Chinese Tourists Travel motivations And their resultant preferred travel activities.

Chinese Tourists Travel motivations And their resultant preferred travel activities. An analysis of past studies of Chinese outbound tourist from the past six years sets up a framework of Chinese outbound tourist motivations and their resultant activities. Sanne Leuenhagen Petersen Cand.negot. International Tourism and Leisure Management, SDU Esbjerg 12-11-2009

Table of content Abstract... 1 Chinese outbound tourism the golden egg!... 2 Objective... 2 The research undertaken... 3 China... 4 The Chinese Outbound Travel Market... 4 Characteristics of Chinese outbound tourists... 6 Chinese Tourists in Denmark... 6 Motivations, preferences, destination attributes and Chinese tourists... 7 Motivations for travelling... 7 Chinese travel motivations... 8 Destination attributes and travel activity preferences... 10 Chinese tourists desired destination attributes and activity preferences... 10 Linking it all... 12 The implications for marketing... 15 Barriers to Chinese tourism in Odense... 17 Conclusion... 18 Literature... 20 Websites... 21

Abstract The Chinese outbound travel market has been proclaimed as the next big market for destinations around the world due to its rapid growth. This paper investigates the travel motivations of the Chinese outbound tourists and their resultant travel activities. An analysis of past studies of Chinese outbound tourist from the past six years is carried out to set up a framework of Chinese outbound tourist motivations and their resultant activities. Studies of tourism motivational factors are compared and discussed. Added to this to give a better picture of the activities performed to satisfy these motivational factors an analysis is carried out of studies of destination attributes, satisfaction and preferred travel activities. These are analyzed and discussed and traced back to the motivational factors identified and a framework is suggested. The implications on the future marketing of Odense city of this framework are suggested and the barriers to Chinese tourism in Odense are considered. The paper aims to give a basis for further research and the tentative beginning of a marketing plan for Odense City. 1

Chinese outbound tourism the golden egg! The Chinese tourists are by many seen as the goldmine of tourism. If only the destination can get its foot in the door then the sheer number of Chinese will generate enough revenue to keep the economy going. However, even though this is true, very little is known about the Chinese tourists. The Chinese travel market is only just emerging. For many years the Chinese did not have the income or a political approach which allowed overseas or outbound travel. Purely leisure tourism is a relatively new type of outbound tourists from China. This type of travel which requires no business objectives or family in the visited country is only 10 years old and for Denmark and the Schengen countries it is even newer. An agreement which gave the Schengen-area Approved Destination Status only came about in 2004. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO) the annual number of outbound Chinese tourists is supposed to reach 100 million in 2020 and become the fourth largest source of outbound travel in the world (WTO, 2003). These figures alone encourage destinations and businesses to try and attract this huge market. But who are they and why do they travel? The market is so new and unexplored and so large that it is hard to find answers to these questions. If Odense City is to compete with other cities and destinations in Denmark, Scandinavia and/or Europe, the city needs to know what drives the Chinese tourists to travel and what they value in a destination. Objective This paper investigates the travel motivations of Chinese outbound tourists and how these are expressed in the activities preferred by Chinese outbound tourists. The answers sought are therefore: - What characterizes the travel motivations of Chinese outbound tourists? - How are the motivations expressed in activities and actions? - What are the implications for the future marketing of Odense City? To be able to attract Chinese tourists it is also necessary to look at what motivates Chinese tourists to travel so that these motivations and through them the activities can be marketed by Odense City. 2

