taiwan, play a key role in influencing tourists’ visit intention. Like two sides of the same coin, ‘the cross-strait relations’ could be a facilitator to attract Mainland Chinese tourists or an inhibitor to stop Mainland Chinese visiting Taiwan.

摘要

近年来中国旅游市场飞速发展，现已成为世界上最大的旅游客源市场。中国大陆旅客自2008年起允许直接访问台湾。短短几年时间，中国大陆已成为台湾旅游业的最大来源市场。然而，有关中国大陆游客访问台湾的研究非常少。很多议题，诸如大陆旅客为何访问台湾，为何不访台，尚未得到深入探讨。本文通过访谈，发现了一系列的旅游动机和约束因素。三种主题因素影响了中国大陆旅客访台的意图: 内在、人际和环境因素。中国大陆与台湾之间的‘两岸关系’此环境因素尤其影响中国大陆旅客访台的意图。‘两岸关系’ 好比双刃剑，一方面能吸引中国大陆旅客访台，另一方面亦能抑制中国大陆旅客访问台湾。

KEYWORDS:

• Travel motivation
• travel constraint
• Mainland Chinese
• Taiwan
• cross-strait relations
• outbound tourism

关键词:

• 旅游动机
• 旅游约束
• 中国大陆
• 台湾
• 两岸关系
• 出境旅游

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hanqun Song

Hanqun Song is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Logistics, Operations, Hospitality and Marketing, Business School at University of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK (E-mail: [email protected]).

Kuo-Ning Liu

Kuo-Ning Liu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Hospitality Management at Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tainan City, Taiwan (E-mail: [email protected]).

Yu-Ting Huang

Yu-Ting Huang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Business at Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan (E-mail: [email protected]).