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Articles

Understanding the distinctiveness of Chinese Post-80s tourists through an exploration of their formative experiences

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Pages 1312-1328 | Received 21 Sep 2016, Accepted 09 Nov 2017, Published online: 28 Nov 2017
 

Abstract

Chinese Post-80s (the Chinese equivalent of Generation Y) are a distinct generation that emerged during a period of rapid political, social and economic change under Deng Xiaoping’s policy exploration with capitalism. Chinese Post-80s demonstrate higher levels of both complexity and sophistication in their tourist behaviours when compared with earlier generations of Chinese tourists yet their distinctiveness has been largely ignored in tourism research. Underpinned by generational cohort theory, this study explores the formative experiences of Chinese Post-80s and provides insights into the way these experiences have shaped this generation and their outbound travel. These formative experiences include Reform and Open Policy, One Child Policy and Education Reforms. Two discrete groups: “made in China” and transnational Chinese Post-80s tourists have been identified. We argue that while Chinese Post-80s tourists may share many aspects in common with their Western counterparts, this generation presents its distinctiveness due to its emergence from a specific sets of events with China’s rapid change that make Chinese Post-80s different from any generation in the global environment, creating new academic inquiries for established theories of generational studies. This nuanced understanding of Chinese Post-80s tourists has profound implications for theory and practice in the context of Chinese outbound travel.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their great appreciation to Associate Professor Deborah Edwards and Dr Xin Jin for their constructive comments in improving the quality of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.

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