Electronic Marketing for China Outbound Tourism: Implications from
Chinese Online Travellers
a，1
b
Edmond H.C. Wu ， Rob Law ， and
Chaozhi Zhang
a
School of Tourism Management Sun Yat-sen University， P.R.China.
wuhaocun@mail.sysu.edu.cn zhchzhi@mail.sysu.edu.cn
1
b
a，2
2
School of Hotel and Tourism Management
Hong Kong Polytechnic University， Hong Kong.
hmroblaw@polyu.edu.hk
Abstract
Online travellers may exhibit distinct traveller behaviour in different travelling decisions. Their requirements
are the primary considerations for E-marketing strategies and services provided to these online users. An
investigation was recently conducted to understand the outbound tourism preferences of Chinese online
travellers. By comparing the survey results with another similar study from Chinese general population，
some differentiation aspects of online travellers are identified and then tailor-made E-marketing strategies are
proposed for the fast growing population of Chinese outbound tourists through online channels.
KeY'ords: Electronic Marketing; Information Search; Outbound Tourism; Recommender Systems.
1 Introduction
With the largest potential outbound tourist population， China outbound tourism has drawn much
research attention in the academic community (Cai， Li， & Knutson， 2007; Zhang， Chong
， & Ap， 1999). Although China had a population of nearly 1.4 billion， the opportunity for
Chinese to travel outside for leisure travel purpose is fairl y recent (Sparks， 2009). Many
observers dated the beginning of Chinese outbound tourism to 1990， when Mainland Chinese
citizens were firstly allowed to take leisure trips to Singapore， Malaysia， and Thailand at their
own expense (WTTC， 2003).
In the past ten years， the Chinese outbound tourism market has witnessed unprecedented growth
due， in part， to relaxed government policies and increased individual disposable income. In
2010， a record 56 million mainland tourists travelled overseas， representing an increase of 8.3
million over 2009 (CNTA， 2011). In other words， China's outbound tourism has entered a new
round of golden development.
At the same time， with the promotion and development of Internet technology， network
information has infiltrated into all walks of modern life， the provision and acquisition of travel
information， organization of travel activities， and even the experience of travel begin to be
characterized by networking. Increased from 59.1 million in 2002， there were almost 457.3
million Internet users in 2010 in China (CNNIC， 2011). The real figure should be higher than the
official statistics which
M. Fuchs et al. (eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2012
© Springer-Verlag/Wien 2012
does not include users who share the usage of public computers. In China'smarketplace， over 36
million Chinese Internet users search travel information andpurchase tourism products online
(CNNIC， 2011). As independent travelling and selfdrive trips become more popular inChina，
the demand of Internet information searching and bookings online is expected to increase (Xiao，
2003). Undoubtedly， the importance of Chinese online travellers seeking for outbound tourism
should draw our special attentions. Innovative wireless devices， such as iPhone and iPad，
which arewidely used among Chinese tourists， may provide excellent opportunities for the
development of future mobile tourism products and services. Therefore， analyzing the new trends
and preferences of Chinese Internet users is crucial for the success of relevant e-Tourism
applications.
This paper reports the findings of a large scale Internet survey that was recently conducted in public
in 2010 on a Chinese leading Internet portal website NetEase (www.163.com). The survey is to
interview the outbound travelling behaviour of Chinese online users. The primary objective of this
survey is to update the new trends of China's outbound tourism and try to identify the future
services and applications that are suitable for this largest and fast growing outbound tourist
population.
2 Literature Revie'
Internationally， outbound tourism， which is also called travel to foreign countries， refers to
citizens' travel activities to another country or area (Jafar， 2000). Nowadays， the Mainland
Chinese outbound tourism market is growing rapidly. Wang (2007) figured out that the expansion
of the Chinese outbound tourism is an inevitable result of the economic development. The
appreciation of the Chinese RMB would further enhance the purchasing power of Chinese visitors.
