America s Destination Image as Seen through Chinese Outbound Tourists Eyes Xiang (Robert) Li, Ph.D. School of HRTM, University of South Carolina Svetlana Stepchenkova, Ph.D. Department of TRSM, University of Florida
Mainland China as a Growing Source Market In 2009, Chinese citizens made approximately 47.66 million trips outside Mainland China (Qian, 2010) The UNWTO estimates that by 2020 there will be 100 million outbound Chinese tourists, making China the 4 th largest source of outbound travel in the world (cited in Pan, 2007). It has been estimated that over 11.5 million Chinese have traveled or plan to travel to destinations outside Asia (Li, Harrill, Uysal, Burnett, & Zhan, 2010)
Arrivals from Mainland China to U.S.: 2000 2009 600 number of arrivals (Unit: 000) 400 200 249 232 226 157 203 270 320 397 493 525 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Source: U. S. Department of Commerce, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries
Destination Perception as an Associative Network The destination perception held in tourist memory (Cai, 2002) is part of their destination brand knowledge (Li et al., 2008), which is arguably akin to a large associative network (Anderson, 1983; Keller, 1993)
Building a brand image amounts to identifying the most relevant associations and strengthening their linkages to the brand (Cai, 2002, p. 723)
Echtner and Ritchie s Model Echtner and Ritchie (1991, 1993) s 3- dimensional framework of TDI: attribute-holistic continuum functional-psychological continuum common-unique continuum Collectively, the image characteristics, features, and attributes described in Echtner and Ritchie (1991, 1993) s model may all be considered as different brand nodes and brand associations of tourists brand knowledge
Purposes of This Study Understanding Chinese tourists collective mental perception of the United States as a travel destination identifying major features and components of the America travel brand; examine the links and associations among these images; and exploring image differences among customer groups with different levels of travel experiences (Oppermann, 1998)
The Study Framework Phase 1 阶段 1 Telephone survey in 11 Chinese cities 在中国 11 个城市的电话访谈 (N=7,000) Phase 2 阶段 2 11 Customer Focus Groups in 11 Chinese cities 在中国 11 个城市的焦点团体座谈 (N=8/session) Travel Trade Interviews 中国出境游旅行社访谈 (N=30) Government Official Interviews 中国政府官员访谈 (N=30) Phase 3 阶段 3 In-person customer interviews in China 中国出境游客深度访谈 (N=1,600) In-person customer interviews in US-China return flight 中国旅美游客回程访谈 (N=400)
Target Population Long-haul Chinese outbound leisure travelers: nonagricultural, adult Mainland Chinese citizens who have taken a leisure trip of 4 or more nights, by plane, outside Asia in the past 3 years or plan to take one in the next 2 years (Li, Harrill, Uysal, Burnett, & Zhan, 2010, p. 253) USA (400) had been to the U.S. for leisure purposes in the past 3 years Outside Asia (400) had traveled outside of Asia (but not the U.S.) in the past 3 years Within Asia (400) had traveled within Asia in the past 3 yr and were interested in traveling outside of Asia in the next 2 yr Potential (400) had not traveled outside of China in the past 3 yr but were interested in traveling outside of Asia in the next 2 yr
Have traveled outside Asia Have traveled inside Asia, but not outside Asia Have never traveled abroad Plan to travel 1 outside Asia 3 4 Plan to travel inside Asia only 6 2 Do not want to 5 travel abroad 7
Three Unstructured Questions Stereotypical image: What three images or characteristics first come to mind when you think of the U.S. as a leisure travel destination? Please list the 3 things that come to your mind first. Affective image: How would you describe the atmosphere or mood that you would expect to experience while visiting the U.S.? Please list the 3 words that come to your mind first. Unique image: Please list three distinctive tourist attractions, cities, or states you can think of in the U.S. (Echtner & Ritchie, 1991; Stepchenkova &Morrison, 2008)
Respondents Profile 55% male vs. 45% female 74% between 20 and 50 years old 70% married/partnered 68% with above high school education 80% employed full- or part-time 85% reported income < RMB 40,000 Median income RMB 10,000-19,999 91% had high speed Internet connection at home or at work
