This study investigates the travel behavioral characteristics of Hong Kong residents through
checking their comfort level on their past independent travel experiences to Japan. In-depth
personal interviews were conducted with 46 respondents. The design of the questionnaires is
based on the culture shock component model suggested by Pearce (Pearce 2005a). Due to a lack
of information on independent travel, another separate interview was conducted with a travel
agency manager who is specializing in selling independent travel packages.
Two main types of travel behavioral characteristics of Hong Kong travelers who had visited to
Japan on an individual basis were identified in this study. Namely: safety and familiarity seeking
behaviors. Safety seeking behavior is mainly due to cultural factors that the Hong Kong
independent travelers are risk adverse, prudent on safety issues, being collectivistic and trying
every possible ways to reduce risks such as looking for authoritative guidance for advice. On the
other hand, the behavior of familiarity seeking is due to both psychological and cultural reasons.
All these behaviors fit Plog’s (Plog 1974) result in categorizing Hong Kong travelers as
‘near-psychocentric’ because they have a dependable personality that they are cautious in making
decisions, preferring something popular and familiar to them.
By identifying Hong Kong independent travelers’ behavioral characteristics, the extent of
incentives provided by Japan was also discovered. A demand-supply relationship was used to
describe the interactions between Hong Kong independent travelers (the demand generator) and
Japan (the incentive supplier).It is found that to a large extent, Japan provided incentives to Hong
Kong independent travelers. Nevertheless, there are areas that the Hong Kong travelers were
relatively uncomfortable with, including communication with the locals, adaptation to street
forms and transport systems. As a result, recommendations for the betterment of future
independent travel industry are presented. / published_or_final_version / China Development Studies / Master / Master of Arts in China Development Studies
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:HKU/oai:hub.hku.hk:10722/167189 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Lam, Man-sze., 林文詩. |
| Publisher | The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) |
| Source Sets | Hong Kong University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | PG_Thesis |
| Source | http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B48183301 |
| Rights | The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works., Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License |
| Relation | HKU Theses Online (HKUTO) |
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