Research on residents' perceptions on tourism impacts and attitudes: a case study of Pingyao Ancient City

Residents’ perceptions on tourism impacts and attitudes towards tourism development have a great influence on tourism sustainable development. But the measuring factors of research on residents’ perceptions on tourism impacts are not unified. This paper takes Pingyao ancient city as a case and employs interviewing method, and it analyzes residents’ perceptions on tourism economic impacts, socio-cultural impacts and environmental impacts. Furthermore, the paper examines the significance of taking the manners of people who participate in tourism into consideration. Results show that the residents have some perceptions on tourism impacts, but the overall satisfaction of tourism development is not high, and there is a small proportion of a heater or opponents. In addition, residents who participate in tourism in different patterns have distinctly different perceptions on tourism impacts, and the community development can be used to explain the difference of residents’ perceptions.Peer Reviewe

Research on residents' perceptions on tourism impacts and attitudes: a case study of Pingyao Ancient City

Residents’ perceptions on tourism impacts and attitudes towards tourism development have a great influence on tourism sustainable development. But the measuring factors of research on residents’ perceptions on tourism impacts are not unified. This paper takes Pingyao ancient city as a case and employs interviewing method, and it analyzes residents’ perceptions on tourism economic impacts, socio-cultural impacts and environmental impacts. Furthermore, the paper examines the significance of taking the manners of people who participate in tourism into consideration. Results show that the residents have some perceptions on tourism impacts, but the overall satisfaction of tourism development is not high, and there is a small proportion of a heater or opponents. In addition, residents who participate in tourism in different patterns have distinctly different perceptions on tourism impacts, and the community development can be used to explain the difference of residents’ perceptions.Peer Reviewe

Overseas Tourist Movement Patterns in Beijing: The Impact of the Olympic Games

Tourist movement patterns are essential for tourism planners to make decisions on tourism product development, destination planning and marketing. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games have a great impact on the tourism industry in Beijing, especially on tourism flows and movements. In order to understanding changes of tourist movement patterns during the Games, the paper used content analysis method to analyze 500 trip diaries gathered from 6 different websites from January 2001 to April 2009. The paper also utilized social network analysis software Ucinet 6 and NetDraw to map itineraries and analyze overseas tourist movement patterns in Beijing. As a result, the paper summarized the changes of main tourism attractions and main tourist movement patterns in Beijing during the Olympic periods

All work and no play? Antecedents of the leisure involvement of Taiwan expatriate managers in mainland China

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to construct and test an antecedent relationship path model for the leisure involvement of Taiwan expatriate managers working in Mainland China. A leisure temporal-spatial involvement (LTSI) was developed. Design/methodology/approach Burnout, perceived freedom in leisure and leisure coping strategies were proposed in the conceptual model as antecedents of leisure involvement. A questionnaire survey gathered information on the characteristics of respondents, including demographic/socio-economic details, expatriate profile and leisure activity participation. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used in this research to measure the relationships among the four scale variables (job burnout, perceived freedom in leisure, leisure coping strategies and leisure involvement). Findings The expatriate managers experienced high burnout levels, particularly in the form of exhaustion. Their leisure involvement was mainly influenced by perceived freedom in leisure. Research limitations/implications This work contributes to the research on leisure and expatriation in several ways. It is one of the first empirical studies to examine prominent leisure concepts (freedom, coping and involvement) within the milieu of expatriation. The findings provide further support to the notion of the “presumed cultural similarity paradox,” in that expatriates of Chinese ethnicity still had significant adjustment difficulties in Mainland China. The research again confirms the challenges of Mainland China as an expatriation destination. Practical implications The research results have significant practical value and may assist Taiwan-capital enterprises in improving expatriates’ leisure life management. The section on Managerial and policy implications outlines the implications for the actors involved. Social implications This work has social implications since the Taiwan expatriate managers are not effectively adjusting to their work–life environments in Guangzhou. Greater social contact between locals and these managers is recommended in the future. Originality/value A new scale for leisure involvement (LTSI), expressed in temporal and spatial dimensions, is developed to fit the particular situations faced by expatriates. This is also one of only a few empirical research studies to consider leisure involvement within an expatriation framework

