The Effect of Cultural Distance on Tourism: A Study of International Visitors to Hong Kong

This study focuses on the impact of cultural distance on the behavior of international pleasure tourists who visited Hong Kong. It analyzes data drawn from the Hong Kong Tourism Board's Visitor Profile Report, and tests whether cultural distance has a similar impact on behavior as noted in previous studies examining physical distance. The study concludes that cultural distance exerts a modest impact on such attributes as demand, travel party composition, trip profile, behaviors, expenditure and satisfaction.

[1]  Geoffrey I. Crouch,et al.  Demand Elasticities for Short-Haul versus Long-Haul Tourism , 1994 .

[2]  Daniel R. Fesenmaier,et al.  Multidestination Pleasure Travel Patterns: Empirical Evidence from the American Travel Survey , 2003 .

[3]  B. Mckercher Segment transformation in urban tourism , 2008 .

[4]  E. Kastenholz ‘Cultural proximity’ as a determinant of destination image , 2010 .

[5]  Yener Kandogan,et al.  An improvement to Kogut and Singh measure of cultural distance considering the relationship among different dimensions of culture , 2012 .

[6]  Kenneth R. Lord,et al.  Cultural influences on cross-border vacationing , 2008 .

[7]  J. Crotts,et al.  Cross-cultural tourist behaviour: a replication and extension involving Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance dimension. , 2004 .

[8]  R. Law,et al.  Robustness of distance decay for international pleasure travelers: a longitudinal approach. , 2012 .

[9]  Bill Faulkner,et al.  Multidestination Travel Patterns of International Visitors to Queensland , 1999 .

[10]  C. Goeldner,et al.  Tourism: principles, practices, philosophies. 5th ed. , 1986 .

[11]  G. Wall,et al.  Recreational hinterlands: a theoretical and empirical analysis. , 1979 .

[12]  J. Crotts,et al.  The effect of uncertainty avoidance on information search, planning, and purchases of international travel vacations , 2003 .

[13]  K. White,et al.  Distance Effects in the Demand for Wildland Recreational Services: The Case of National Parks in the United States , 1999 .

[14]  B. Mckercher,et al.  Modeling Tourist Movements: A Local Destination Analysis , 2006 .

[15]  Tracey Lee Harrison-Hill,et al.  How Far is a Long Way? Contrasting Two Cultures' Perspectives of Travel Distance , 2001 .

[16]  B. Mckercher,et al.  Research Report: The Lingering Effect of Colonialism on Tourist Movements , 2007 .

[17]  B. Mckercher The Implicit Effect of Distance on Tourist Behavior: a Comparison of Short and Long Haul Pleasure Tourists to Hong Kong , 2008 .

[18]  Miguela M. Mena,et al.  A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Trip Characteristics , 2004 .

[19]  B. Mckercher,et al.  The Effect of Distance on Tourism in Hong Kong: A Comparison of Short Haul and Long Haul Visitors , 2008 .

[20]  Susan A. Moore,et al.  An analysis of visitor movement patterns using travel networks in a large marine park, north-western Australia , 2011 .

[21]  William C. Gartner,et al.  Preferences and trip expenditures - a conjoint analysis of visitors to Seoul, Korea. , 2004 .

[22]  Rafia Gulzar Tourism in Saudi Arabia , 2014 .

[23]  W. Tobler On the First Law of Geography: A Reply , 2004 .

[24]  J. C. Butler Effect of various transformations on the analysis of percentage data , 1981 .

[25]  Gert Jan Hofstede,et al.  Cultures and Organizations - Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and its Importance for Survival (3. ed.) , 2010 .

[26]  Bob McKercher,et al.  The Effect of Market Access on Destination Choice , 1998 .

[27]  B. Mckercher,et al.  The Impact of Distance on International Tourist Movements , 2008 .

[28]  B. Paul,et al.  Tourism in Saudi Arabia: Asir National Park , 1992 .

[29]  B. Mckercher,et al.  The Collective Effect of National Culture and Tourist Culture on Tourist Behavior , 2011 .

[30]  Carlos M. P. Sousa,et al.  Cultural Distance and Psychic Distance: Two Peas in a Pod? , 2006 .

[31]  W. Hammitt,et al.  Impact of Increasing Gasoline Prices on Tourism Travel Patterns to a State Park , 2011 .

[32]  G. Wall Recreational land use in southern Ontario , 1979 .

[33]  Björn Ambos,et al.  The Antecedents of Psychic Distance , 2010 .

[34]  D. Müller The Attractiveness of Second Home Areas in Sweden: A Quantitative Analysis , 2006 .

[35]  Arjen Slangen,et al.  Hofstede, Schwartz, or managerial perceptions? The effects of different cultural distance measures on establishment mode choices by multinational enterprises , 2006 .

[36]  Andy Field,et al.  Discovering statistics using SPSS: and sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll, 3rd Edition , 2009 .

[37]  R. Bhagat Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations , 2002 .

[38]  R. Best,et al.  Consumer Behavior: Implications for Marketing Strategy , 1980 .

[39]  J. Lee,et al.  Tourists' intention to visit a country: the impact of cultural distance. , 2007 .

[40]  M. Fuchs,et al.  The Impact of Cultural Distance on Perceived Service Quality Gaps , 2000 .

[41]  B. Mckercher,et al.  Hotel location and tourist activity in cities. , 2011 .

[42]  The ideology of class and tourism confronting the discourse of advertising , 1983 .

[43]  Harbir Singh,et al.  The Effect of National Culture on the Choice of Entry Mode , 1988 .

[44]  J. Ritchie,et al.  Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies , 1990 .

[45]  Andrew Lepp,et al.  TOURIST ROLES, PERCEIVED RISK AND INTERNATIONAL TOURISM , 2003 .

[46]  Murray Pittock,et al.  What is a National Culture , 2010 .

[47]  John Paul Jones,et al.  WARPED SPACE: A GEOGRAPHY OF DISTANCE DECAY* , 1991 .

[48]  Kemal Kantarci,et al.  Perceptions of foreign investors on the tourism market in central Asia including Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan. , 2007 .

[49]  J. Crotts The Effect of Cultural Distance on Overseas Travel Behaviors , 2004 .

[50]  Geoffrey Wall,et al.  The travel patterns and travel distance of tourists to national parks in China , 1999 .

[51]  Libo Yan Uneven Distance Decay: A Study of the Tourism Market Segments of Hong Kong , 2011 .