Understanding the Travel Constraints of Potential Chinese Tourists Visiting Germany: Experience from Online Travel Community Members

Abstract

ABSTRACT China has become an important source market for international tourism. This empirical study aims to develop a better understanding of travel constraints for potential Chinese tourists to Germany by surveying online travel community members (called ‘e-travelers’ in this paper). The results of this study showed that cost concerns, lack of time, language barriers, and unfamiliarity with Germany are the most important constraints preventing participants from visiting Germany. Using an exploratory factor analysis, travel constraints were categorized into three constraint factors: ‘personal attitudes,’ ‘shortage of knowledge and money,’ and ‘structural concerns.’ The analysis of these three constraint factors generated a valid cluster solution with four clusters of tourists – the knowledge/money-short group, the structural-prevented group, the less-constrained group, and the personal-unwilling group. Respondent characteristics of each cluster were presented, while socio-demographics and travel features varied significantly among the groups. This paper suggests that e-travelers in China are largely representative of independent Chinese tourists, and supports the argument that Chinese tourists are rarely concerned about interpersonal constraints in long-haul international trips. The findings should also help destination marketers and practitioners target potential tourists and enhance their destination marketing and travel services.