The research undertaken The paper was supposed to be supported by an online survey among young Chinese on their willingness to use the internet as a travel information source and vacation booking tool as well as a short section on their knowledge of Denmark and their previous travel experience and their hope for their future travels. However, the online survey was distributed via Facebook and Twitter, but the Chinese government blocked the access to the internet at the time of data collection and only 9 respondents answered before access was cut off. This means that the survey results are not reliable and cannot be used to illustrate and enlighten us on Chinese tourists internet usage and preferences. Therefore the focus of the paper was changed to emphasize past studies of Chinese outbound tourists and their travel motivations. Through this analysis of past studies the implications for the future marketing of Odense City is investigated taking its starting point from the socio-psychological push-pull factors of travel motivation. Personnel correspondence with various actors within Chinese tourism were contacted via email and informally asked about their view on the future of Chinese tourism and how a destination can enter the market. This personal correspondence is the main primary research for this paper, due to the problems with internet accessibility for Chinese in the collection period. The personal correspondence was carried out in the beginning as part of the explorative design of the online survey. The correspondence is therefore not included in the paper, but it will be indicated when knowledge was obtained through these sources. The main part of the research used is secondary from other surveys and research findings which have been reviewed and combined to give a new and unified look at the Chinese outbound tourists. The research on Chinese tourists and consumers is very fragmented as this is a new and emerging market. Therefore the information in this paper is taken from many and varying sources. After reviewing the motivations found for Chinese tourists, implications for marketing Odense as a tourism destination are analyzed. This is done to find new ways to improve the offerings of Odense tourism attractions and websites to make them more attractive to Chinese tourists. 3

China China covers 9.3 million square kilometer and has a population of over 1.3 billion and an estimated GDP per capita in 2004 of 5,600 USD. The country is very strictly government controlled and this has meant that tourism has only recently become a significant economic factor in China foreign policy (www.cia.gov, accessed 2-11-2009). Source: www.maps.com, accessed 1-11-2009 The Chinese Outbound Travel Market In the last 26 years Chinese citizens have been allowed to travel outside of China to visit relatives and family. The first many years it was only to Hong Kong and Macau but slowly the Chinese government has opened up the borders, and in 1997 it was decided to allow Chinese citizens to travel at their own expenses and new destinations for outbound tourism were approved. Australia and New Zealand were the first to achieve Approved Destination Status (ADS) by the Chinese government in 1999 (WTO, 2003). Since then there has been a quick increase in the number of countries on the ADS list. By December 2008 135 countries were on the list but only 100 countries actively approved visas (Graff & Hu, 2008). Chinese outbound travel has had a drastic increase since then going hand in hand with the development and increase in GDP. The Chinese National Tourism Board is the official government organization controlling tourism. The emphasis has been on domestic and inbound tourism as these types of tourism creates development and income within China. Therefore the statistics and focus on those travelling outside of China has not been great (Graff & Hu, 2008). However, from 4

million tourists different sources a table of outbound Chinese tourism can be created, which clearly highlights this increase in outbound tourists. 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Chinese Outbound Tourists 1: source: (Chow & Murphy, 2008, p. 63) (Graff & Hu, 2008, p. 27) If only a destination can attract a small percentage of the Chinese tourists the impact would be significant as the market continues to grow. There is not only a high annual increase in Chinese outbound tourism, but it is also well above the general global increase in overall tourism. According to the World Tourism Organization by 2020 there will be over 100 million Chinese outbound tourists. This will account for over six percent of the world s travelers, thus making China an extremely important market to tap into. China s ever rising outbound tourism has already surpassed the amount of domestic tourists entering China (Guo, Kim, & Timothy, 2007). The Chinese outbound tourists are mainly middle to upper middle class families and/or businessmen. Students who study abroad also make up a significant portion of Chinese tourists. Studying abroad is an important part of the Chinese education process. This also instills a travel abroad behavior that will likely be repeated in the student s future life (Guo, Kim, & Timothy, 2007). As restrictions on travel continue to relax and the Chinese economy grows then trips abroad will continue to become available to more and more Chinese citizens. 5

nights Characteristics of Chinese outbound tourists Chinese travelers prefer tours that will take them to multiple countries when considering price and time for their trip. They would like to feel that they get the most in way of experiences for their money. Chinese typically expend large amounts of money on shopping in the destinations they visit. In fact over half of all Chinese tourists state that shopping expenses make up the majority of their expenses while traveling. This is partially due to the gift giving culture in China. Chinese that go out of the country often purchase gifts for their entire extended family and friends. It is seen as a status symbol to wear popular foreign brands from abroad and to give them as gifts (Guo, Kim, & Timothy, 2007). Chinese Tourists in Denmark Denmark as a destination does not receive many Chinese tourists as the total of hotel nights by Chinese citizens has never exceeded 50,000. Funen has never received more than 2.8 % of these (in 2005) and it has been steadily decreasing with only 0.9 % of the Chinese hotel nights in Denmark being on Funen in 2009 up till now (www.statistikbanken.dk, 2009). Chinese Hotel nights 50000 45000 40000 35000 30000 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Denmark 0 40178 47282 36098 40367 40673 Copenhagen City 0 27824 34862 24062 26874 28954 Funen 0 1150 680 680 355 397 2: source: (www.statistikbanken.dk, 2009) 6

