MKT201 - Consumer Behaviour: Travel Decisions of Chinese Tourists

This case study examines the consumer behaviour of the Chinese tourism market, focusing on both outbound and inbound tourism to Australia. It analyzes the factors influencing Chinese tourists' travel decisions, including group and interpersonal influences, such as reference groups and social media, and situational factors like time constraints and unplanned events. The study also explores how Chinese independent tourists make travel plans for Australia, considering their preferences for friendly, convenient, and safe travel experiences. The report highlights the importance of understanding these consumer behaviours for tourism marketing experts and concludes with insights into how the Australian tourism department can better cater to Chinese travelers to maintain and grow this vital market segment. Desklib offers a platform to explore more such solved assignments and past papers.

Running head: CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Consumer Behaviour
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The primary objective of the concerned paper is to determine the consumer behaviour of the
Chinese Tourism Market. To fulfill this purpose, the report is based on the examination of the
background of the Chinese tourism market. Further, the report investigates the Outbound
Tourism Market of China in the concern of the international sector. The study also analyses
the Inbound Tourism Market of China concerning the travel region to Australia. Furthermore,
the study is based on the examination of the influences of the group as well as the
interpersonal component that affects the travel decisions of the Chinese tourists. Moreover,
the report also investigates the situational factors that foster hand in the influence of the travel
decisions of Chinese Tourists. Finally, the report ends with the examination of the manner the
Chinese Independent Tourists make their travel decisions in the concern of the plan making
of the visit to Australia.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Chinese Outbound Tourist Market.............................................................................................3
Chinese Inbound Tourist Market (Australia).............................................................................5
Groups and interpersonal influences affecting Chinese tourists’ travel decisions.....................6
Situational factors influencing Chinese tourists’ travel decisions.............................................7
The manner Chinese tourists make their travel decisions when planning a holiday to Australia
....................................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
According to the viewpoint of Yang, Pan and Evans (2015), the tourist market in
China is considered to be an essential industry. Studies show that the rate of tourism in China
is known to expand and grow in a tremendous manner over the last few decades. The primary
reason behind the same was found to be the rise in the income of the middle-class people in
China as well as the ease in the restrictions on the movement of the Chinese authorities that
has fuelled the growth and travel boom in the Chinese Tourism Market (Boniface, Cooper
and Cooper 2016). With the help of the studies, it was found that China has been recorded to
be the most visited and watched sector of inbound as well as outbound tourist market. In this
connection, the given report focuses on explaining the Chinese Outbound Tourist Market
travelling all across the international base and Inbound Tourist Market to travel across the
region of Australia. The same is specified as below.
Chinese Outbound Tourist Market
As critically stated by Dai et al. (2017), the outbound tourism market of China is
ranked as the best and number one tourism around the globe. The significant reason behind
the same is found to be that the China’s outbound tourism market indulges a market of across
150 million visits supported by over millions of Chinese travellers every annual year (Pforr
and Phau 2018). In the year 2018, a report released by China Tourism Academy recorded that
almost 14.7 % increment of the travellers is recorded on a year-to-year basis. An estimate of
overseas consumption of $120 billion was recorded in the outbound tourism market of China
that also fosters a significant hand in helping invigorate of the world economy (Ehteshami
and Horesh 2017). Not only this, but studies also show that with the passing time, the nation
of China would be sharing recognisable and promising future to the development of outbound
tourism. Researchers show that in the ongoing fifteen years, a number of almost 173 million

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passports had been recorded to be issued across the world out of which more than 10 per cent
population passports were of the Chinese people. In addition to this, as per recorded by the
statistics of the National Immigration Administration, over 71.25 million of the visitors from
the visitor bound for Taiwan, Macao as well as Hong Kong were recorded to head towards
the foreign destinations. The Chinese travellers take a high interest in the field of friendly,
convenient as well as safer travel while travelling to international destinations (Chen,
Masiero and Hsu 2018). In this connection, it was also recorded in the year of 2018 that top
ten destinations that the Chinese travellers prefer and love to travel were recorded as
Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, The United States,
Russia as well as Philippines (Pearce and Wu 2016).
However, some studies also showed that Chinese people travel across the world only in the
concern of shopping. The reviews critically stated that the Chinese travellers only shop and
eat and are very reluctant only about shopping and trying different Chinese cuisines (Zhuang,
Yao and Li 2019). In concern with this, a survey of more than 2000 Chinese tourists was
done, and the result that was found exploded the myth and wrong belief of the people. The
study conveyed that not all Chinese travellers are interested in shopping; instead, a maximum
number of them are attached to gaining sufficient travelling experience (Hung 2018).
Principal of the travellers are concerned with immersing themselves in the local life of the
place they travel. The travellers do not confine themselves to only the taste and preference of
Chinese food across the world but are also interested in trying and enjoying fine dining and
exotic foods of different parts of the world. Reports also show that it is expected that by the
year of 2020 that more of domestic travellers of the Chinese region will take part in the
overseas trip and will increase the outbound traffic to 160 million that is at 131 million as
recorded in the fiscal year of 2017 (Vellas 2016).

