Destination In China Research Articles

Is Ecological Birdwatching Tourism a More Effective Way to Transform the Value of Ecosystem Services?-A Case Study of Birdwatching Destinations in Mingxi County, China.

Ecological birdwatching tourism is an ecological product and an essential part of ecotourism, and the realization of its recreation value is crucial for improving human well-being, and realization of the local benefits of ecosystem services for areas focused on biodiversity conservation, especially in bird species. In this study, we use travel cost interval analysis, one of the travel cost derived models featuring more easily satisfied assumptions and less limited data, to evaluate the recreation value of the ecological bird-watching tourism destination, and compare it with the general ecotourism, of Mingxi County destination in China. The results show that, firstly, the per capita recreation value of eco-birdwatching is 3.9 times that of general eco-tourism, its per capita social benefit is three times that of general eco-tourism, and its per capita economic benefit is 4.5 times that of general eco-tourism. Secondly, compared with general ecotourists, the per capita travel costs of eco-birdwatchers are higher, and there were significant statistical differences in the expenses for catering, tickets, shopping, opportunity cost, and total travel expenses between these two groups. Thirdly, in comparison with general ecotourists, the marginal cost of an individual eco-birdwatcher is higher, and the travel intention of an eco-birdwatcher is more robust at the same cost level. The price of a single eco-birdwatcher is higher under the same travel intention demand level. In short, the ecological bird-watching industry has a higher marginal value than general eco-tourism and has higher social, economic, and ecological benefits, bringing a higher level of development for the local tourism industry.

Research on spatial difference and dynamic mechanism of virtual tourism flow based on online group purchase

<p class="15">Taking the online group purchase of tourism products as the research perspective and the online group purchase virtual tourism flow of tourism products in 26 tourism destinations in China as the research data, this paper studies the spatial distribution differences and formation dynamic mechanism of virtual tourism flow through the method of spatial analysis. On the whole, the online group purchase virtual tourism flow shows weak discrete distribution characteristics, and some parts show certain aggregation. The virtual passenger flow is concentrated in the provinces with rich tourism resources in the south coast and central China, and the group purchase virtual tourism flow in the central and western regions, North China and Northeast China is small. The spatial distribution of group purchase virtual tourism flow is the result of the joint action of internal and external driving forces and environmental driving forces. The external driving forces include three main driving factors: product group purchase price, product type and network marketing spatial structure. Relevant analysis shows that group purchase price is the most important external driving factor, followed by product type and finally network marketing spatial structure. Taking group buying virtual tourism flow as the research perspective has a certain novelty, which makes up for the weakness of tourism flow in virtual space. The flow direction of virtual tourism flow can reflect the real tourism flow to a certain extent, and even guide the real tourism flow. The research of virtual tourism flow provides a predictive warning for the flow management and capacity management of scenic spots.</p>

The impact of climate change on birder destination loyalty: examining changes in bird resources

ABSTRACT Climate change has had a considerable impact on bird activities; however, it remains unclear how birders perceive the effects of climate change and whether their perceptions affect their loyalty to birding destinations. Based on the cognitive appraisal theory of emotions, this study constructs a destination loyalty model driven by the perception that bird resources have changed and place attachment of birders. We collected 252 valid questionnaires at five well-known birding destinations in China, including Baihualing in Yunnan, Nonggang in Guangxi, Chengdu in Sichuan, and Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong to test the proposed model. The study indicated four important findings. First, when climate change caused significant changes in bird migration time as perceived by birders, their loyalty to birding destinations was significantly reduced. Second, when mediated by place attachment, changes in bird migration time, population and distribution/habitat had negative impacts on loyalty to birding destinations. Third, the change in bird departure time had the greatest impact on birding destination loyalty. Finally, the change in bird distribution/habitat in a city had the greatest impact on place attachment than changes in migration time and population of birds. Specific theoretical and practical implications are provided.

