Chinese tourism: Development and prospects for Greece

Introduction

Over the decades, tourism has experienced continued growth and deepening diversification to become one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world. Modern tourism is closely linked to development and encompasses a growing number of new destinations. These dynamics have turned tourism into a key driver for socio-economic progress. Today, tourism has become one of the major players in international commerce, and represents at the same time one of the main income sources for developing countries. However, this growth goes hand in hand with an increasing diversification and competition among destinations (UNWTO, 2013a).

Tourism is important and vital for Greece, which is known as an attraction for international visitors because of its rich and long history and more recently for its glorious Mediterranean coastline and beaches (Dritsakis, 2011). International tourist arrivals surpassed the milestone of 1 billion tourists globally for the first time in history in 2012, reached 1.087 billion in 2013 and 1.13 billion in 2014 (UNWTO, 2014). Greece, with an inbound tourism of 17.9 million in 2013, is set to record one of the highest annual increases in revenues from tourism in 2013, amounting to 15%, rising from 10 billion euro in 2012 to 11.9 billion euro in 2013 and 13 billion euro in 2014 (Kathimerini, 2014).

The debt crisis in 2008 has brought on a considerable shift in the make-up of visitors to Greece, with China and Russia taking the lead, and Germany, the United Kingdom, Holland and France falling behind. Europe is becoming an important destination for Chinese tourists. In 2012, 82 million Chinese tourists travelled the world and 3 million visited European countries. In 2013, this number was increased to 97.3 million & in 2014 to 114 million. The number of Chinese tourists who visited Greece in 2010 was 13,620, in 2011 it was 15,838 and in 2012 it reached 12,203 (Hellenic Statistical Authority, Bank of Greece). In 2013, the number of Chinese tourists who visited Greek destinations and especially the Cyclades was 28,000 and in 2014, 47,482 (Kourlibini, 2014a). In 2014, there was an increase of 67.6% because a direct Athens–Beijing flight was established once a week from June to October and because visa procedures have been facilitated with the opening of more visa centres in China (Kourlibini, 2014b). In addition, Greece has become popular as a top honeymoon destination in China, and Santorini Island is the most preferred destination for Chinese honeymooning. Crete follows, and is also a promising destination for honeymooners (Trandas, 2014). The Greek destinations, however, have not yet established themselves as important centres for tourism in the emerging Chinese market (ITEP-Research Institute for Tourism & Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, 2013), and neither have the Greek tourism authorities fully understood the needs of Chinese tourists (Arlt, 2006).

Therefore, this study attempts to contribute to this body of knowledge by investigating Chinese outbound tourists’ motivations to visit Greece. More specifically, three objectives are involved, including to

Identify the motivation factors of Chinese tourists who visit Greece (push factors).

The findings of this study will facilitate a better understanding of the needs and demands of potential Chinese travellers and provide industry practitioners with recommendations in such areas as marketing strategies and tourism product design.

The paper is structured as follows: following this ‘Introduction,’ the next section presents a ‘Literature review’ of this topic. The ‘Methodology’ section follows, elaborating on the design of the research. The ‘Findings’ section presents the results of the research, with a discussion of the results, and this paper concludes by highlighting the implications of the findings.

Literature review

China and the Chinese outbound travel market

China covers 9.3 million square kilometers and has a population of over 1.3 billion, and tourism has only recently become a significant economic factor in China’s foreign policy (CIA, 2013). It is only in the past 26 years that Chinese citizens have been allowed to travel outside of China to visit relatives and family. Since 1983, travel was only to Hong Kong and Macau, but slowly the Chinese government has opened up its borders, and in 1997 it was decided to allow Chinese citizens to travel at their own expense to new destinations for tourism purposes. Australia and New Zealand were the first to achieve Approved Destination Status (ADS) from the Chinese government in 1999. Since then, there has been a rapid increase in the number of countries on the ADS list. Chinese outbound travel has significantly increased since then, going hand in hand with its development and increase in GDP. In 2009, the number of Chinese tourists going overseas grew by 4%, while the rest of the world suffered a 4% drop. In 2010, the Chinese outbound tourism hit 20% and there are two reasons for this rapid growth. Firstly, Chinese authorities have implemented policies to provide a travel-friendly environment for outbound tourists and secondly, rising living conditions have expanded the demand for overseas tourism (China Daily, 2011).