Research on China's tourism: A 35-year review and authorship analysis

This study reviewed 333 articles on China's tourism from 96 English‐language academic journals within and outside of tourism from 1978 to 2012. Tourism policy and impacts, and tourism industry development and promotion were the two predominant research themes. Tourism development, policy, ecological impacts, attractions and markets were the five most popular topics. On the basis of an authorship relationship analysis, three research networks were producing most of the China tourism research output in English. A majority of the authors were based in Mainland China, the USA and Hong Kong. Trends and gaps in the literature on China's tourism were identified

Am I a backpacker? Factors indicating the social identity of Chinese backpackers

The question of what constitutes backpacker identity has been one of the central topics of backpacking tourism research. With the economic boom in China, the last two decades witnessed the proliferation of Chinese backpackers. By adopting quantitative methods, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of what makes one a “backpacker” in China. Comparing results from t-tests, binomial logistic regression, and multiple linear regression, it is found that Chinese backpackers’ social identities are mostly associated with external-oriented motivation, work alienation, and detachment from home centers. Behavioral characteristics, which have up until now been widely used to define backpackers, have very limited relationship to their identities in China. This finding calls for future research to rethink what is a backpacker. The research makes an important contribution to the understanding of this growing market and its particular identity factors

Becoming a backpacker in China: A grounded theory approach to identity construction of backpackers

Backpacking tourism has gained in popularity among Chinese young people since the 1990s. While learning from their western counterparts, Chinese backpackers have also developed their own unique group identification strategies. By focusing on how backpacker identity is socially constructed in the Chinese context, this research explores the meaning and process of becoming a backpacker in China. Grounded theory was adopted, and the structure “image-identity-strategy” emerged to organise the process of becoming a backpacker into three phases. The findings show that Chinese backpackers employ various strategies to continuously negotiate and reconstruct their backpacker identity. It is thereby shown how the process itself of becoming a backpacker is always ongoing

Analysis of wildlife tourism experiences with endangered species: An exploratory study of encounters with giant pandas in Chengdu, China

This research examined wildlife tourism experiences in a unique site and species combination: giant pandas at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (CRBGPB) in Sichuan, China. Content analysis was undertaken on tourist reviews of CRBGPB on TripAdvisor.com in early 2012. The thematic analysis qualitative method was adopted in examining respondents' written reviews of experiences interacting with giant pandas. ROST CM6 and NVivo 8 were used for the content analysis and qualitative coding. A variety of tourist experiences, motivations, and preferences were revealed. Although respondents' experiences were varied, satisfaction increased with closer encounters and interactions with the giant pandas. The thematic analysis identified three features of the wildlife tourism experiences at CRBGPB: tourists, giant pandas, and settings. Implications and management recommendations were identified for sites offering wildlife tourism experiences

How country image affects tourists’ destination evaluations: A moderated mediation approach

Limited tourism research has as yet drawn attention to the differences and interactions between country image and destination image. Therefore, this research explored the relationships among country image, destination image, familiarity, and destination evaluation. Based on an empirical study of international tourists in Beijing, China, a model was proposed covering these four variables. Country image mainly affected international tourists’ evaluations of China as a destination in a conditional indirect way, mediated by destination image and especially by psychological image, and moderated by familiarity. Moreover, familiarity directly and positively influenced functional destination image and negatively moderated the relationship between country and psychological destination images

Where in the world? A geographic analysis of a decade of research in tourism, hospitality, and leisure journals

This study examined research focus countries and regions in 4,654 articles published in 32 tourism, hospitality, and leisure academic journals from 2002 to 2011 inclusive. Applying a variety of analysis methods, the research showed the spatial distribution, co-occurrence relationships among countries, and the most popular topics of research focus and types of tourism by countries. There was a broad geographic focus of the research in tourism, hospitality, and leisure journals in the decade from 2002 to 2011 spanning 126 countries. It was found that a significant number (70) of countries were not covered in this 10-year snapshot of the academic journal research and require more attention from scholars in the future. Some major countries were underrepresented including France, Germany, and Russia. However, the predominance of the research focus on the Asia-Pacific region and particularly on China was a major finding in this analysis, as was the sparse coverage of South and Central America