Thesis (Ph.D)--University of Waikato, 2010. / Title from PDF cover (viewed Apr. 22, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-257)

The Chinese tourists market has become the 4th largest inbound market for New Zealand in 2007; it also ranks 6th in terms of expenditure. Chinese visitors spent a total of NZ $352 million to the year December 2006, an average of NZ $3,340 per person (Ministry of Tourism, 2006). The latest statistics released from New Zealand Tourism Research Council show that 122,045 Chinese visited New Zealand by the year ended January 2008. These crucial statistics – market size, length of stay and average spend – indicate the necessity for the New Zealand tourism industry to understand and provide for Chinese expectations and requirements. Auckland is New Zealand's key gateway, and it is vital that Auckland provides a first good impression for the rest of country. Chinese travellers visit New Zealand with great desire and expectations of experiencing an exotic land. They expect Auckland, as the biggest city in New Zealand, to provide them with a memorable city experience in a developed country. The purpose of this research is to study Chinese tourists' expectations and travel experiences, with a particular focus on investigating whether Auckland can provide suitable services and experiences which match their requirements and expectations. The research will build on the study by Bull (1991) and Ryan (1995), which looked at supply demand relationships and at the tourism industry attempts to balance the supply with the actual demands. It will also build on work by Zhao (2006) and Qu (2006) which explored the dimensions of Chinese demand and distribution channel factors at both origin and destination. The goal is to establish which factors are adequate or inadequate. A synthesis of the demand supply situation will enable the development of recommendations. It is envisage that these recommendations could be adopted by local government and the tourism industry, either as actions or as improvements to policy. With regards to the purpose of this research, a qualitative method was decided as the most relevant approach. Qualitative methods are useful for revealing and understanding what lies are behind any phenomenon about which little is known. Grounded theory is a qualitative research method that was developed for the purpose of studying a social phenomenon, and to generate a theory relating to a particular situation (Strauss & Corbin, 1994). The historical bases of the grounded theory approach matches the aim of this research, namely to reveal the relationships between tourists and the tourism industry and to gain a better understanding of Chinese tourists' expectation and satisfaction, and the level of the service which the Auckland tourism industry provides to Chinese travellers needs to match the Chinese market and requirements of travellers. The interviews were conducted with both Chinese travellers and the Auckland tourism industry, including hotel managers, restaurant managers, gift/souvenirs shop assistants, tour guides, and so on. The research shows Auckland is not ready for Chinese market yet. This result comes from three aspects: firstly, most Chinese tourists do not have clear requirements or expectations of Auckland before they come to New Zealand. This is mainly because of the limited promotional materials available in China about Auckland. Secondly, Chinese tourists do not have many opportunities to get to know Auckland's attractions and activities after they arrive in Auckland. Auckland city is New Zealand's most popular urban tourism destination in terms of population and gateway function provides tourism facilities and services to Chinese tourists. However, the findings highlighted most Chinese tourists found Auckland's tourism attractions to be unattractive to them due to the language barrier and itinerary issues. Thirdly, the research also found Chinese tourists have been driven away due to lack of hotel accommodations in Auckland, especially in the shoulder or high seasons. Auckland's accommodation facilities are facing a challenge. The increasing domestic and international visitors' numbers and insufficient hotel accommodations will be the major problem for Auckland for the next decade. Most of the Chinese tourists who were interviewed expressed their hope of knowing more about Auckland, however, these hopes will go unrealised until the city provides better attractions and more services for them.

