This study focused on pull factors of Korea's tourism resources which lure Chinese to Korea. Three research points were : 1) Which attraction attributes are Chinese outbound tourists most interested in when they decide to visit Korea? 2) How well do K...
This study focused on pull factors of Korea's tourism resources which lure Chinese to Korea. Three research points were : 1) Which attraction attributes are Chinese outbound tourists most interested in when they decide to visit Korea? 2) How well do Korea's attractions fulfil Chinese tourists' expectations for their destinations? 3) How much does the satisfaction level of Chinese tourists in Korea affect their revisit behaviors?
For these purposes, a research model was developed based on the expectation-disconfirmation theory, and nine study hypotheses were set up, which were divided into three categories of demographic attributes, the antecedents-satisfaction relation, and the satisfaction-consequence relation. Having gathered data about Chinese tourists' behaviors through an organized survey, the hypotheses were tested by SPSS 11.0 Statistical Package.
Main findings of the analysis were as follows.
First, a+mong five types of attraction attributes (scenery, historical sites, modern culture, shopping, entertainments), Chinese travellers were found to have the highest expectation for Korean scenery. The second preferred was shopping in Korea. Expectations for historical sites and for entertainments were relatively low.
Second, perceived performance of Chinese tourists in Korea showed similar map with that of expectation. In other words, Korean scenery and shopping ranked high in their tourism performance level, while historical sites and entertainments stood low.
Third, among four surveyed demographic variables (gender, education, age, income), only gender factor proved to affect Chinese tourists' satisfaction formation. Results showed that female Chinese tourists tended to be satisfied with Korean experience more than male Chinese tourists . And female tourists preferred shopping to scenery, while male tourists valued scenery above shopping.
Forth, regression analyses revealed that Chinese tourists' expectation and perceived performance in Korea had a positive causal relationship with the respective satisfaction levels. The correlation between performance and satisfaction was considerably high , but the one between expectation and satisfaction was relatively low.
Findings of this research have several limitations. The main limiting factor is statistical incompleteness of convenience sampling adopted in the survey. Taking such deficiencies into account, I propose the following suggestions. First, the type and the criteria of attraction attributes should be elaborated to define pull factors more clearly. Second, the variables pertaining to tourist choice behavior should be reviewed and extended. Third, more comparative studies on satisfaction formation process are required to get more generalized insight into behavioral characteristics of inbound tourists in Korea.