Factors Influencing Chinese Tourist to Select Bangkok, Thailand as A Travel Destination

This study aims to investigate factors influencing the Bangkok-focused tourist destination selection in China. In addition, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo, Japan were selected for comparison by assessing four destination attributes including culture, transportation, architecture, and food. In this study, we used a sample of 400 Chinese tourists who have traveled to Bangkok. The main research issue is to reveal the first- and second-order potential factors generating significant influences on Chinese tourists’ choice of Bangkok as their destination. The aim of this study is to explore the structural relationships among the mentioned first-order and second-order latent variables, and their impact on the choice of tourist destinations in China. Due to the competitive nature of Chinese tourist destinations, we believe that there might be some potential factors that significantly affected their choice decision, therefore we applied the second-order Structural Equation Models (SEM) to capture these potentially unobservable factors. The result showed that our proposed model appeared to fit well: the RMSEA was 0.03 (<0.06) and values of GFI, AGFI, NFI, TLI, and CFI were greater than 0.9 (most of them were even larger than 0.95). More importantly, Food (F), Emotional Factor (EF) representing food and cultural indulgence, and Physical Factor (PF) representing Architecture and Transportation facility of the destination showed significant impacts on tourist destination choice as their p-values were less than 0.05. Hence, Thai food and anything that could maximize the emotional and functional values of Chinese tourists would make travel choices to become their travel destination. At the same time, it was aimed to provide some valuable suggestions for tourist cities currently under threat from COVID-19, to recover or better in the coming years, providing some evidence for future researchers to further explore this field.

Investigating Non-Host Residents’ Perspectives of the Impacts of a Mega Sports Event: The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games

ABSTRACT Current research on the impacts of mega events have focused on the residents of the host destination despite the potential spillover effects of the impacts from the host destination to neighboring communities. This study adopts a mixed method approach to investigate the views of non-host residents from the five major cities (i.e., Qiqihar, Harbin, Mudanjiang, Jiamusi, and Daqing) in neighboring Heilongjiang province, a tier-one winter destination in China that is expected to benefit from the spillover effects of the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the relevance of mega events for non-host tier-one destinations, and by providing policymakers with insights into economic, socio-cultural, environmental, tourism development, knowledge development, and residents’ quality of life considerations that are relevant for garnering the support of residents beyond the host destination.

Do Knowledge and Experience Value Affect Green Tourism Activity Participation and Buying Decision? A Case Study of Natural Dyeing Experience in China

With the rapid development of niche tourism, green tourism activity has become known to the wider public. By taking into account the extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study takes natural dyeing experience as a case study, with the aim of determining the tourist purchase intention of green products under the destination experience scenario. A quantitative approach was adopted, and 349 valid sets of data were collected from individuals who have participated in natural dyeing activities. Partial least squares–structural equation modelling (PLS–SEM) analysis was conducted to test the conceptual model. The results indicate that experience value (EV) had a significant impact on green purchase conception and intention. In addition, subjective norm had a significant positive influence on tourism green purchase attitude. However, environmental knowledge failed to predict green purchase attitude and perceived behavioural control. The PLS–SEM analysis confirmed the extended TPB model, which showed relatively good predictive validity. Findings suggest that TPB mediated the relationship between EV and purchase intention. The extended model considerably contributes to improving understanding of the impact on green tourism products and dissects theoretical and practical implications to practitioners. Apart from strengthening the experience value from attaining, learning, escapism, and fantasy aspects, on the basis of previous literature, this study concludes that practically, environmental education regarding the experimental environment in tourism destinations in China should return to green activity itself and induce the support of green tourism products. Tourism marketers should trigger personal green knowledge through sense experience in the process of stimulating and promoting green tourism activities, as well as stimulate purchasing power.

The influence of historical nostalgia on a heritage destination's brand authenticity, brand attachment, and brand equity

AbstractThis article aims to examine an integrative model of historical nostalgia, brand authenticity, brand attachment, and brand equity based on the case of the Shaolin Temple, a heritage destination in China. The discussion is based on 470 responses collected from visitors to the historical place. The results demonstrate the positive mediating effect of brand authenticity and brand attachment on historical nostalgia and destination brand equity. This study contributes to the literature constructing the brand equity of heritage tourism destination by investigating the positive role of historical nostalgia. It helps heritage tourism stakeholders implement policies on brand authenticity and brand attachment.