Stereotypical: Top Three Economically developed Democracy/freedom Statue of Liberty 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 out of 272 mentioned 392 Economically developed 232 Democracy/freedom 187 Statue of Liberty
Affective: Top Three Happiness/delight Excitement/excited Relaxation out of 141 1400 1200 1000 800 600 1190 400 758 200 265 0 Happiness/delight Excitement/excited Relaxation
Unique: Top Three New York Hawaii San Francisco 700 600 500 400 out of 129 300 200 100 0 578 432 374 New York Hawaii San Francisco
Stereotypical Image Hollywood (35) 15 High tech (121) 18 17 California Disneyland (82) 16 29 Sunshine (59) White House (83) Hawaii (93) 28 18 The Statue of Liberty (187) 13 37 Economically developed (392) Sea/beach (166) Fashionable place (70) Beautiful country (137) 56 15 15 Democracy/ freedom (232) 76 Openness (181) 35 28 Amiable/ friendly people (87)
.8.4 0.0 -.4 -.8-1.2 16 6 18 11 10 Potential 8 3 20 7 Within 5 Asia 1 13 Outside Asia 419 2 14 17 USA 12 9 21 15 1. Economically developed 2.Democracy/freedom 3. Statue of Liberty 4. Openness 5. Sea/beach 6. Beautiful country 7. HighTech 8. Hawaii 9. Friendly people 10. White House 11. California Disneyland 12. Modernization 13. Graceful environment 14. Fashionable place 15. Clean unpolluted 16. Sunshine 17. Casino 18. New York 19. Wealth 20. China town 21. Convenient transportation GROUP -1.6 image number -1.0 -.5 0.0.5 1.0
Stereotypical Image USA Outside Asia Within Asia Potential Total Chisquare* p- value** Economically developed 87 72 129 104 392 22.025 0.000 Democracy/freedom 69 74 46 43 232 15.043 0.002 Statue of Liberty 44 45 47 51 187 Openness 50 61 39 31 181 12.777 0.005 Sea/beach 37 30 51 48 166 Beautiful country 20 25 39 53 137 21.162 0.000 HighTech 27 27 37 30 121 Hawaii 17 17 24 35 93 9.898 0.019 Friendly people 28 32 11 16 87 14.234 0.003 White House 17 21 22 23 83 California Disneyland 15 22 22 23 82 Modernization 31 21 18 11 81 10.754 0.013 Graceful environment 14 25 22 17 78 Fashionable place 22 20 12 16 70 Clean unpolluted environment 37 8 15 8 68 34.772 0.000 Sunshine 7 10 23 19 59 Casino 17 13 13 9 52 New York 9 12 10 19 50 Wealth 14 17 11 8 50 Chinatown 10 12 17 10 49 Convenient transpor tation 15 19 10 5 49 9.326 0.025 * The degree of freedom for all tests is 3. ** Only tests results with p-value less than 0.05 are shown.
Affective Image Comfort (85) A place I hope to visit (78) Amiable/ friendly people (107) 50 59 Happiness/ delight (1190) 48 44 90 587 Novelty (135) 49 Democracy/ freedom (112) 18 60 133 194 Relaxation (265) 68 Excitement (721) 19 Openness (53) 48 57 Enjoy life/holiday (192) 51 39 Tension (69)
2 1 0-1 13 17 15 10 Potential 8 14 Outside Asia 1 5 6 9 18 11 7 2 USA 3 Within Asia 4 19 12 16 1. Happiness/delight 2. Excitement/excited 3. Relaxation 4. Enjoy life/holidays 5. Novelty 6. Democracy/freedom 7. Friendly people 8. Comfort 9. Place I hope to visit 10. Tension 11. Openness 12. Interesting 13. Depressing 14. Pleasant mood 15. Romanticism 16. Full of entertainment 17. Beautiful country 18. Passion 19.Energy 20. Fashionable place Dimension 2-2 20 GROUP image number -1.5-1.0 -.5 0.0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Affective Image USA Outside Asia Within Asia Potential Total Chisquare* p- value** Happi ness/de light 298 300 283 309 1190 Excitement/excited 202 192 199 165 758 Relaxation 94 81 61 29 265 43.467 0.000 Enjoy life/enjoy holidays 48 50 63 31 192 12.263 0.007 Novelty 38 42 31 24 135 Democracy/freedom 25 29 30 28 112 Friendly people 30 25 27 25 107 Comfort 25 12 16 32 85 12.064 0.007 A place that I hope to visit 14 24 24 16 78 Tension 8 18 20 23 69 Openness 14 20 14 5 53 8.957 0.030 Interesting 7 20 2 3 32 26.276 0.000 Depressing 2 6 10 14 32 10.204 0.017 Pleasant mood 9 12 4 5 30 Romanticism 8 8 3 11 30 Place full of entertainment 6 13 5 0 24 14.552 0.002 Beautiful country 4 0 11 8 23 12.131 0.007 Passion 8 6 4 4 22 Energy 5 5 8 4 22 Fasionable place 10 3 8 0 21 12.111 0.007 * The degree of freedom for all tests is 3. ** Only tests results with p-value less than 0.05 are shown.