Over the past decade, China has been, and still is, by far the fastest growing tourism source market in the world. The rapid urbanisation, rising disposable incomes, the relaxation of restrictions on foreign travel have helped the volume of international trips by Chinese travellers to grow. Chinese travellers spent a record of US$102 billion in international tourism in 2012 which is a 40% jump from 2011 when it amounted to US$73 billion. The average travel expenditure of Chinese travellers is calculated at approximately US$1086. Specifically, 15% of Chinese travellers spend approximately US$1619 per day for shopping and entertainment, 36% spend US$81–324, 28% spend US$ 324–810 and finally 2% of them spend more than US$8000 per day (Kourlibini, 2014). With this sustained growth, China became the largest spender in international tourism globally in 2012, surpassing both top spender Germany and the second largest spender, the United States, both close to US$84 billion in 2012 (UNWTO, 2013b). The total spending of Chinese tourists is 2.804 Rmb bn in 2013 and 3.065 Rmb bn in 2014 (Plowright, 2015). According to the World Tourism Organization, by 2020 there will be over 100 million Chinese outbound tourists. This will account for over 6% of the world’s travellers, thus making China an extremely valuable market.

Chinese outbound tourists

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 behaviour that will likely be repeated in the student’s future life (Guo et al., 2007). Chinese travellers prefer tours that will take them to multiple countries when considering price and time for their trip. They like to feel that the experience they gain is really value for 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 a large part of their expenses while travelling. This is partially due to the gift giving culture in China, and Chinese who travel abroad often purchase gifts for their entire extended family and friends it is also seen as a status symbol to wear popular foreign brands from abroad and to give these items as gifts (Guo et al., 2007).

The Chinese travel market is changing. Today’s and above all tomorrow’s Chinese tourists are young, affluent, well-dressed and hi-tech. They want individual experiences combined with Chinese-ready services. They demand higher quality services and have moved from traditional tour groups to more individual travel experiences. At present, more Chinese travellers still want to include as much sightseeing as possible, but this will change in future as travel becomes part of more affluent lifestyle in China, and desires such as relaxation and entertainment become more important. The driving force in the growing Chinese outbound travel market comprises young professionals with high income. Affluent Chinese consumers tend to be interested in individual experiences and are big shoppers. They are digital natives who have grown up using computers, the internet, mobile technology and social media, use these digital channels to plan and book their travel (Thraenhart, IPK International, 2011).

Chinese travel motivations

Findings of many cross-cultural studies on tourism motivation indicate the existence of differences in travel motivations between tourists from different countries/origins or cultural backgrounds even when they choose to visit the same destinations (Kim and Lee, 2000; Kim and Prideaux, 2005; Kozak, 2002; Rittichainuwat, 2008; Yuan and McDonald, 1990). The great potential of variability among cultures in terms of tourism motivation (Kim, 1999) is that knowledge of cultural differences in motivation may contribute to enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of international tourism management.

According to two studies on Chinese travel motivation, one conducted among Chinese mainland tourists going to Singapore in 2003 (Kau and Lim, 2005) and the other among Chinese mainland Chinese tourists going abroad in 2007 (Li and Cai, 2009), there may be a variance due to the difference in the destination. However, it is argued that the destination as such is not so relevant when it comes to motivation because of more importance is the satisfaction of the individual’s push factors (Crompton, 1979).

In both studies (Kau and Lim, 2005; Li and Cai, 2009), the findings were similar. The factors which motivate Chinese tourists are: firstly prestige, followed by the factors of escape and relaxation, and finally gaining knowledge within is very important to them. The factors concerning social bonding are ranked as lower motivational factors. The Chinese are very family oriented, which means that the family is valued in everyday life and vacations may therefore not been seen as opportunities to further family bonding.

Some motivational factors are common for Chinese outbound tourists regardless of which destination they may choose (e.g. knowledge, relationship enhancement). The dominant cultural values of the Chinese people are believed to play an important role in shaping their preferences and expectations as international travellers (Mok and DeFranco, 1999; Tse and Hobson, 2008). However, some motivational factors appear to be more destinations specific. For instance, accessibility in the case of Hong Kong, a wish to visit new places in the case of New Zealand, and unique culture/history and romantic beauty in the case of Hawaii (Hua and Yoo, 2011).