Cultivating destination brand ambassadors in rural China: Examining the role of residents' welcoming nature

AbstractConsistent with growing research interest in local residents' roles and resident‐tourist relationship in destination marketing and branding, this study examines how residents' welcoming nature affects their destination brand advocacy and brand‐consistent behaviors in a rural destination in China. Focusing on destination branding in rural China and drawing upon internal branding literature, this study further examines how resident perceived interaction quality with tourists transforms their welcoming nature into destination brand‐supporting behaviors. Findings offer strong empirical results that highlight a critical internal branding perspective for mobilizing residents to support the destination brand. This study offers further theoretical and practical insights to an internally driven approach that cultivates destination brand ambassadors.

How do you feel about crowding at destinations? An exploration based on user-generated content

Abstract: Although crowding at a destination has been regarded as a critical factor influencing tourist experience, no consistent conclusion has been reached regarding the relationship between perceptions of crowding and tourist satisfaction. This study intends to explore the influence of perceived crowding on satisfaction, and the moderators of this relationship. It is based on an analysis of 72,890 user-generated reviews covering 218 destinations in China. The level of satisfaction of tourists who mention crowding in their reviews was generally lower than that of tourists not mentioning this factor. Among tourists who mentioned crowding, the perceived degree of crowding had a larger impact on those tourists with greater travel experience. The findings contribute to the literature and have practical implications for destination management.

Formation of Environmentally Friendly Tourist Behaviors in Ecotourism Destinations in China

The rapid development of ecotourism provides a win–win path for ecological and environmental protection and sustainable economic development. However, environmental problems are increasingly prominent in ecotourism destinations, which seriously hinders their sustainable development. This study explored how environmental knowledge, environmental perceived value, perceived consumption effectiveness, and environmental attitudes stimulate and shape environmentally friendly tourist behaviors. A sample survey of 406 tourists at Taibai Mountain National Nature Reserve in China was conducted, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the causal relationships in the formation of environmentally friendly behaviors. The results show that environmental knowledge has a significant positive impact on environmental attitudes, environmental perceived value, and perceived consumption effectiveness. Further, environmental perceived value has a significant positive impact on environmental attitudes and environmentally friendly behavior; environmental attitudes and environmental behavior have a significant positive impact; environmental awareness has a significant positive impact on environmental behaviors; and perceived consumption effectiveness has a significant positive impact on environmentally friendly behaviors and is the most important direct predictor. Overall, the results reveal the formation mechanism of environmental friendly behavior, and provide a scientific basis and theoretical support for the stimulation and shaping of environmentally friendly tourist behaviors in ecotourism destinations.

Environmental perceptions and willingness to pay for preservation: Evidence from beach destinations in China

AbstractBeaches are regarded as a core resource in coastal tourism. However, they are being eroded by environmental pollution, which has negative impacts on visitors' tourism experiences. This study proposed a framework to elaborate the effects of visitors' environmental perceptions on satisfaction and willingness to pay for environmental protection. The findings revealed that visitors' perceptions of a beach's quality had significant positive effects on their satisfaction. Furthermore, satisfaction significantly increased visitors' willingness to pay for environmental protection. In addition, visitors' perceptions of the beach environment had a direct and positive impact on their willingness to pay for environmental protection.

Using Geotagged Social Media Data to Explore Sentiment Changes in Tourist Flow: A Spatiotemporal Analytical Framework

Understanding sentiment changes in tourist flow is critical in designing exciting experiences for tourists and promoting sustainable tourism development. This paper proposes a novel analytical framework to investigate the tourist sentiment changes between different attractions based on geotagged social media data. Our framework mainly focuses on visualizing the detailed sentiment changes of tourists and exploring the valuable spatiotemporal pattern of the sentiment changes in tourist flow. The tourists were first identified from social media users. Then, we accurately evaluated the tourist sentiment by constructing a Chinese sentiment dictionary, grammatical rule, and sentiment score. Based on the location information of social media data, we built and visualized the tourist flow network. Last, to further reveal the impact of attractions on the sentiment of tourist flow, the positive and negative sentiment profiles were generated by mining social media texts. We took Beijing, a famous tourist destination in China, as a case study. Our results revealed the following: (1) the temporal trend of tourist sentiment has seasonal characteristics and is significantly influenced by government control policies against COVID-19; (2) due to the impact of the attraction’s historical background, some tourist flows with highly decreased sentiment strength are linked to attractions; (3) on the long journey to the attraction, the sentiment strength of tourists decreases; and (4) bad traffic conditions can significantly decrease tourist sentiment. This study highlights the methodological implications of visualizing sentiment changes during collective tourist movement and provides comprehensive insight into the spatiotemporal pattern of tourist sentiment.

