Abstract

Tourism continues to boom in China. Today, social media is a part of Chinese daily life and it can be incorporated as an effective marketing tool. It is imperative for those who are in the front line of the tourism industry to apply social media to stimulate the public’s desire to travel, promote travel destinations, as well as advertise travel packages. With the continuous economic growth and urbanization, the Chinese middle class is expanding. They make up a strong consumer buying power and have a desire to travel. Such capacity and demand have helped China to remain the world’s largest source of outbound tourists. The Chinese middle class are prominent users of social media. This study first reviewed relevant previous research on tourism and the middle class, tourism and media, image and choice of tourism destinations, and consumer purchase behavior, as the theoretical background of this study. Secondly, through quantitative research, the connections between the travel behaviors of middle-class tourists and social media were investigated. The investigation mainly focused on: 1) Chinese middle class tourists’ use of media and their sharing behavior in the tourism activities, 2) the dissemination of information related to tourist destinations through social media, 3) the influence of social media on the information perception and decision-making of middle-class tourists in destinations, 4) the roles played by social media before, during, and after traveling, 5) the role of social media in middle class self-identity construction.

Presenters

Abigail Qian Zhou
Associate Professor, Graduate School of International Media, Communication and Tourism Studies, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

Critical Issues in Tourism and Leisure Studies

KEYWORDS

Media, Chinese Middle Class, Tourists, Social Media

Digital Media

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