Copenhagen City receives the bulk of overnight Chinese tourists with between 66-73 %. These numbers indicate a low knowledge or interest in Odense and exploring other cities in Denmark. As such we need to investigate what Chinese tourists do in Copenhagen and specifically what they are missing. Motivations, preferences, destination attributes and Chinese tourists As Chinese leisure tourism is relatively new in its legal sense many small fragmented studies and surveys have been carried out by various industry actors, destinations and researchers. This means that the focus has been on many different areas of motivational theory and preferences, and it has been more or less theoretical in nature. As not all can be used to aid Odense city a few main findings and characteristics have been chosen to give a better understanding of the Chinese tourists and what they are looking for when going abroad. China has a very different cultural background than the Western part of the world. This means that we cannot take their preferences and motivations for granted and certainly not expect that theirs are the same as the ones motivating people from the Western part of the world or even those from other parts of Asia. A destination s attractiveness is evaluated by the tourist by the relative importance of the benefits the tourist is looking for and the perceived benefits of the destination (Kim, Guo, & Agrusa, 2005). Therefore, by looking at the motivations and preferences of Chinese tourists we can get a better understanding of which benefits they are looking for at a destination and thereby find the segment best suited for Odense City. By finding the motivations and benefits of Chinese tourists we can use these as indications of what they find an attractive destination and how to use these measures in marketing. Motivations for travelling Motivation is the driving force behind all aspects of human behavior (Fodness, 1994) and this is the reasoning behind looking at Chinese tourists travel motivations. If we know what motivates them, then perhaps we can create a destination image and products which can attract Chinese tourists. 7

Travel motivation can be understood as a dynamic process of internal psychological factors which create an unbalanced equilibrium in the individual, and this is what brings the person to travel (Crompton & McKay, 1997). The prevalent paradigm within travel motivations is characterized by the push-pull theory. This divides the motivations for travelling in to two categories; the push factors which push the individual due to psychological factors and the pull factors which pull the individual due to external factors (Crompton, 1979). As such push factors are those motives which get an individual to want to travel and escape from the routine and everyday life (Crompton, 1979), and the pull factors are those factors which attract an individual to a certain destination (Dann, 1977). Motivations are therefore regarded as deeply personal and individual since they consist of an internal psychological state, and as such many different theories and findings suggest different numbers of motivations and their importance. For this paper it means that an analysis of different findings had to be carried out to identify common factors which could be combined, as each survey found used different motivational factors and a different number of such. An emphasis is put on the usability for marketing and further research of the Chinese tourists. Chinese travel motivations Two studies are used to give an insight into Chinese tourists and their travel motivations. These two were chosen due to their recent publication as the Chinese outbound travel market has gone through a drastic change and upsurge in recent years and findings from further back may not be pertinent today. Both studies were quantitative in nature with questionnaires as the main instrument. One was conducted in 2003 among Chinese Mainland tourists going to Singapore (Kau & Lim, 2005)and the other in 2007 among Chinese Mainland tourists going abroad (Li & Cai, 2009). This means that there may be a difference in the two studies merely due to the difference in destinations, but it has been argued that the destination as such is irrelevant when it comes to motivations because what is of importance is the satisfaction of the individual s push factors which are of importance (Crompton, 1979). 8