In a previous study， with regard to consumer decision， 31% of tourists made their outbound
travelling decision due to the attractiveness of the destination， and 25% were curious about the
destination (Li， 2006). Inevitably， shopping became the main segment of the outbound tourism
for most of the Chinese tourists， accounting for nearly 50% of the overall expenditure. With the
maturation of the outbound consumption psychology， the expansion of the outbound scale and
the generalizationof the outbound tourism， the high expenditure on shopping may get changed
(Li， 2006).
Owing to the tourism marketdevelopment ， well organized outboundtourism ， especially
travelling abroad through travel agents， will still be the main stream of thismarket share.
However， from the concrete organizing methods， more self-guided tours will be involved in
the short-distanced outbound tourism. With the introduction of the Individual Visit Schemes (IVS)
to many destinations and the free trade policy of theASEAN， more Mainland Chinese tourists
will choose Hong Kong and Southeast Asian countries as their first self-guided outbound travelling
destinations. The trend of self-guided tour will appear in these destination countries and areas for
MainlandChinese tourists. After that ， and the destinations will be strengthened in other
globaldestinations as the maturation of the Chinese outbound tourism market (Li， 2006).
Sparks (2009) used the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to investigate potentialChinese outbound
tourists' values in terms of destination attributes. In the survey， five destination attributes were
rated as most important by the group of potential tourists and included natural beauty and icons of a
destination ， quality infrastructure ， autonomy ， inspirational motives ， and social
self-enhancement.
With the development of e-commerce， online searching of travel information and hotel booking
become popular in China. Li and Buhalis (2006) found that 90.2% of surveyed online users are in
the age group of 31 to 40， and 95.3% of online users who live in the Pearl River Delta of China
will make reservations of travel trips online.Moreover， age， area of residence， type of travel
websites most visited， and length oftime using the Internet， self efficacy， domain-specific
innovativeness， and perception of the Internet are influential factors of Chinese online browsers
for becoming online buyers.
Although previous empirical studies provided some conclusions about China outboundtourism，
the Chinese outbound tourist population has experienced significant changes in the past few years.
Examples of these changes include the fast development of middle and wealthy classes and the
relaxation of visa restrictions forChinese to travel abroad. In order to update some new findings，
this study focuses on investigating Chinese online travellers' preference and behaviour with the
major aspects of: trip intention andmotivation， choices of outbounddestinations，arrangement of
travel， travel season preferences， and consuming behaviour.
3 Research Findings
In the study， Internet users from different areas of Mainland China completed an online
questionnaire on the China NetEase website during a two weeks period fromSeptember 6th to
September 20th， 2010， using a convenience sampling procedure. The survey is conducted in
Chinese language and all the participants are Chinese residents.
In our research， we define the target Chinese Internet users as Chinese residents who are at least
16 years old and who have used the Internet in the past six months. Internet travellers refer to the
Internet users who travel domestic or abroad in the lastthree years. As stated in the start of the
online questionnaire， Internet users who never travel in the last three years will be asked to stop
the survey and thus only Internet travellers are included in the effective sample. The final effective
sample size is2，797.
The demographic profile of the respondents is listed in Table 1. From the table， one can find that
most respondents were 21-40 years old and had a relatively high level of education background.
The personal incomes varied from person to person but generally belowRMB 10，000 permonth
(USD1三RMB6.8). Nearly half of the respondents had previous outbound travelling experience in
the past three years.
Table 1. Demographic characteristics of the respondents (N三2，797)
Variable %
Variable %
Gender
MonthlY personal income (RMB)
Male 54.5
2，000 or below 27
Female 45.5
2，001-5，000 51.6
Age (Years)
5，001-10，000 16.0
<21
>10，000
4.8
21-30 58.6
31-40
*Note: around 6.4 RMB三1 USD in 2011
25.6
Number of times for travelling abroad in the past 3 Years
51-60 2.3
Never
>60
5.4
0.5
Once 25.1
Educational level
2 times 7.5
Secondary school or below 2.4
3 times 5.0
53.2
High school or polytechnic 12.2 >3 times 9.2 school Undergraduate or colleges 75.4
Post graduate or above 10.0
Another recent and relevant study about China outbound tourism was conducted byIvy Alliance &
Pacific Asia Travel Association (IA & PATA， 2010). This studyconducted a survey between
August and November 2009， by the China Association of Travel Services and Ivy Alliance to
collect first-hand data by sending questionnaires to thousands of outbound tourists and around 100
travel agencies.Finally， they obtained 2，800 returned questionnaires from 4，200 survey forms
given out. Among the respondents， 46.2% are male and the other 53.8% are female. Since IA &
PATA's target is general Chinese population， we compare our research findings with this report
to find the differentiation aspects of Chinese online travellers.
