An Exploration of Factors Determining the Pre-Visit Image of Chinese Tourists on Sri Lanka as a Tourist Destination

Abstract

China is recorded to be the second highest tourist attraction to Sri Lanka. However, still, among the Chinese travelers, Sri Lanka is known as one of the dark-horse outbound destinations. Hence, this paper is written to present the findings of a study on the factors determining the pre-visit image of Chinese tourists on Sri Lanka as a Tourist Destination. Data were collected from 30 Chinese travelers who are willing to visit Sri Lanka through conducting in-depth interviews. Sample was chosen using the purposive sampling method and data were analyzed using Thematic Analysis. A few interesting themes were emerged from the findings namely; childhood stories; warrior heroes; sporty adventures and blessed with nature and a profound culture. This study expects to be an informative tool to government policy designers, entrepreneurs, marketers and professionals in the tourism industry in designing innovative strategies to improve the pre –visit image of Chinese as well as other tourists visiting Sri Lanka and thereby in up surging its tourist arrivals.