Factors Mean Mean Ranking Eigenvalue Factors Mean Ranking Eigenvalue Prestige/ 3.12 2 6.181 Prestige and Luxury? 4.1 Knowledge Experience Escape/Relax 3.19 1 5.824 Self-development 3 3.689 Adventure/ 2.55 6 2.628 Novelty and 1 3.156 Excitement Knowledge Exploration 3.06 3 1.622 Exciting Experience 4 2.595 Pleasure-seeking/ 3.01 4 1.388 Escape and Relax 2 2.135 Sightseeing Enhance Family/Social Relationships 2.72 5 1.265 Relationship Strengthening? 2.052 3: own formulation from the factor analyses of (Kau & Lim, 2005, p. 238) and (Li & Cai, 2009, pp. 3-4). A factor analysis was carried out in both instances to create the 6 total factors. What can be seen here is the similarity in ordering the Chinese motivational factors. In both instances the factors concerning prestige had the highest Eigen-values which indicate their factor placing. The ranking in mean scores indicate a pattern in Chinese tourists travel motivations. Escape and relaxation are both ranked second highest while the factors with knowledge are also ranked very high. At the same time the factors concerning social bonding are ranked as the lower motivational factors. This can be seen as strange since the Chinese seem to prefer group travel but in a cultural context it changes meaning. The Chinese are very family-oriented which means that the family is valued in everyday life and vacations may therefore not be seen as opportunities to further family bonding. The studies also revealed that the different motivational factors differed significantly between demographic segments with age being a significant determinant of the motivational factors in most cases. The income level and educational level also had an effect especially concerning the factors of relaxation, where the higher income and educational levels had a high significance in relation to the importance of relaxation when travelling. This indicates a need to segment the Chinese tourists into socio-demographic marketing segments as it seems there is a difference in travel motivations within these groupings. One has to be careful with independently done studies confined to a certain time period without re-testing and without reoccurring theoretical frameworks. To compensate for this other studies within destination attributes and activity preferences have been used to compare with the findings. These are described next. 9

Destination attributes and travel activity preferences Destination attribute studies emphasize the perceived attributes of a destination which the tourist makes his/her choice according to. These studies measure the perceived benefits of a destination. As such they can be used to identify some of the benefits most valued by Chinese tourists when choosing destinations. This can give an indication of which attributes to emphasize when marketing Odense City. Destination attributes mainly cover perceived physical attributes of a destination such as safety, beauty, facilities etc. This means there is a greater focus on behavior and choices made, but as stated earlier then motivations are the driving force of all behavior (Fodness, 1994). Within this category destination satisfaction studies are included as the factors measured in satisfaction studies most often reflect desired destination attributes. Also considered are activity preferences as these indicate behavior while vacationing and these can show the motivational aspects behind the behavior. Chinese tourists desired destination attributes and activity preferences Several studies have been carried out investigation Chinese tourists and their satisfaction and desired destination attributes, as these are marketing measures which can be used to directly measure and change products and their perceived benefits and attributes. In this paper three different such studies are included to highlight characteristics and behaviors of Chinese outbound tourists. Each study has different implications for the analysis for this paper and are chosen do to their properties in this regard. A study of the importance of destination attributes when choosing possible travel destinations was carried out which showed that safety was a main attribute when choosing destinations (Kim, Guo, & Agrusa, 2005). The second highest rated attribute was beautiful scenery and the third wellequipped tourism facilities. The fourth was that the destination has a different cultural and historical background than China (Kim, Guo, & Agrusa, 2005). Those with the lowest rating were good shopping possibilities and the level of economic development at the destination. What we see in the destination satisfaction attributes is that the perceived safety and security of the destination is also ranked highest the respondents considered these as the most satisfactory. What we can see in this ranking is that Chinese again focus on safety, the tourism facilities and (Kau & Lim, 2005) infrastructure, the ease of travelling and the prices and shopping. 10