3.1 AnalYzing the Characteristics of Online Travellers
Occupation. Diversity of respondents' occupations is observed in the samples. Basedon the findings
， professionals， civil servants/government employees， corporation staff，students， and
freelancers comprised a large portion to the Internet travellers. In contrast， factory workers，
farmers and retirees， which also account a large population in China， are not a dominant group
in terms of Chinese Internet travellers. As to the levels of outbound travellingexperience ，
corporation staff and civil servants/government employees were the main groups in outbound
travelling， since outbound travelling generally requires relatively higher spending ability and
more leisure holidays.Moreover， these groups of Chinese have more chances of outbound
travelling for business or visiting purposes. Their travelling expenses may be sponsored by their
employers.
Education. The Internet user groups are characterized with high education， and middle or high
incomes. The percentage of respondents with college/university or higher education is 85.4%，
which is much higher than the current average education level of the China population.
Income. More than 50% Internet users have income between RMB 2000�5000 and over 20% earn
more than RMB 5000 per month. It shows that Internet users whotravel for leisure have higher
education， and have enough money to participate intravel and leisure activities. Additionally，
outbound travelling Internet user groups appear to have high education and middle level of
incomes. Outbound travellingrequires more of the quality of travellers， and generally charges
higher. Thus Internet travellers who travel abroad have higher education and slightly higher
incomes than the general Chinese population.
Region. The regional distribution of the interviewed Internet travellers is not even and it is relevant
with the relative regional economic development in China. Divided byprovincial regions， the
Internet users who travel abroad and the Internet users whotravel domestic most concentrated in
provinces with strong economic development，such as Guangdong which accounts for around
25% of Internet travellers. From east，central， west and north-east mega regionsof China， the
percentage of Internettravellers decreases， which are also consistent with the fact that China
outbound tourists are mostly from well developed provinces or cities. The source regions of China
Internet travellers are classified below:
1. East Mega Region: Beijing， Tianjin， Hebei， Shanghai， Jiangsu， Zhejiang， Fujian
，Shandong， Guangdong， and Hainan.
2. Central Mega Region: Shanxi， Anhui， Jiangxi， Henan， Hubei， and Hunan.
3. West Mega Region: Inner Mongolia， Guangxi， Chongqing， Sichuan， Guizhou，
Yunnan， Tibet， Shanxi， Gansu， Qinghai， Ningxia， and Xinjiang
4. North-east Mega Region: Liaoning， Jilin， and Heilongjiang
Based on the above observation and analysis， we can assume that the collected samples are
adequate and well represent the current and potential population ofChinese outbound online
travellers. In the following sections ， we further analyze the key characteristics and
differentiations of the target Internet travellers.
3.2 Outbound Intensions and Motivations of Online Travellers
Respondents generally expressed their preferences for outbound travelling for variouspurposes，
such as experience exotic culture (70.8%)， recreation and vacation(65.3%)，and explore the
world and enrich experiences (50.5%). As for the travel budget， 55% of the respondents thought
that it was very worthy and 32% thought it was worthy of spending a lot on outbound
travelling.Meanwhile， only 1.3% of them held theopposite view. Therefore， respondents
showed a positive attitude towards outbound travelling and they also had a high motivation to take
an outbound travelling in the future.
As indicated in Table 1， about 53% Chinese online travellers did not take an outbound trip in the
past three years. Comparing with their high motivation and willingness to travel abroad， the
potential outbound market of China is very huge. Thus， promoting outbound travelling through
e-Tourism may be a very effective way to explore this tourist source market in the future. Based on
the population of Internet users in Chinain2010， one can estimate that at least 200 millions
Chinese Internet users who did not travel abroad in the past three years may intent to travel abroad
in the future. Since theChina government is encouraging their residents to consume more，
including tourismspending， providing outbound tourism guideline and advertisement to these
tourists with less outbound travel experience through the Internet would be a promising e-Business
opportunity.