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Chinese Inbound Tourist Market (Australia)
According to the viewpoint of Pham, Nghiem and Dwyer (2017), China is considered
to be the largest inbound tourism market for the region of Australia concerning the visitor
arrivals as well as the largest market that spends money in the area of Australia in the year of
2018. The statistical report shows that more than 14 million of Chinese travellers are
recorded to visit the region of Australia every annual year (Glaesser, Kester, Paulose,
Alizadeh and Valentin 2017). This signifies that around 7.5% of the Chinese visitors are
increasing their visits on an annual basis to Australia. Along with this, it was also
investigated that the people who were the first visitors were recorded to indulge 47% and
return visits were recorded to be 53%. On average, it was found that Chinese people spend
over 44 nights travel in Australia. The money spent on the tourist region of Australia is
recorded to be $11.5 billion of the total spend that calculates up to 12.0% of spend on a year-
to-year basis. An average spend of $8760 every trip and an average spend of $200 everyday
night stay.
However, it was also recorded in the recent year that the boom of Chinese Inbound Tourism
could slow down in the context of Australia becomes of the complacent nature of Australia
regarding the market of Chinese Tourism (Gill and Jakobson 2017). The primary reasons
behind the same were found to be the weaker forecast of the Australian Tourism Department
in terms of the economy of China and the uncertainty that was brought because of the trade
war of the China and the United States. In addition to this, the lack in the innovative and
effective promotions, as well as the advertising campaigns, leverages a feeling of boredom to
the Chinese tourists in the thought and concern of fixing their visit to Australia. As critically
stated by Chan, To and Chu (2016), attracting the re-visits of people to a same particular
destination requires a lot of changes and innovations that provide new experiences and
learning to the re-visitors. The re-visits are also considered to be a pivotal part to any tourism

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department because of the same benefits the revenue and profit as well as the brand loyalty of
the tourism department (Hu et al. 2019). In this concern, the report based on the consumer
research of inbound tourism of China tends to state that the Australian tourism department
should re-check their aspirations and indulgence towards Chinese travellers.
Groups and interpersonal influences affecting Chinese tourists’ travel
decisions
As opined by Kashdan et al. (2018), interpersonal influences are highly known to
contribute to the impact of the psychological formation of an individual's mindset. In this
connection, it was examined that the behaviour of the Chinese travellers involves individual
decisions, activities as well as ideas and experiences that satisfy the demand and taste of
travel of the Chinese travellers (Horner and Swarbrooke 2016). Not only their own mindset
but the thoughts and approaches of other people also changes the decisions of travel of the
people. In this connection, it was examined that the two major areas where the groups and
the interpersonal influences the Chinese tourists’ decisions are recorded as below.
Reference Group and Influences
As stated by Tedeschi (2017), the characteristics and the behaviour of one person is
effectively influenced by the other. The determinant of the purchase of the Chinese tourists in
this connection is highly dependent on the facts and factors other people say them about
tourism. When the tourists see other people travelling to one destination and ask them about
the experience they gain, the positive reaction of the reference groups creates an urge in the
mindset of the travellers to be compelled to visit the same. Thus, travellers tend to act in the
way the social group let them identify a tourist place.

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Influences through social media
According to the viewpoint of Goldie (2016), the platform of social media in the
modern generation has profoundly influenced the thoughts and processes of every individual
active on the same. Therefore, when travellers visit some tourism sites or different people
connected to them through social media sharing their travelling experiences through the help
of pictures and videos online, they get influenced by the same. Moreover, the new
technological advancement of the social media of streaming live videos also affects the
behaviour of the Chinese tourists to decide their place of a tourist destination (Benckendorff,
Xiang and Sheldon 2019). Researches show that almost 90% of the Chinese population is
recorded to stay online on the social media platform on a regular basis.
Situational factors influencing Chinese tourists’ travel decisions
As stated by Koo et al. (2017), the situational factors are that part of the tourism that
affects the behaviour of the tourists based on the conditions and situations they are leveraged
to. Any uncertain situation that arises at a sudden point of time and cannot be thought of for a
solution at that moment gives way to the situational factors influencing the behaviour of any
individual. In this connection, the presented paper focuses on explaining the situational
factors that influence the behaviour of Chinese tourists and their travel decisions.
Time Aspects and Unplanned Behaviour
As opined by Freud (2018), there is a specific time in the life of an individual when
the situation changes all of a sudden for them. In this connection, the travelling aspects of the
Chinese tourists also depend on and vary according to the time considerations they are into. A
particular situation may arise when there is a planned trip the concerned tourists have
expected, but the condition of the time occurs them to neglect the same and cancel the trip.
This is because the situation may be adverse will leaves no options for the tourists but to