Destination attribute Mean (1-7) Destination satisfaction attributes (Chinese tourists visiting Singapore, in ranked order) Travel preferences of Chinese outbound tourists Mean score (1-10) Safety 5.73 Environment Dining/Eating out 7.56 (cleanliness/security) Beautiful Scenery 5.69 Destination airport Sightseeing 7.19 Well-equipped tourism facilities 5.15 Local transport Culture & Heritage 7.13 Different cultural and historical 5.10 Shopping Participatory 6.64 resources from China activities Good weather 5.03 Food and accommodation Entertainment 6.13 Easiness to arrange travel plans 4.98 Attitudes/service Shopping 5,79 quality/hospitality Good leisure and recreational facilities 4.93 Chinese language communication Inexpensive travel costs 4.91 Level of prices Good place for shopping 4.38 Attractions/activities Level of economic development 4.01 4: own construction from the studies of Kim, Guo, & Agrusa (2005), Kau & Li (2005) and Chow & Murphy (2008) A study was carried out among Chinese outbound tourists concerning their travel activity preferences. This was done to find which activities the Chinese tourists preferred to carry out while travelling. As most Chinese tourists travel in groups and with set itineraries it was done to see if the focus of the travel agencies corresponded with the Chinese tourists preferred activities (Chow & Murphy, 2008). What can be observed here is the focus on dining and eating out which received the highest mean score. The issue of food was also used in the satisfactory study which indicated that satisfaction with food and accommodation was in the middle. This combined with the preferred activities study indicates that the importance of the food may have been underestimated by the travel agencies. The second and third most preferred activities were sightseeing and culture and heritage. These indicate a high interest in the special aspects which make up the destinations and a desire to learn more. These two factors have a high placement and can be compared with the destination attributes desired by Chinese tourists. Here different cultural and historical resources are also ranked relatively high. 11

What is also interest in this regard is the low placement of shopping on the preferred activities list. This is also seen in the destination attributes list. It seems that, even though Chinese tourists have high tourism expenditures, they do not see shopping as a main desired attribute or preferred travel activity. It seems from these studies that shopping is seen as a side activity, which is necessary and somewhat desired, but it is not a main motivational aspect of travelling. Linking it all When combining all these studies a pattern emerges. There seem to be four main motivational elements with certain activities and attributes as evidence of these motivational factors. By combining the findings with what is known about travel motivations and behavior evident of these motivations we see that the main motivational factors for Chinese outbound tourists are that of knowledge, escape/relaxation, Exciting Experiences/adventures and prestige. These are combinations of the six motivational factors found among Chinese tourists. It is recognized within tourism research that tourism is rarely motivated by only one motive and that a motivational factor can be satisfied through different means/actions (Crompton & McKay, 1997). The illustration in figure 5 shows the activities preferred by Chinese outbound tourists and how these are connected with the main motivational factors of Chinese outbound tourists. 12

Sightseeing Escape/ Relaxation Safety Knowledge Tourism facilities / accommodations Participatory activities / entertainment Exciting Experiences / Adventure Dining/ eating out Luxury Culture and heritage Prestige Shopping 5: Chinese outbound tourists motivations and resultant activities. Authors own illustration. Build on studies from table 3 and table 4. The dotted arrows indicate assumed relationships as these have not been investigated in regards to travel motivations but within other areas such as adventure travel. Safety is a perceived emotion of the tourist and within adventure tourism perceived risk is what defines a tourism activity as adventure (Walle, 1997). Therefore it is assumed here that the high level of wanting to be safe is what negatively affects Chinese tourists adventure motivation. This also goes with the motivational factor of escape/relaxation as perceived risk puts you in a higher level of alertness and even uneasiness which negates relaxation. The same is evident with tourism facilities and the accommodation as the standards of these affect the level of relaxation. Luxury and the level of accommodations and services are seen as part of the motivational factor prestige. 13

Dining and eating out can satisfy many different motivational factors such as knowledge (learning), prestige in eating at expensive popular restaurants and adventure/exciting experiences as food is an integral part of Chinese culture and daring to eat differently can be seen as an adventure or exciting experience. Participatory activities and entertainment can satisfy both adventure and knowledge as these can be of a nature where active participation decides the success and outcome of the activities (Pine & Gilmore, 1998). Culture and Heritage are mentioned in many studies of Chinese outbound tourism. They are part of the motivational factor of knowledge, as culture and heritage are most often experienced as a learning experience. The same is sightseeing, as monuments are expressions of culture and heritage. But depending on the way sightseeing is carried out it can also be part of an immersion and escape or relaxation as it takes place on a tour bus where someone else has the responsibility. Culture and heritage and shopping are related to prestige since it is important for the Chinese tourists to be able to tell others about the destination visited and give gifts to show respect and thereby receive respect in return. Brands and shopping for cultural items are witnessed among Chinese tourists. It is also this gift giving and the prestige achieved through shopping that creates the high tourism expenditures of Chinese tourists and the expectation by travel agencies and destinations that one of the main motivations of Chinese tourists is shopping. This apparent misconception is also visible in the study of preferred tourism activities where experts within Chinese outbound tourism were asked to rank the preferred activities of Chinese tourists (Chow & Murphy, 2008). The difference which was significant was the position of dining and shopping. These seem to have completely different positions in the minds of Tourism experts and the tourists themselves. This again may come back to the cultural background of the observed behavior. Even though Chinese spend a lot of money when travelling they do not consider shopping as one of their preferred activities. Gift giving is so deeply ingrained in the Chinese culture that it necessary for the Chinese tourists to go shopping. 14

