Abstract
This study aims to measure the image of Italy as a tourism destination on the Chinese leisure traveller market. To this end, Echtner & Ritchie’s model (1991) is applied; however, compared to its original formulation, it is implemented with greater consideration of the experiential dimension and potential travel constraints affecting the perception of the range of tourism goods and services on offer. This enables not just a denotative, but also and above all a connotative measurement of the image, thereby reducing the risk of ambiguity in the interpretation of the most significant attributes that emerged during the analysis. Adopting a hypothetical segmentation of the market in question, it was also possible to the elements that act as encouraging and discouraging factors regarding a holiday in Italy are highlight, identifying tailor-made approaches to the construction and promotion/commercialisation of tourism products designed to be attractive to the specific segment of interest.
Highlights
In the course of the last ten years the Chinese outbound tourism market has seen rapid growth (+350%, according to data from the China National Tourism Administration—CNTA and AGI China 24), in terms of both development and diversification
This study aims to measure the image of Italy as a tourism destination on the Chinese leisure traveller market
Echtner & Ritchie’s model (1991) is applied; compared to its original formulation, it is implemented with greater consideration of the experiential dimension and potential travel constraints affecting the perception of the range of tourism goods and services on offer
Summary
In the course of the last ten years the Chinese outbound tourism market has seen rapid growth (+350%, according to data from the China National Tourism Administration—CNTA and AGI China 24), in terms of both development and diversification. Whereas in the past travel foreign was undertaken above all for work or to visit family members and/or friends, today the purpose of the journey is to get to know the world. It satisfies the more personal need for self-affirmation, which is not “vanity” but “assertion of status”. Travel is considered a way of demonstrating one’s spending power and of consolidating one’s prestige back home (Mok & Iverson, 2000; Guo, Seongseop Kim, & Timothy, 2007; Xu & McGehee, 2012)
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