Cultural Differences between Asian Tourist Markets and Australian Hosts, Part 1

Abstract

This article analyzes five language groups of Asian tourists to Australia: Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Thai. The cultural differences between Asian tourists and Australian service providers are identified. The dimensions of the identified differences are determined by principal components analysis. The results indicate that in 73 (62.4%) of 117 areas of measurement, there are significant differences between Asian and Australian samples. The Japanese are the most distinct from the Australian sample, followed by the Korean sample. The implications of the results for tourism industry managers and marketers are discussed prior to the causal analysis of satisfaction presented in part 2, which shows that marketers cannot rely on perceptions of service alone to generate Asian tourist satisfaction but must also consider specific cultural values and rules of social behavior. Part 2 will appear in the May 2002 issue.Currently, the international tourism industry is faced with an increasing number of inbound travelers from Asia. The Asian tourist market has become the largest source of international tourists to Australia during the past decade. The Asian market represented nearly 50% of the total international market share in (Bureau of Tourism Research [BTR] 1995) and 42.6% in 1998 (BTR 1998b. The Asian market (excluding Japan), the number-one source of international tourists to Australia, currently represents 24.3% of the international market. The Japanese market, the secondlargest source, represents 18.3% of market share. The Japanese market is the largest single source, followed by New Zealand, Europe (excluding the United Kingdom/Ireland), United Kingdom and Ireland, and the United States (BTR 1998b) (see Table 1). Among the Asian markets (excluding Japan), Singapore is the largest source of visitors, with 23.0% of Asian market share, followed by Taiwan,

Contrasting quality of service experience for northern and southern Mediterranean tourists

“…Cultural and technological development differences between the northern and southern Mediterranean may have influenced these perceptions. Culture can help explain many patterns in tourist preferences, perceptions and behaviours (Hofstede, 1991;Mattila et al, 1999;Reisinger and Turner, 2002). Respondents differed in their ratings of the importance of fun and excitement in the service experience.…”

Motivations and Satisfactions of Taiwanese Tourists Who Visit Australia

“…C. Oh, Uysal, & Weaver, 1995;Uysal & Jurowski, 1994), and other topics (Goossens, 2000;Yoon & Uysal, 2005). The push and pull approach is easy to understand as it is concerned with the differences between different destinations and cultures that have been studied by many researchers (Jamal & Lee, 2003;Pearce, 1993;Reisinger & Turner, 2002). In addition, this approach provides useful insights for tourism authorities, destination marketing planners, tour operators, hoteliers, and other operators in the tourism industry.…”

The Association of Tourists' Cultural Tendencies and Their Perceived Service Quality of a Chinese Travel Agency

“…Ample research in tourism has shown that people from different cultures have different perceptions of the quality of a service (Atilgan, Akinci, & Aksoy, 2003;Choi & Chu, 2000;Crotts & Erdmann, 2000;Lim & Ya, 1997;Qu & Im, 2002;Reisinger & Turner, 2002a, 2002bWinsted, 1997). In Atilgan et al's cross-cultural study on German and Russian tourists, the authors used a modified 26-item SERVQUAL scale (developed by Parasuraman et al, 1988) to measure the service quality of group tours.…”

“…Researchers have discovered that differences in service quality perceptions exist among customers with different cultural backgrounds. Several cross-cultural studies demonstrate that visitors from different cultures have different perceptions of service quality and levels of satisfaction (Choi & Chu, 2000;Crotts & Erdmann, 2000;Herbig & Genestre, 1996;Liu, Furrer, & Sudharshan, 2001;Reisinger & Turner, 2002a, 2002bWinsted, 1997). For example, Liu et al pointed out that customers from an individualistically lower culture had higher perceptions of service quality and satisfaction, while those from an individualistically higher culture had lower perceptions of service quality and satisfaction.…”