An Exploration of Rural Tourism Segmentation by Motivation in China: Taking Yangjiale Mouganshan as a Case

ABSTRACT

In the twenty-first century, the rural tourism in China is developing on a high speed, a new type of rural tourism based on farm guesthouses called ‘yangjiale’ attracted more and more market attentions. ‘Yangjiale’ represents a new form of rural tourism that attracts foreigners and well-educated urban citizens with local traditional and contemporary cultural proclivities, and a low carbon environmentally friendly perspective. Although several studies have described this new trend, in-depth research on it is limited. This paper aims to present a better understanding of the rural tourism market by using yangjiale in the Moganshan tourist region as a case study to examine the motivations behind Chinese rural tourism. In this regard, quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire survey. The results were then analyzed using factor analysis, cluster analysis, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The findings reveal motivational dimension scores and profiles of the market segments in yangjiale tourism. Specifically, three market segments were identified based on tourist motivation: relaxation and excitement, business and socialization, and cultural. The paper discusses the market implications of such a segmentation in China and makes several practical recommendations.

摘要

自21世纪以来，中国乡村旅游高速发展，基于农家民宿开设的’洋家乐’作为新型乡村旅游业态，受到越来越多的市场关注。‘洋家乐’是中国新型乡村旅游形式的代表，将当地传统和现代文明融合在一起，以低碳环保的的特色吸引着国际客人以及受过良好教育的城市居民。近年来’洋家乐’作为一种新的乡村旅游发展趋势受到了研究者的关注，但缺乏深入调研。本文以莫干山地区的洋家乐为案例展开研究，以期进一步地理解中国乡村旅游市场的动机特征。首先研究通过问卷调查收集定量数据，然后使用因子分析、聚类分析和方差分析（ANOVA）对数据进行分析，研究结果揭示了洋家乐旅游动机的细分维度，并根据旅游动机将洋家乐旅游市场划分为三个细分市场，包括放松和兴奋、商务和社交以及文化体验。最后，文章探讨了洋家乐细分市场对中国乡村旅游市场的影响，并提出了一些开发建议。

KEYWORDS:

• Yangjiale
• motivation
• China
• rural tourism
• Moganshan

关键词:

• 洋家乐
• 动机
• 中国
• 乡村旅游
• 莫干山

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Professor Daijian Tang for his encouragement, inspiration and suggestions. They would also like to thank Ms. Wang Minxian and Mr. Zhang Zhiguo for their valuable contributions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Science Foundation of Zhejiang [18NDJC182YB].

Notes on contributors

Jun Wu

Jun Wu is Associate Professor in the School of Tourism & Urban-Rural Planning at Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China. Her research interests include tourism marketing, tourist behavior, senior tourism and hotel management (E-mail: [email protected]).

Xiaomeng Wang

Xiaomeng Wang is Master’s student in the School of Tourism & Urban-Rural Planning at Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China. She is interested in tourism marketing and tourist behavior (E-mail: [email protected]).