Food Waste Behaviours at Buffet Restaurants in China

Food waste is regarded as one of the most challenging issues in the world today with enormous environmental and socio-economic impacts, especially in China, where food waste produced per capita is estimated to be 44 kg per year. However, a review in literature suggests a lack of empirical studies investigating the motivations, management, legislation, policies, and initiative to decrease food waste in the most populated country in the world (with more than 1.4 billion residents). In this study, we collected data through participant observations, casual conversations, and in-depth interviews with 30 Chinese respondents at three buffet restaurants in Haikou, Hainan Province, a popular holiday destination in China. Findings suggest that food waste was significantly influenced by the misperception of the amount of food that a person expected to be able to eat. Food-saving behaviour was also observed as a result of high moral standards and self-discipline. Specifically, people exhibit a higher likelihood of food waste because of value for money. Patrons’ lack of environmental knowledge is more likely to contribute to wasteful behaviours. We proposed initiatives to reduce food waste at buffet restaurants in the concluding remarks of this paper.

Acoustic environment management in the countryside: A case study of tourist sentiment for rural soundscapes in China

For sustainable environment development in the countryside and rural tourism destinations, we must pay greater attention to acoustic environment management and rural soundscape planning. Field surveys were performed using rural soundscape questionnaires to evaluate soundscape expectations and soundscape sentiments for the psycho-acoustic characteristics of rural soundscapes in Zhuquan Village, a rural tourism destination in China. The main findings of the 452 survey questionnaires show that the natural sounds of geophonies and biophonies are the rural tourists’ soundscape preferences, and sounds of spring and streams, bird song, and sounds of waterwheels are the rural tourists’ soundscape expectations. In the planning and management of rural soundscapes, we should reduce unwanted sounds, and protect and develop rich natural sounds, native lifestyle and traditional cultural soundscapes, so as to create an acoustically authentic atmosphere in the ideal rural tourism destination originating from idyllic Shangri-La.

Distance decay of place attachment and perceived authenticity of mountain tourism destinations in China

Place attachment has been a research focus in the fields of park and recreation management. Place attachment plays an important role in promoting sustainable development of parks and mountain tourism destination, however, there are limited studies that identified the spatial patterns of place attachment, especially in the context of mountain tourism destinations in China. Also, the geospatial spectrum of visitors is usually broad, examining the multivariate relationships among spatial proximity, perceived authenticity, and place attachment are essential for mountain tourism destinations to promote destination image and strengthen emotional bonding with targeted visitor groups. In this study, we selected an iconic and highly visited park, Jiuzhai Valley National Park in China, as our study site and conducted an on-site visitor survey to collect 557 samples. Study uses factor analysis and the structure equation model to analyze the relationship among spatial proximity, perceived authenticity, and place attachment. Results validate the two-dimension structure of place attachment and perceived authenticity. Study findings suggest that spatial proximity has significant impacts on existential authenticity and place identity, but has no significant impacts on place dependence. Perceived authenticity has a positive impact on place attachment. Study results advance the theories of place attachment and provide effective strategies to enhance emotional attachment between visitors and mountain tourism destinations.

Valuing tourists’ willingness to pay for conserving the non-use values of marine tourism resources: a comparison of three archipelagic tourism destinations in China

The conservation of marine tourism resources based on the public’s preference for non-use values is important to the sustainable development of marine tourism. The objectives of this article are to explore the willingness to pay (WTP) for the non-use values of marine tourism resources and how such WTP differs among types of marine tourism resources in China. A contingent valuation study was undertaken at three archipelagic tourism destinations: the Miaodao Archipelago, with beaches and maritime geological heritage (Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea areas); the Zhoushan Archipelago, with beaches and maritime culture (East China Sea area) and Sanya and nearby islands, with beaches and coral reefs (South China Sea area). Tourists’ WTP varies by resource type, among which the WTP for the above six subsamples ranged from ¥192.93 to ¥373.16, confirming the existence of the non-use values of marine tourism resources in China. These results not only provide references for determining priorities for protecting marine tourism resources but also suggest that policymakers can focus on the more attractive resources to raise conservation funds, thus promoting the realization of general conservation objectives. Furthermore, this article offers novel insights into the validity and reliability test of contingent valuation method (CVM) studies.