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cancel the plan. In lieu of this, the unplanned behavioural trip need may also arise without a
pre-plan of the same. An emergency situation may want the tourist to visit, or even a sudden
urge of refreshment may lead to the unplanned tours.
Antecedent Conditions
Based on the cognitive decision model of the tourists, it was critically examined that
the framework that pertains to the decision making process of the concerned tourists is based
on the identification of their trip experiences and interests (Getz and Page 2016). It was stated
that the behaviour approach of the Chinese tourists is highly dependent on the psychological
factors that pertain to motivate every single one of them. The satisfaction the individual
receives in the past travelling is what affects the behaviour of them to choose their place of a
new destination or a re-visit to a particular destination (Kim 2018). There are several reasons
stated for people travelling in different areas. Take, for example, some individual travel to
gain travelling experiences because travel is what they think is their need of lifestyle, some
people travel for business purpose, medical purpose or even in the mission of researching
about a place.
The manner Chinese tourists make their travel decisions when planning a
holiday to Australia
As opined by Pham, Nghiem and Dwyer (2017), the tourism sector of China has taken
a different mode that helps in the development of the different parts of domestic as well as
outbound tourism. With the effective support of China's governmental policies, the tourism
department of China has sprouted its backbone since the last several decades (Li 2017). In
this connection, the typical situation analysis of the independent Chinese tourists making
their travel decisions in the concern of planning a holiday is determined. Studies show that
independent Chinese travellers are widely examined in order to analyse their thoughts and

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behaviour regarding their travel decision to Australia. In this context, it was investigated that
the socio-demographic traits that affect the independent Chinese tourists are known to record
56.8% of male, 43.2% of female and the rest to be of the small age or old age group
(Tolkach, Pratt and Zeng 2017). The education group was recognised to be of 70.8% on an
average; the professionals were recorded to be of the 50%. The average yearly income base
of the independent travellers was considered to be of 60, 000 to 1, 00,000 per month.
However, the majority of the age group of the same is found to be between 25 and 44.
In this connection, it was recorded that their motivation towards sightseeing is the
primary consideration the tourists love to travel as the independent travellers (Kimber, Yang
and Cohen 2019). The travellers tend to see the shopping as the tourism activity that would
provide them with different shopping experiences from different part of the Australian
regions. This behaviour motivates them to make their travel decision. Moreover, the
attractions of nature, the ease of access to excellent and attractive adventures also makes
them take their travel decisions to the specified area (Manrai, Manrai and Friedeborn 2018).
In addition to this, the leisure activities, the business needs are also considered to be the
component of manner which lets the independent Chinese travellers take their travel decision
to the synergy of Australian country. The adversity of the need of the health check-ups and
demands is also a matter of the fact that changes and influences the travel decisions of
individuals as the health department of Australia is known to be providing the patients with a
best possible treatment.
Moreover, it was also examined that the urge to learn and understand about the
different cultural aspects and the imagination of the symbolic and the authentic gaze of the
same influences the travel decisions of the people (Correia, Kozak and Reis 2016). The same
is known to form the tourists’ expectations concerning the destinations and therefore
stimulating the motivation in the mindset of the independent travellers to take their travel

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decisions. It was also examined that the disappointment the concerned tourists receive in the
concern of travelling to domestic destinations fosters them to visit the authenticity of
Australia. The damages that are caused to the natural environment of the domestic travels
disinterests the independent tourists. The other push-up factor for the travel decisions is the
career ladder (McLeay, Lichy and Major 2019). This is because visiting several places lets
the tourists know about the opportunities of education that are available in the parts and
regions of Australia. In this connection, it was examined that one-third of the independent
Chinese travellers consider themselves as the experienced tourists who visited more than 15
Australian destinations. It was also recognised that the independent tourists spend ample
amount of time in the concern of searching for the information about their destination and
tourism opportunities in that particular place. This is done by the tourists in order to
understand the destinations and their strengths as well as reducing their own level of anxiety,
which is caused because of the strangeness of the trip. However, as earlier discussed in the
paper, in the current times that the Australian tourism is not practical on the Chinese tourists
which creates a lack in the interest of the tourists to visit the region of Australia (Gu and
Huang 2019). Thus, spoiling the tourism relationship between China and Australia. If the
same continues, Australia will bear a substantial loss in terms of the lack in Chinese tourists
and the massive amount of money they spent in the tourism department of Australia.
Conclusion
Hence, to conclude, the report tends to state that Chinese tourism has significantly delivered
itself to reach a capable paradigm in the tourism department. Not only this, the outbound
tourism of China is known to stand at the largest of the position of the global market of
tourism. The capability of Chinese tourism is also highly supported by its government, and
that makes it more significant and recognisable in the eyes of the tourists. The tourists
consider the tourism of China to be the official destination tourism that adequately satisfies

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the demand and desires of the travel experience of the tourists. The report also investigated
the behavioural approach of the travellers regarding the taste and preference, which affects
the decision making process of the concerned tourists.

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