Predicting Intended and Actual Travel Behaviors: An Examination of Chinese Outbound Tourists to Australia

ABSTRACT

This exploratory study examines the predictive power of psychographic and demographic variables on intended and actual travel behaviors. A pre-tour and after-tour survey on the intended and actual travel behaviors of 397 Chinese ¹ outbound tourists to Australia was conducted. Four of the five intended travel behaviors (Sightseeing, Culture and Heritage Activity, Shopping and Dining, and Entertainment) and three of the five actual travel behaviors (Sightseeing, Culture and Heritage Activity, and Entertainment) proved to be statistically significant with a combination of psychographic and demographic contributors. The results of this study are discussed and the market implications indicated.

Keywords:

• Chinese outbound tourists
• travel behavior
• prediction
• psychographics
• demographics

Acknowledgments

This research has been supported by a scholarship from La Trobe University and a supplementary scholarship from the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre, established by the Australian Commonwealth Government.

Notes

1. For the specific purposes of this research, “China” refers to Mainland China, excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan due to their historical background. Hence, Chinese tourists refer to tourists from Mainland China.

2. For the specific purposes of this research, “extraterritorial destinations” refer to places outside Mainland China; hence, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan are considered extraterritorial destinations in this study. In the Chinese language, these three places are considered to be “beyond the border of Mainland China,” and the closest term in English to convey this meaning is “extraterritorial”; so the word in this context should not be interpreted in a literal manner.