Travel activity preferences Rating of Chinese Tourists Rating of Tourism Experts Dining/Eating out 1 6 Sightseeing 2 1 Culture and Heritage 3 3 Participatory Activity 4 5 Entertainment 5 4 Shopping 6 2 5: Travel Activity Preferences Rating Comparison between Chinese Tourists and Tourism Experts, Source: (Chow & Murphy, 2008, p. 72) What is quite clearly demonstrated is that the experts within the field of Chinese outbound tourism lack the primary research findings from academics. These differences and the main travel motivations of Chinese outbound tourists can have implications for the marketing of Odense City in China. The implications for marketing The previous analysis of past studies of Chinese outbound tourists travel motivations reveals some specific implications for marketing purposes. Four main motivational factors have been identified and these can be used for marketing purposes and to develop potential products. First of all there some to be a high focus on knowledge and learning, which especially shines through in their demand for culture and heritage. This means that the focus of marketing and product development should be on visualizing and showcasing Danish culture, heritage and uniqueness. The demand for Danish culture and heritage is expressed in the two surveys carried out by Wonderful Copenhagen (2004a, 2004b). It is expressed that the Chinese tourists lack knowledge of H.C. Andersen since he is one of their main connections to Denmark (Wonderful Copenhagen, 2004a). Many Chinese tourists site H.C. Andersen as their biggest interest in visiting Copenhagen. The lack of H.C. Andersen attractions in Copenhagen often confuses and frustrates many Chinese tourists (Wonderful Copenhagen, 15

2004a). Getting the word out that H.C. Andersen is much more associated with Odense would be quite helpful in attracting tourists to the area. As Odense profiles itself as the hometown of H.C. Andersen this should be used in marketing Odense City. Chinese are likely to be more influenced by a public figure than Western cultures (Mok & Defranco, 2000). As part of the profiling of the uniqueness of Odense the sustainable living format used for the World Expo 2010 can be extended into the marketing. This can further illustrate the cultural heritage that is special of Northern Europe and these countries concern for the environment (Budeanu, 2007). An emphasis on the Danish kitchen and food culture can be another niche in creating an attractive package for Chinese tourists. As shown above food has been neglected by experts in Chinese outbound tourism and it can therefore be used to actively promote Odense and its restaurant and café life. Prestige is also a main motivational factor for Chinese outbound tourists. This means that evidence of the travel experience is important as well as luxury. Luxury is especially significant when it comes to accommodations as most Chinese outbound tourists stay in four star hotels. At the same time shopping and brands are of importance to Chinese. Within travel marketing it is hypothesized that Chinese tourists are more likely to be brand conscious (Mok & Defranco, 2000). This is expressed in the high expenditure of Chinese tourists and their demand for better uniquely Danish products to showcase at home (Wonderful Copenhagen, 2004a). The Chinese also express concern over the fact that they cannot find proper places to spend their money on Danish specific souvenirs and products (Wonderful Copenhagen, 2004a). Chinese willingness to pay for truly Danish products could be used to launch very successful specialty shops in and around major attractions. One of the major concerns for Chinese tourists is the perceived safety of a destination. This is especially important for Odense as Denmark in recent years has been subject to heavy criticism in the media due to various events such as the Mohammed drawings, the Iraq war etc. it is therefore important to find out how safe Denmark as a destination is perceived to be before trying to launch Odense as a destination for Chinese tourists. 16