The Chinese tourists market has become the 4th largest inbound market for New Zealand in 2007; it also ranks 6th in terms of expenditure. Chinese visitors spent a total of NZ $352 million to the year December 2006, an average of NZ $3,340 per person (Ministry of Tourism, 2006). The latest statistics released from New Zealand Tourism Research Council show that 122,045 Chinese visited New Zealand by the year ended January 2008. These crucial statistics – market size, length of stay and average spend – indicate the necessity for the New Zealand tourism industry to understand and provide for Chinese expectations and requirements. Auckland is New Zealand's key gateway, and it is vital that Auckland provides a first good impression for the rest of country. Chinese travellers visit New Zealand with great desire and expectations of experiencing an exotic land. They expect Auckland, as the biggest city in New Zealand, to provide them with a memorable city experience in a developed country. The purpose of this research is to study Chinese tourists' expectations and travel experiences, with a particular focus on investigating whether Auckland can provide suitable services and experiences which match their requirements and expectations. The research will build on the study by Bull (1991) and Ryan (1995), which looked at supply demand relationships and at the tourism industry attempts to balance the supply with the actual demands. It will also build on work by Zhao (2006) and Qu (2006) which explored the dimensions of Chinese demand and distribution channel factors at both origin and destination. The goal is to establish which factors are adequate or inadequate. A synthesis of the demand supply situation will enable the development of recommendations. It is envisage that these recommendations could be adopted by local government and the tourism industry, either as actions or as improvements to policy. With regards to the purpose of this research, a qualitative method was decided as the most relevant approach. Qualitative methods are useful for revealing and understanding what lies are behind any phenomenon about which little is known. Grounded theory is a qualitative research method that was developed for the purpose of studying a social phenomenon, and to generate a theory relating to a particular situation (Strauss & Corbin, 1994). The historical bases of the grounded theory approach matches the aim of this research, namely to reveal the relationships between tourists and the tourism industry and to gain a better understanding of Chinese tourists' expectation and satisfaction, and the level of the service which the Auckland tourism industry provides to Chinese travellers needs to match the Chinese market and requirements of travellers. The interviews were conducted with both Chinese travellers and the Auckland tourism industry, including hotel managers, restaurant managers, gift/souvenirs shop assistants, tour guides, and so on. The research shows Auckland is not ready for Chinese market yet. This result comes from three aspects: firstly, most Chinese tourists do not have clear requirements or expectations of Auckland before they come to New Zealand. This is mainly because of the limited promotional materials available in China about Auckland. Secondly, Chinese tourists do not have many opportunities to get to know Auckland's attractions and activities after they arrive in Auckland. Auckland city is New Zealand's most popular urban tourism destination in terms of population and gateway function provides tourism facilities and services to Chinese tourists. However, the findings highlighted most Chinese tourists found Auckland's tourism attractions to be unattractive to them due to the language barrier and itinerary issues. Thirdly, the research also found Chinese tourists have been driven away due to lack of hotel accommodations in Auckland, especially in the shoulder or high seasons. Auckland's accommodation facilities are facing a challenge. The increasing domestic and international visitors' numbers and insufficient hotel accommodations will be the major problem for Auckland for the next decade. Most of the Chinese tourists who were interviewed expressed their hope of knowing more about Auckland, however, these hopes will go unrealised until the city provides better attractions and more services for them.

This exploratory study initially attempts to generate basic understanding regarding how do Chinese tourists evaluate the importance of Scandinavian gastronomies when holidaying the countries. And it further judge the states could whether implement gastronomical development strategy. Additionally, the study generally explores Chinese tourists’ food behavior, motivation and preference in a culturally different environment when holidaying in Scandinavian countries. The study also provides a detailed investigation regarding Chinese tourists’ food preference, behavior and motivation based upon the general food habits. The study proposes the in-depth research that describes the disparities of Chinese tourists’ dining attitude on Scandinavian gastronomies from varying social groups, such as age and gender. A structured questionnaire adopted in the study as the research tool to collect quantitative data from sampled respondents. This study addressed a number of gaps in current knowledge. Academically, it filled the gap about the relationship between the gastronomy and the destination in Scandinavian states. And this study gains a better understanding about Chinese tourists food attitude towards exotic gastronomies in particular Scandinavian’s. The difference of Chinese tourists’ gastronomies, food preference, motivations and tourists’ food behavior on food while having a trip in Scandinavian countries is specifically indicated in the study. Regarding the business, a key contribution of this study is that it also provides the understanding about Chinese tourists in culinary aspect which can help with making a feasible tourism development plan.

The aim of this research is to explore how Öland could attract Chinese tourists to sustain its development. This study is conducted on the basis of group interviews among 20 respondents selected from Chinese tourists. This research reveals that learning and experiencing, building a social relationship and enjoying natural landscape are the major reason for Chinese tourists traveling abroad, among which, the main motivations for Chinese tourists visiting Öland is the attractive spot. The research finds that not many Chinese tourists have been to Öland before. However, among those who have been, they said that Borgholm Castle was the most attractive tourist spot. The major approaches for Chinese tourists accessing information of Öland are travel agencies, travel apps, TV shows, movies and the internet , whereas little marketing strategies such as advertising (in Chinese) and cooperating with local travel agencies has been utilized by the government. An analysis of the key motivations of Chinese tourist reveals one challenge in attracting Chinese tourists facing the government: Öland is not well recognized as a World Heritage among Chinese tourists compared to other popular travel destinations. The strength and weakness of Öland tourism indicates that Öland need to take more active marketing strategies to brand their tourism targeting Chinese tourists.

China has been one of the most important markets for Abisko tourism. The significant growth of Chinese tourists raised academia interests in understanding what motivates them to this remote town. As little information has been documented about Chinese tourists' travel motivations to Abisko, this study attempts to identify the factors that influence Chinese tourists' choice of travel destination.  Based on the push-pull theoretical framework in tourism, the authors conducted qualitative research and created a model. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 Chinese tourists living both in Sweden and China. The problems were identified related to both psychological factors as "push factors" and destination factors as "pull factors". The analysis delineated 5 push factors (physical factors, emotional factors, cultural factors, interpersonal factors, and prestige factors) items and 7 (transportation, accommodation, food & beverage, recreation activities, natural environment, public safety, and technology) pull factors. The finding revealed what push and pull motives were the determinant factors of Chinese tourists in deciding to select Abisko as their destination choice. Discussion and suggestions were also made for the tourism industry of Abisko.