An eye-tracking study of exoticism in intra-national destinations in the Greater Bay area of China

ABSTRACT

Tourists have a tendency to seek novelty, meaning that they are attracted by the foreign atmosphere or culture that they barely experience in daily-life. It thus opens tourism opportunities for countries rich in colonial background or exotic resources. While international tourists’ novelty-seeking behaviours have been well-investigated, far less attention has been paid to domestic exotic travelling experience. Hence, this paper examines how young tourists from Macau and Mainland China process the exotic/non-exotic Greater-Bay-Area landmarks by means of eye-tracking technology. Visual data, supplemented by a survey, was obtained to understand how differing exoticness affects tourists’ visit intentions. Results suggest an overwhelming attention and preference towards exotic landmarks; yet, the exotic appeal in intra-national destinations is only present in the absence of place familiarity. In practice, the findings provided important implications and directions to several stakeholders such as the Chinese government and destination marketing organizations with its help to marketing promotion.

KEYWORDS:

• Novelty seeking
• domestic tourism
• ethnic tourism
• exoticness
• eye tracking
• greater bay area

Acknowledgements

This is a collaborated research project between Institute for Tourism Studies in Macau, and Sun Yat-sen University in Mainland China. The authors thank Jinpeng Liang, a student helper from Sun Yat-sen University, with part of the data collection procedure.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wilson Cheong Hin Hong

Wilson Cheong Hin Hong is a PhD candidate in Culture, Communication and Media at the University College London and an MA graduate in Linguistics at Newcastle University in the UK. He is interested in the role of novelty in tourist experience and language education. He is currently a full-time lecturer at the Institute for Tourism Studies, and was a former lecturer at two other higher institutes in Macau.

Henrique Fátima Boyol Ngan

Henrique Fátima Boyol Ngan (PhD), Prior to joining IFT, Henrique was responsible for searching, creating and implementing new corporate solutions for training and development in the gaming industry. Working with clients, he specialized in designing and implementing the complex HR processes, carried out projects in the areas of diagnosis and changes in organizational culture of companies and management teams, improved performance and built teams. He has taught courses in the fields of psychology, social psychology, psychology of work, human resource management and organizational behavior at University of Saint Joseph (former IIUM) and Macau Polytechnic Institute.

Joanne Yu

Joanne Yu is currently a master student in Salzburg University of Applied Sciences studying in Innovation and Management in Tourism. Her research interests are psychological and sociological phenomena in tourism and hospitality industries. Her studies adopts new technologies and design experiences, particularly involving sensor technology.

Ying Zhao

Ying Zhao (PhD) is Associate Professor in School of Tourism Management at Sun Yat-sen University. She holds a PhD in human geography in Peking University, and her main research interests concern personal mobility, urban leisure behavior and experiential analysis based on new technologies.