Developing a Framework for Assessing Visitors' Responses to Chinese Cities

Abstract

Using five dominant themes from the literature on evaluating places, this study builds a framework to assess and present visitors' responses to Chinese cities. The component parts of the framework include views of visitors as wayfinders, image assessors, spenders, users, and performers. Methods to assess and present visitor responses involve survey research, sketch mapping methodology, and the collection of stories and critical incidents. The approach builds a comprehensive view of cities using methods‐based triangulation. The procedures and the presentation techniques are illustrated with ongoing work in the city of Xi'an, and the initial evaluation of the framework is described. The wider use of comparative assessments of visitors' responses to Chinese cities is suggested. 本研究参考旅游目的地评估文献的五大主题，建立框架以评估及展示游客对中国城市的反应。框架的组成部分包括作为寻路者、影像评价人、消费者、使用者和表演者的游客对旅游地的意见。评估和展示游客意见的方法包括问卷调查、示意图及收集游客的故事和关键事件，利用方法三角验证整合并得出游客对各城市的综合意见。本文以在西安市进行的研究为例，说明建立框架的过程和展示方法，并对框架的初次评估进行描述。建议未来的研究可以更广泛的比较游客对中国城市的反应。