Research on travel motivations of mainland Chinese travellers to the United States (Hua and Yoo, 2011) concluded that factors that may motivate Chinese travellers to visit the United States include ego enhancement, international exposure, communication opportunities, financial incentives and destination stimuli.

Another interesting research on changing needs of the Chinese tourists, specifically with regard to Greece, was carried out in 2014 (Kapiki et al., 2014). This contributes to the understanding of needs from a customer knowledge management perspective. An analysis of the demographic features of the respondents depicts young, affluent, well-educated segment mostly female and non-first-tier city residents. According to this research, information about the Chinese tourists who visited of Greece can be used to make a sample travel plan as follows: visiting beautiful islands and heritage sites; availability of comprehensive explanations about the Greek civilisation and culture; ease of getting a Schengen visa; direct flights with reasonable prices; spending 1–2 weeks on a trip; a budget of about 15,000–20,000 Yuan (1 euro = 8 Yuan); making purchases via online travel websites; making a personalised schedule which is relaxing and flexible; seeing the local life and trying out the local food; if possible, making a trip combined with other Schengen countries particularly France, Italy and north Europe. This information can help the destination to improve its current products and services and introduce new ones to better meet tourist’s needs (Desouza and Awazu, 2005). The former (Kapiki et al., 2014) does not only focus on Chinese Tourists’ motivational factors, but on information acquired from them which clearly shows what destination attributes they prefer when visiting Greece. As the literature supports, insights into tourist motivation like these could be used for a number of purposes like product development (Rittichanuwat, 2007) and promotional activities (Zhang and Lam, 1999).

Destination attributes and travel activity preferences

Destination attributes mainly cover perceived physical attributes of a destination according to which the tourist makes his/her choice (Fodness, 1994). These include factors such as safety, beauty, facilities, etc. This means there is a great focus on destination and choices made, despite the fact that motivations are still the driving force of all behaviour (Fodness, 1994).

According to three different studies (Chow and Murphy, 2008; Kau and Li, 2005; Kim et al., 2005) which show the characteristics and behaviours of Chinese outbound tourists, safety is the main attribute when choosing destinations. Second is beautiful scenery and third, well-equipped tourism facilities. Fourth is that the destination has a different cultural and historical background than China. Those with the lowest rating are good shopping possibilities and the level of economic development at the destination.

Another study was carried out (Chow and Murphy, 2008) among Chinese outbound tourists concerning their travel activity preferences. The first focus was on dining and eating out, the second and third most preferred activities were sightseeing, culture and heritage, then came participatory activities, entertainment and finally, shopping, as it was not a main motivational aspect of travelling. Shopping is seen as a side activity, which is a cultural necessity but it is not a main destination activity. Therefore, the activities preferred by Chinese outbound tourists are connected with their main motivational factors.

Travel motivation research on Chinese outbound market

The Chinese tourism market has been relatively under-researched and that research is very limited. Much of the previous research on travel motivations has focused on tourists from the United States and Europe (Kim and Prideaux, 2005). Some authors have investigated the motivation of Chinese outbound tourists including Li (2007) and investigated why Chinese tourists travel overseas, without regard to the destinations involved, and some others have examined what motivates Chinese tourists to visit some destinations.

Most of the research about Chinese tourists focuses on Asia, Australia and on the United States but the research is very limited for European countries. Studies have been undertaken in Italy (Pearce et al., 2013) in Germany (Fugmann and Aceves, 2013) and in Bordeaux Region (Thibault, 2005).