It seems that the internal conditions of outbound tourism in China are becomingmature. With the
strong interests of travelling outside， once with more leisure time and stable income growth，
the motivation will be greatly stimulated.Also， withconsistent improvement of income levels and
currency appreciation of the RMB， the outbound tourism market of Chinese Internet users is
expected to keep expanding.
3.3 Outbound Travelling Destinations of Online Travellers
Based on previous outbound travelling studies (IA & PATA，2010)， the choices of destinations
had a negative relevance with the distance between the tourismgenerating region and a destination
(Table 2).
Table 2. “Have visited" and “Plan to visit" destinations of respondents
Destinations have been Destinations plan to in past 3 Years (%) visit (%)
Hong Kong， Macau， Taiwan 47.5 9.4 Surrounding countries of China 35.7 15.3 Other Asian
countries 17.2 9.5 European countries 14.5 35.0 Australia， New Zealand 6.7 15.2 United States 4.4 4.8
Canada 2.7 2.7 African countries 2.9 3.5 South American countries 1.1 2.3 Others 4.2 2.2
The further a destination is， the fewer people have ever been there， as travel distance has
something to do with time and money. Therefore， Hong Kong， Macau， Taiwan (47.5%) and
other surrounding areas of mainland China (35.7%) are still the most popular outbound travelling
destinations.
Also， 14.5% of Chinese online travellers chose European countries as their destinations in the
past three years. This percentage is significantly higher than other similar studies on China
outbound tourism. According to IA & PATA's estimation in2010， less than 5% of China
outbound tourists chose Europe as their destinations. The higher percentage preferences of
European tourism in our study suggested that Chinese online travellers showed much stronger
interests to travel in Europe.
Also， when asked about which countries they wish to go for outbound tourism nexttime， about
35% of the respondents chose European countries， which was the highest ratio among all
alternatives. Australia and New Zealand are also desirable destinations for China's Internet users.
These results are interesting and may have very constructive implications for European tourism
officials and industries. The Chinese outbound tourism market to Europe from online travellers is
expected to have large growth in the next few years. In other words， European tourism
destinations arelikely to increase their market share in China outbound tourist market， especially
from online channels.
On the contrary， Internet users ' yearning for those neighbouring countries or regions like Hong
Kong ， Taiwan and surrounding Asian countries declined compared withtheir previous
preferences. Even though it is just a forecast， it implies that Chinese online travellers curiously
tend to explore more destinations they never visited before and those nearby popular destinations
thus need to improve their tourism facilities and promotion to keep their competitiveness in the
future.
This is also an interesting finding to our understanding of China's outbound tourism. Longer
distance of a destination does not necessarily imply lessattractiveness， especially for the young
and energetic generation of Chinese Internet travellers. They desire many aspects of European
tourism， including history， architecture， festivals andcultures. Among the respondents used
to travel to Europe before， a high percentageshows a revisit intension ， suggesting that
European tourism will be a popular area for Chinese outbound tourism in the next few years. Many
e-Tourism services and applications that can meet these customers'needs， such as route planning
， hotel and transportationreservations， diningrecommendation， and location based services
(LBS) will be popular considering the huge potential customer base.
3.. Outbound Trip Arrangement of Online Travellers
Currently， package tour is the major way of outbound travelling for Chinese travellers. Through
our survey， 44.8% of the respondents choose package travel because outbound travelling
generally has a higher request for safety and language communication.Thus， travel agencies still
have the advantages in organizingoutbound tours. However， with more abroad travel experience
， Chinese Internet users show a strong desire to have a freely self-guided outbound travelling.
When askedabout what form of travel to choose in next tour， 57% choose self-guided travel，
thuswe can see that even in outbound travelling， self-guided tour has been a new trend in the
future.