22 Yellowstone 74 19 16 See/beach 51 3 Philadelphia 74 108 San Francisco 369 91 Hawaii 431 30 148 68 73 61 45 Las Vegas 176 53 145 49 34 30 Disneyland CA 190 33 Grand Canyon 173 22 Universal Studio Of Hollywood 78 Ocean World/ Busch Gardens 56 16 Washington 352 57 Las Angeles 242 94 61 New York 577 38 White House 161 51 22 Chinatown 82 199 35 19 Statue of Liberty 215 Golden Gate Bridge 50 19 Houston 73 24 Chicago 115 19 19 37 Hollywood 95 California 103 Unique Image
1.5 1.0.5 0.0 -.5 11 Potential 18 5 16 Within Asia 10 14 17 2 8 4 3 1 Outside Asia 12 7 6 USA 13 9 15 19 20 1. New York 2. Hawaii 3. San-Francisco 4. Washington 5. Los Angeles 6. Statue of Liberty 7. Disneyland CA 8. Las Vegas 9. Grand Canyon 10. White House 11. Chicago 12. California 13. Hollywood 14. Chinatown 15. Universal Studio 16. Philadelphia 17. Yellowstone 18. Houston 19. Ocean World/Busch Garden 20. Sea/beach GROUP 1.0 image number -1.5-1.0 -.5 0.0.5 1.0 1.5
Unique Image USA Outside Asia Within Asia Potential Total Chisquare* p- value** CITIES New York 122 159 139 158 578 9.788 0.020 San Francisco 83 101 97 93 374 Washington 72 94 97 89 352 Las Angeles 47 53 50 92 242 26.115 0.000 Las Vegas 46 42 48 40 176 Chicago 15 21 26 53 115 31.658 0.000 Philade lphia 13 11 30 20 74 12.525 0.006 Houston 9 21 16 27 73 10.033 0.018 STATES Hawaii 96 104 117 115 432 California 30 24 18 31 103 ATTRACTIONS The Statue of Liberty 54 44 81 36 215 24.776 0.000 California Disneyland 58 52 41 39 190 Grand Canyon 54 53 37 29 173 11.737 0.008 White House 43 34 51 33 161 Hollywood 28 31 22 15 96 Chinatown 25 13 22 22 82 Universal Studio 24 20 24 10 78 Yellowstone 24 12 20 18 74 Ocean World/Busch Gardens 21 15 12 9 57 Sea/beach 16 20 11 4 51 11.565 0.009 Niagara Falls 12 14 11 14 51 Golden Gate Bridge 27 12 10 1 50 28.821 0.000 * The degree of freedom for all tests is 3 ** Only tests results with p-value less than 0.05 are shown
Missing Data USA Outside Asia Within Asia Potential Total Stereotypical 56 55 78 119 308 Affective 198 206 219 307 930 Unique 48 36 50 106 240 ANOVA: the Potential group is significantly different from other groups
Conclusion Chinese outbound tourists destination image of America is very complex. The unstructured approach generated rich information but also presented challenges to data analysis. Overall, Chinese outbound tourists perception of America is highly urban, featuring advanced economic development, open and democratic system, high technology, and big cities. Further, the four groups of respondents reported somewhat different perceptions of the U.S., which may reflect different travel experiences and horizons (Oppermann, 1998), as well as different levels of familiarity with the U.S.
Conclusion The findings also provide a reality-check on many American destinations awareness level in the Chinese market. The findings may be applied to tour package and product (itinerary) design targeting Chinese tourists. The findings have important marketing and geo-political implications.
For more information, please contact: Xiang (Robert) Li, Ph.D. E-mail: robertli@mailbox.sc.edu Phone: 1-803-777-2764 Svetlana Stepchenkova, Ph.D. E-mail: svetlana.step@ufl.edu Phone: 1-352-392-4042 x 1411