Abstract
ABSTRACT Special interest tourism has emerged as a valuable niche market for tourism destinations in the past decade. However, tourism scholars have generally struggled to answer McKercher and Chan’s [2005. How special is special interest tourism? Journal of Travel Research, 44(1), 21–31] question, ‘How special is special interest tourism?’ Such ambiguity extends to the related enquiry, ‘How special are special interest tourists?’, in attempting to define special interest tourists. This perspective research letter discusses these questions in terms of Chinese outbound tourism. Based upon the reflection of previous research, the authors’ thoughts and ongoing research in this area, knowledge gaps are identified and research directions for scholars who are also interested special interest tourism are offered.
Highlights
McKercher and Chan (2005) claimed, ‘The special interest tourism market is thought to be very special’ (p. 21)
Special interest tourism has established itself as a valuable niche market for multiproduct destinations and a core activity for single-product destinations (Ma et al, 2020; McKercher & Chan, 2005)
The literature on special interest tourism suggests that academics and industry practitioners will continue to explore just how special special interest tourism is and how special special interest tourists are by defining exactly what makes this segment ‘special.’ Other lenses, such as trip quality and quantity, travel purposes, and the economic and behavioural effects of special interest tourism, can be applied to understand special interest tourism and tourist behaviours more broadly
Summary
How special is special interest tourism – and how special are special interest tourists? A perspective article in a Chinese context. How special is special interest tourism – and how special are special interest tourists? A perspective article in a Chinese context Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworkspost2013 Part of the Tourism and Travel Commons. Https://doi.org/10.1080/ 13683500.2020.1750575 This Other is posted at Research Online. Current Issues in Tourism, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 13683500.2020.1750575 This Other is posted at Research Online. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworkspost2013/7838
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