What is also significant in relation to Chinese tourists is the fact that they like to visit multiple countries and/or cities when travelling. Most Chinese buy group travels with a set itinerary and Odense is therefore competing with other Nordic destinations to be included on these itineraries. The importance of segmentation also becomes evident when looking at the main travel motivations as these do not seem to be able to be present in every individual at the same time as some seem to be contradictory i.e. relaxation and excitement/adventure. It was also shown in the studies on travel motivations that socio-demographics played a significant role in the need for relaxation and knowledge seeking. Therefore it must be carefully considered which segment/s to strive for as too many messages can muddle the marketing efforts. The above implications seem to be hard to overcome. But what is also important to remember is the significance of relationship marketing (Mok & Defranco, 2000). Relationship marketing is an important aspect of Chinese business life. To overcome this difficulty the Nordic countries have set up the Scandinavian Tourism Board (www.stb-asia.com, 25-10-2009). This organization promotes the Nordic countries of Denmark, Sweden and Norway in Asia. By partnering with an already established organization in China the process of market penetration becomes much easier as relationship marketing is based on relationship build over time. Since STB already has an established presence the process will go smoother (personal correspondence, 29-9-2009). A destination can purchase a marketing platform for China which will focus on getting the destination into the distribution channel of Chinese travel agencies. Barriers to Chinese tourism in Odense All these suggestions all need heavy investments in marketing campaigns and time consumption. The market of Chinese tourists is almost non-existing today which means that what is needed is a complete market penetration approach. This is a daunting task for any product. But for a destination in China it is even harder. The restrictions put on foreign business dealings in China are hard to overcome. At the same time the strict visa restrictions from the Danish side also inhibit Chinese tourism. As such Finland has made a remarkable head start and attracts many Chinese tourists looking for the Nordic experience (personal correspondence, 24-10-2009). Another barrier to Chinese tourism is the lack of Chinese language and text at attractions and hotels (Wonderful Copenhagen, 2004a). As Chinese tourists seek to learn when travelling they are 17

also more concerned with being able to understand museum signs and historical facts. This also indicates a major investment barrier as well as interest barrier from the industry side, as Chinese tourists represent a very small percentage of current tourists. Conclusion The paper sets up the main travel motivations of Chinese outbound tourists. The travel motivations as expressed in preferred travel activities and destination attributes are evaluated and traced to their probable motivational factors. A framework for Chinese outbound tourists and their travel motivations and resultant activities was set up. Four main motivational factors were found as these seemed to be significant and present in all studies found useful. The four motivational factors are Knowledge, Escape/Relaxation, Prestige and Exciting Experiences/Adventure. These motivational factors are rooted in the Chinese culture. By analyzing two different studies of Chinese tourists travel motivations and three different studies of destination attributes, satisfaction and preferred travel activities the motivational factors were highlighted and the activities traced back to the travel motivations. These travel motivations and activities expressing the motivations create possible implications for the future marketing of Odense City as the city needs to focus its marketing on activities which can be traced back to these travel motivations. However, it also shows the importance of segmenting the Chinese travel market as the travel motivations are somewhat contradictory. The aspect of perceived safety was also highlighted as this came up as the most important destination attribute. Perceived safety relates to the security of the destination and the possible risks attached to travelling to that destination. As such a risk analysis of travelling to Denmark and Odense needs to be carried out and further research into Chinese tourists perception of Denmark and Odense. The possibility of promoting Odense on the basis of culture and heritage is considered as Chinese tourists put great emphasis on these aspects when travelling. This also shows the advantage of Odense since it is the hometown of H.C. Andersen who is a well known writer in China. 18

There are barriers to Chinese tourism which seem to be rather large. These include the policies of both China and Denmark and the costs of marketing campaigns due to Odense s low market penetration as a tourist destination for Chinese tourists. What needs to be emphasized is the lack of primary data for these conclusions. The findings are based primarily on secondary research carried out over several years and by different researchers. This does add to the validity of the findings as the similarities are evident even though the secondary research was conducted by various researchers and at various points in time. 19

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