Creating Memorable Experience in Rural Tourism: A Comparison between Domestic and Outbound Tourists

Delivering memorable experiences is the essence of the tourism industry and has been regarded as a core aspect of competitiveness for destinations under the experiential marketing paradigm. However, knowledge remains scarce regarding how memorability can be generated and how it shapes tourist behavior. Taking rural tourism as the research context, this study proposes a theoretical model in which memorability is generated through ordinary experiences (perceived quality and satisfaction) and extraordinary experiences (perceived novelty and delight), which go on to influence word of mouth. This model was tested using two data sets gathered from Chinese tourists visiting rural destinations in China ( n = 873) and in New Zealand ( n = 500), respectively. Findings from the two groups are compared and discussed.

Exploring the patterns of food waste generation by tourists in a popular destination

Tourist food consumption is an important driver of food waste generation within the hotel/restaurant/café (HORECA) sector of popular destinations. Little is however known about the exact magnitude of food wastage by tourists alongside the determinants of their wasteful behaviour. This study has striven to contribute to knowledge with an exploratory survey in Lhasa, a popular destination in China, which set to establish the size of food wastage by tourists and explain the role of various socio-demographic and food consumption-related factors in its occurrence by statistical analysis and multiple linear regression analysis, respectively. The study found that tourists generated circa 15% of the total food waste in the HORECA sector, while the taste preferences and portion size were two major causes. The level of tourist education and personal satisfaction with meals exerted a significant negative impact on food waste generation. To reduce food wastage, policy-makers and HORECA professionals should educate tourists about the detrimental effect of wasted food and increase their satisfaction with meals. The research findings provided insights into achieving sustainability objectives in national and international tourism sectors.

Analyzing government role in rural tourism development: An empirical investigation from China

Abstract Rural tourism in China is flourishing, largely credited by the scholars in China to the national government's stimulating policies and emphasis on rural regeneration. Against this backdrop and given the scarce literature on the government as a critical stakeholder in rural tourism, this study examines the roles of Chinese central- and local-level governments in rural tourism development. We analyzed both secondary data sourced from government documents and primary data collected through interviews with local government employees and residents at a rural destination in China. The results indicate that the central government plays a steering role in guiding rural tourism towards desired directions, and the local government plays a serving role by directly managing tourism practices and coordinating with businesses and residents to provide services and solve problems. The synergistic interaction of the central and local governments in China stimulates the rapid development of rural tourism.

A comparison of the holiday climate index:beach and the tourism climate index across coastal destinations in China.

Climatic resources are vitally important for tourism, driving major intra- and inter-regional travel flows for sun-sand-surf (3S) tourism around the world. The development of climate indices to measure the suitability of climate for major tourism market segments has evolved over three decades. This study provides the first application of the holiday climate index (HCI):Beach specification in the Asia-Pacific tourism region. The HCI is designed from international tourist climate preference studies and is compared with the tourism climate index (TCI), which is widely applied, but not based on tourist climate preferences. The index inter-comparison is conducted at 14 of the most popular beach resort destinations in China, which include four geographic regions of China with four different Köppen classifications. The results show key differences between the two indices in rating the climatic suitability of the selected beach destinations in China, with the TCI rating beach destinations in the north and south higher during the spring and fall seasons, which is not consistent with beach tourism visits. During the summer months, southern destinations have much higher HCI:Beach rating, reflecting the 3S tourists’ desire for higher temperatures. The findings reinforce those from other tourism regions that indicate the TCI is not appropriate for assessing 3S tourism potential and that additional cross-cultural studies of tourist climate indices are needed to better inform market segment climate service development and to understand the potential impacts of future climate change.