According to IA & PATA's estimate in2010， only around 1/3 of Chinese travellers prefer
self-guided tour (independent or semi-independent travel). Our studies suggested that Chinese
online travellers have a significant distinction with the general Chinese residents as online travellers
desire freedom in arrangement for their outbound travelling. With a high education level， Chinese
online travellers may have better language skills and thus they are more confident in planning and
makingreservations online from tourism related websites outside China. Therefore， demandfor
online travel information sharing platforms， and demand for self-guided travel guides will
become more popular.
In the survey， about 55.7% of the respondents chose the Internet as their primary
source
of outbound travellinginformation， which they consider as the most convenient and
reliable way to get updated information.However， online travel information search still has much
room
to improve. Some tourism destinationwebsites are already in Chinese language . However， the
majority is not. In order toattract more Chinese online travellers， it is suggested that more tourism
related e-Commerce websites provide more convenience for Chinese travellers to onlinepurchase
tourism products and services， such as Chinese language web pages and more online payment
methods.
Another finding is that Internet users showed a preference for companion during outbound
travelling. Most of them (47%) chose lovers family members as
o
r
companionratherthanfriends orcolleagues. Therefore， it will be necessary to take privacy into
consideration when choosing a form of outbound travelling. More concerns of privacy and
personality may be a characteristic of Chinese online travellers.
Although package travel is still popular among Chinese outbound tourists ， it seems that
self-guided travel is more likely to meet the demands of China's Internet users. Therefore， more
personalized online tourism services and business applications should be developed in the future to
meet such demands.
3.5 SeasonalitY of Online Travellers
Another interesting discovery through our survey is that 55.7% of Chinese Internet travellers prefer
to travel abroad during non-public holiday periods in order to avoidpeak seasons. They planned to
avoid travelling in crowded long public holidays， such as the first week of May of the labour
holidays， and the first week of October of the National Day holidays. They choose other
non-peak seasons to travel as these peak seasons are popular tourism periods among Chinese
outbound package tours.
In contrast， general Chinese outbound tourists still prefer long public holidays as theirprimary
outbound travelling time (IA & PATA， 2010). This differentiation suggests that online travellers
pay more attention to the quality and comfort during travelling and try to make a schedule avoiding
crowded population of outbound tourists.
Spring and autumn are Internet travellers'most favourite seasons for outbound travel， and summer
is the favoured season for all types of tourists. Actually there is not much gap between best months
for outbound travelling except January to March， which is usually the spring festival period for
Chinese but still more and more Chinese touristschose to travel during this period. Since the
Chinese outbound population is so large， every single month still has many Chinese to travel
abroad across the world. Some people will choose to travel in off-peak season to enjoy a big
discount in travellingexpense. Therefore， further market segmentation can be done on the
Chinese online travellers in the future.
3.6 Travel Consumption of Online Travellers
Our survey also validated that Chinese online travellers spend much on outbound travelling
comparing to their income level. More than 50% of the respondents spendmore than RMB5，000
and 30% of Internet users spend over RMB10，000 in outbound376
travelling. For those package travellers， over 66% of them had extra expenditures which were
above half of the total tour fare. Sightseeing and shopping were two main factors of their personal
travel expenditures. Traffic and accommodation held the largest portion in expenditures of
self-guided travellers as usual practice. Shoppingand sightseeing also cost a lot for online travellers.
While in package travel， travel agencies can arrange accommodation and traffic for Chinese
outbound travellers with
a
deep discount. That explains why the tour fare of travel agency is relatively c ompetitive.
With the development of e-commerce and the boom of Internet users， the ratios of Internet users'
online consumption in outbound travelling will become high. They can also easily find discounted
hotel rooms and air tickets by online searching. Over 50%of the respondents usually book
air/railway tickets and hotel rooms online， which reflect the fact that e-Tourism applications are
mature and widely accepted among Chinese tourists.
In other words， online travellers will continue rely on the Internet for searching andmaking
reservations. For most online travellers， convenience and favourable price are the key advantages
of online booking and payment， but the adaptation of onlinepayment methods is till a barrier. For
example， many Chinese make online paymentsthrough popular UnionPay cards in China or third
party payment intermediary (e.g.，alipay.com). However， many international e-Tourism products
do not support these Chinese tourists' usual payment methods at this time.
