Chinese Perceptions of Seven Long-Haul Holiday Destinations: Focusing on Activities, Knowledge, and Interest

Abstract

This study analyzes Chinese views of seven selected long-haul holiday destinations using secondary data from the 2008 China survey of the Global Tourism Watch market research program commissioned by the Canadian Tourism Commission. Results indicate that Mainland Chinese travelers considered “culture” and “nature”the most important activity/experience factors when considering taking a long-haul holiday trip. Further, findings indicate that there are significant differences in Mainland Chinese travelers' perceptions toward the long-haul holiday destinations regarding the best travel activities/experiences, knowledge about holiday opportunities, and interest in visiting each of the destinations in the next two years. This study demonstrates the competitiveness of the seven destinations and suggests destination or product differentiation strategies to increase consumer awareness and attract more Mainland Chinese travelers.

本研究运用二零零八年加拿大旅游局的市场研究项目-全球旅游观察-调查所得的次级数据，分析中国人对七个长途度假目的地的看法。结果发现，在考虑长途度假旅程时，中国内地旅客视“文化”和“自然”为最重要的活动/经验因素。此外，结果显示中国内地旅客对长途度假目的地的看法有显著差异，包括目的地的最佳旅游活动/经验，度假机会的了解，以及在往后两年访问该目的地的兴趣。本文展示了七个目的地的竞争力，并建议目的地或产品差异战略以增加消费意识和吸引更多中国内地旅客。

Keywords:

• Chinese outbound tourism
• long-haul holiday destinations
• perceptions of motivational activities/experiences
• destination knowledge
• interest in visiting

Keywords:

• 中国出境旅游
• 长途度假目的地
• 对激励活动/经验的看法
• 目的地知识
• 访问的兴趣

Acknowledgment

The authors thank the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), and especially its Executive Director of Research, for providing data for this study.

Notes

1. In this study, long-haul destinations are those outside East Asia (e.g., China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, and South Korea).

2. Chinese outbound tourism has been managed and regulated by the ADS system, which is based on bilateral tourism agreement between China and overseas destinations. The ADS system restricts the overseas destinations that Chinese nationals can travel to, monitors the travel balance account, and also restricts which foreign tour company is allowed to operate in the Chinese market to protect the national tourism sector (WTO, 2003). By August 2010, 110 countries/regions had been granted ADS by the China National Tourism Administration, with Canada and Serbia being the most recent countries to join the ADS system.