An Analysis of International Tourists' Perceptions of China

Abstract

To analyze international tourists' perceptions of their experiences of hotels, food, transportation, shopping, recreation, guided tours, and telecommunications in China, the authors conducted a comparative analysis of the demographic characteristics of tourists from Europe, North America, East Asia, and Australia and the differences in their perceptions of Chinese tourism services. The analyses were based on a sample of 6,600 questionnaires distributed by the writer and 26 graduate student helpers at six popular tourist cities. The results show that international tourists have a good overall perception of China as a tourist destination and believe that China is safe and interesting. However, the price of tourism services is much lower than is deserved. The authors make some recommendations to help the tourism authorities in China to strike a balance between service quality and service price to increase China's revenue from tourism. 为了更清楚的分析国际游客对中国国内住宿、餐饮、交通、购物、娱乐、导游服务和邮电通讯等七方面的感知情况，文章以作者亲自参与的六大国际旅游热点城市(北京、上海、西安、桂林、昆明、广州)市场调研所获得的6600份问卷数据为基础，对比分析了欧洲、美洲、亚洲和澳洲游客在性别、年龄、职业、受教育程度、家庭结构和收入6方面的差异，并分析了四个区域游客对中国旅游服务的感知情况的差异。结果发现外国游客整体对中国的满意度比较高，认为中国是一个安全而且充满新奇的旅游客源国。同时，分析结果发现中国旅游服务完全处于一个“高质低价”的状态，即虽然中国有很好的旅游服务，但定价比较低，严重影响中国的旅游收入。最后提出建议:中国未来应加强旅游服务与价格的平衡，从而扩大旅游收入。