Our survey results revealed that 85% of Chinese online travellers used to make online purchase of
tourism products or services. With respect to the portion of onlinepayment to the total travel
expense， 47.6% of respondents made online payment less than 1/3 their total travel expenditures.
While 26.8% of respondents made onlinepayment between 1/3 and 2/3 ， and 10.5% of
respondents will make the purchase of e-Tourism products or services more than 2/3 of their total
travel expenditures. These figures obviously suggested that technology acceptance among Chinese
online travellers is high. Also， it reveals that online searching and payment of e-Tourism products
and services play a key role in tourism management. Many research andapplications should be done
in the future to fulfill the diversity， security， speed and comfort for all these online e-Tourism
transactions.
. Implications and Conclusions
In this empirical study， several thousand questionnaires are collected to analyze the unique
outbound preferences and patterns of Chinese online travellers. Through someofficial statistics and
combined with our survey estimates， China has over 400 million Internet users who show their
interest to outbound tourism. Among these people， around 200 million Internet travellers without
much travel abroad experience attempt to plan an outbound trip in the future.
Chinese outbound tourists have high spending willingness and abilities and can improve the trade
balance with other countries. For this fast growing source marketwith a huge number of potential
tourists， innovative research and applications areinvited from international scope， especially
for e-Tourism. Chinese online travellershave some distinguishing features and preferences
comparing with the general Chinese travellers.
In summary， several key research findings， drawing on the results of our survey， are:
?
•
Online travellers are younger population with higher education level and income.
?
•
Online travellers prefer independent trips rather than package tour.
•
Online travellers anticipate more diversity， personality and privacy during their travel
period.
•
Online travellers are more favourable in European destinations rather than Asian
destinations as their future first choice of travel places.
•
Online travellers are more rationale and prefer travelling in Non-public holiday period to
avoid peak season.
•
Online travellers trust more online payment and word-of-mouth reputation of e-Tourism
products and services.
Some implications of electronic marketing for Chinese outbound tourism are:
•
With relatively richer travel experiences， online travellers for outbound travelling
consider diversity of destinations and favour long-distance or privacy attractions. Online search of
such tourism products can fulfil their curiosity.
•
More Internet tourism contents are welcome to write in Chinese to attract more Chinese
outbound audience and more diversity online payment methods are expected.
•
Internet marketing for off-season outbound tourism can attract more Chinese online
travellers to travel without many people meanwhile enjoy less travel budget.
•
Electronic marketing is excellent tool for destination marketing， such as pt this channel
to attract more Chinese tourists for visit. Tourism searching engines， tourism recommendation
a
n
and intelligentEuropean countries can ado
systems， travel route maps and location-based services for tourism are promising applications
that can serve millions of Chinese online travellers in the future.
Our empirical study indicated that Chinese online travellers also have high technology acceptance
rate but the e-Tourism applications provided to them are still limited. Therefore， this article
attempts to attract the attentions of tourism and IT research as well as industry participants to bring
emerging and innovative e-Tourism applications and services for this prosperous area.
5 Limitations and Future Work
One limitation in this study is that online survey is the only way of primary datacollection，
mainly due to time and cost constraints. For future survey design， online survey as well as
face-to-face interview by randomly selected interviewees through stratified sampling may provide
improved samples and generalized results.
There is much research work to be done for the future e-Touism market of China. Considering the
huge population of China tourists， we can further do segmentation ofoutbound tourists and
analyze their unique characteristics and specific behavior， suchas compare online travellers with
versus without travel experiences， domestic versus outbound tourism. Then IT and hospitality
providers can provide each segment proper products and services differentiation by knowing what
kind of travel websites andtravel information they are looking for and what e-Tourism applications
they will use， and also other useful tourist web usage patterns that can assist their decision
making.
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Ackno'ledgements
The authors would like to thank NetEase Corporation and relevant people to provide helps and
assistance in organizing the online survey. The authors also would like to acknowledge funding
support from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for the conference attendance.