Several studies have emerged about the Chinese outbound tourists but among them, much of the attention has been on such popular ADS destinations as Hong Kong (Hsu et al., 2010; Hsu and Crotts, 2006; Hsu and Lam, 2003; Huang and Hsu, 2005; Lo et al., 2004; Zhang and Lam, 1999), Australia (Breakey et al., 2008; Chow and Murphy, 2011; Li and Carr, 2004, 2003; Pan and Laws, 2001; Sparks and Pan, 2008) and United States (Cai et al., 2000, 2001; Jang et al., 2003) which mostly focused on the profiling of Chinese tourists. Other authors (Ryan and Mo, 2001) studied what motivates Chinese tourists to visit New Zealand. There are also some other studies about Chinese tourists who visited United States (Lai et al., 2012; Stepchenkova and Li, 2012, part 1 and part 2). Another study explores Chinese traveller’s motivations to visit Hawaii (Agrusa et al., 2011; Johanson, 2007) and the characteristics and preferences of mainland Chinese tourists to Hawaii. Other studies regarding the Chinese outbound tourists are: Arlt (2013); Xiang et al. (2010); Xiang (2013); Li et al. (2011); Dai et al. (2013).

The academic research on Chinese outbound tourists in Greece is also very limited. Only one research has been found (Kapiki et al., 2014). Consequently, there is a real need for research on the Chinese tourists in Greece especially taking into consideration its great potential. Therefore, this study is one of the first attempts to investigate potential Chinese tourists’ motivations to visit Greece, the destinations’ attributes and preferred activities.

Research methodology

Findings

Discussion

The study suggests that the conceptual framework of push and pull factors in the literature was generally supported. The study reconfirms that Chinese tourist’s travel behaviour is driven by internal and external factors. In other words, they decide to go on a holiday because they want to fulfill their intrinsic desires and, at the same time, their decisions on where to go are based on destination attributes. Safety plays an important role in motivating Chinese tourists to visit Greece, as shown by the results of the literature review and the qualitative study. It relates to the security of the destination and the risks attached to travelling to that destination. Beautiful scenery is also one of the most important destination attributes according to the opinion of potential Chinese tourists. These are the most significant destination attributes for Chinese tourists and the result coincides to the finding by Kim et al. (2005). Prestige is also noted in travel motivation studies on Chinese tourists to other overseas destinations such as Hong Kong (Zhang and Lam, 1999) and Singapore (Kau and Lim, 2005). It is generally agreed that prestige is an important motivational factor for Chinese tourists to travel abroad and this study also found that prestige plays a key role in motivating Chinese travellers to visit Greece.

The international exposure dimension reflects potential Chinese tourists’ interest in the culture, history and lifestyle of the countries they visit. This relates to the information identified by Zhang and Lam (1999) and Hsu et al. (2010). Influenced by Confucian thinking, the notion of travel is deeply rooted in Chinese culture. As a common Chinese quote states, ‘One learns more by travelling ten thousand miles than reading ten thousand books.’ This underlines the importance of travelling away from home to see the real world (Tse and Hobson, 2008). So, the Chinese avail themselves of the opportunity to learn through travel. As Greece is a country of rich history, culture and civilisation, it may offer a valuable learning experience to Chinese tourists. The findings of the study highlight activity preferences such us visiting cultural and historical heritage sites, dining and eating out and sightseeing. This result coincides with the findings of Kim et al. (2005), Kau and Li (2005) and Chow and Murphy (2008), although their research refers to other destinations.

Frameworks of past studies like Kim et al. (2005), Kau and Li (2005) and Chow and Murphy (2008) show how the activities preferred by Chinese outbound tourists are linked to their main motivational factors. This is very important for experts in the field of the Chinese outbound tourism. ‘Safety,’ for example, is a perceived emotion of the tourist and within adventure tourism, perceived risk is what defines a tourism activity as ‘adventure’ (Walle, 1997). So, it is assumed that the high level of wanting to be safe is what negatively affects Chinese tourist’s adventure motivation. This also holds true for the motivational factor of ‘escape/relaxation,’ and destination tourism facilities, as the standards of the latter affect the level of relaxation. In addition, the quality of accommodations and services are seen as part of the motivational factor ‘prestige.’ ‘Dining’ and ‘eating out’ can satisfy many motivational factors such as ‘knowledge’ (learning), ‘prestige’ (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.

‘Culture’ and ‘heritage’ are part of the motivational factor of ‘knowledge’ and are seen more as a learning experience. Sightseeing includes visiting monuments and is an expression of culture and heritage travel motivations. But depending on the way sightseeing is viewed, it can be also part of an immersion, and escape or relaxation factor, as it takes place on a tour bus where someone else has the responsibility. Culture and heritage and shopping are related to the prestige factor since it is important for the Chinese tourists to be able to tell others about the destination visited and offer gifts to show and receive respect. It is also this gift giving and the prestige gained through shopping that creates the high expenditures of Chinese tourists and as a Chinese proverb says: ‘Economise at home, but take enough money en route,’ which affirms the necessity of Chinese for shopping. For Chinese tourists who visit Greece, shopping is not a main motivational activity. However, it is an important cultural requirement. Therefore, the experts of tourism in Greece should take into consideration this adjunct activity of Chinese tourists and turn it into a main one in order to leverage another advantage from their visit in the country.

Recommendations

According to the results of the interviews and the results of research which was conducted by the Chinese Academy of Tourism, measures should be taken in order to attract more Chinese tourists to Greece. Some of the steps are outlined below. First of all, there should be more focus on attracting groups of young people and more effective contact with more tour operators in China, so that the advertising of Greek destinations becomes more attractive and relevant. Moreover, Chinese tourists are looking for centres where Chinese is spoken and for tourist guides who speak Chinese. Another measure that should be taken concerns the hotels and their facilities. Chinese visitors prefer to find Chinese channels on television; they need employees (receptionists, etc.) that speak Chinese, hot water continuously and luxury in every kind of service. Finally, services directly linked to the Chinese culture such as kettles for instant noodles and slippers in the hotel room, Chinese cuisine and access to all kinds of information at central points are desirable if not essential if Greece really aspires to attract more Chinese tourists.

A successful matching of push and pull motives is necessary for an effective marketing strategy in destination areas, and the examination of the motives is also useful in segmenting markets, designing promotional programmes and decision-making about destination development. In addition, identification of a clearly defined market segment permits specifically directed promotion programmes. Thus, the tourism authorities in Greece have begun to develop a variety of different marketing strategies based on the specific motivations of Chinese tourists in order to satisfy their needs.

Greece proposes to establish more direct flights between the two countries, and to increase the flights to twice a week. Additionally, more visa centres have recently opened in China in order to facilitate even more the visa procedures (Kourlibini, 2014).

Conclusion

The primary objective of the study was to investigate both potential Chinese travellers’ motivations to visit Greece and the destination’s attributes, given that the literature review concluded that the push and pull factors should be considered as operating entirely interdependently with of each other (Klenosky, 2002; Uysal and Jurowski, 1994) this suggests simultaneous examination of tourism motivations and destination attributes.

Chinese tourists find their ideal destination in Greece including the islands of the Cyclades especially Santorini and also Crete. Santorini and Crete are the most preferred destinations for honeymooning. Given the security of the country and the islands, the push–pull factors for Chinese tourists are prestige, the culture and history of Greece, the blue and white color of the Cyclades islands, the Aegean Sea called ‘Sea of Love’ by Chinese tourists, beautiful scenery and Greek civilisation. Chinese tourists appreciate Greek hospitality, archeological sites, and the good quality of the hotel services and the good event organisation. These travel motivations and destination attributes create implications for the promotion of Greece to the Chinese. Greece should invest in the strengths it has to offer as they closely relate to the demands of the Chinese tourists.

Undoubtedly, if all regional stakeholders and the governmental authorities work closely and efficiently together, Greece will succeed in attracting more Chinese tourists, resulting in a major economic impact on the local economy.

Limitations

Among the limitations of this study is not only the limited availability of travel agents and Chinese tourists for in-depth interviews, but also the difficulty in finding data about the Chinese outbound tourists in Greece, due to the lack of prior research about this emerging market segment. Moreover, there was a difficulty in finding Chinese tourists who could speak the English language. Furthermore, the cooperation with some hotels which are situated in the heart of Athens and where Chinese tourists usually stay was extremely limited. They were not willing to cooperate with the authors because of the restrictive hotel policies and related bureaucracy. Finally, another limitation is that the 17 interviews were conducted with randomly selected Chinese tourists in a specific district of Athens, which means that the results could vary under other circumstances and cannot be generalised to the overall Chinese outbound market to Greece. Future research should be conducted with a greater and more representative sample in order to gain the views of a broader range of age groups and examine any generational differences in travel motivations. The type of that research should be quantitative in order to have richer results. Finally, the results of that future research should be also highly correlated with sociodemographic information included in the sample.