Literary Destination Familiarity and Inbound Tourism: Evidence from Mainland China

Abstract

Destination familiarity is an important non-economic determinant of tourists' destination choice that has not been adequately studied. This study posits a literary dimension to the concept of destination familiarity -that is, the extent to which tourists have gained familiarity with a given destination through literature-and seeks to investigate the impact of this form of familiarity on inbound tourism to Mainland China.Employing the English fiction dataset of the Google Books corpus, the New York Times annotated corpus, and the Time magazine corpus, we construct two types of destination familiarity based on literary texts: affectionbased destination familiarity and knowledge-based destination familiarity. The results from dynamic panel estimation (1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004) demonstrate that the higher the degree of affection-based destination familiarity with a province in the previous year, the larger the number of inbound tourists the following year. Examining the influence of literature and its consumption on tourism activities sheds light on the dynamics of sustainable tourism development in emerging markets.

Impact of Familiarity and Green Image on Satisfaction and Loyalty Among Young Green Hotels’ Guests – A Developing Country’s Perspective

“…However, many researchers have expressed their concern about using the single-dimension construct measurement of familiarity which they feel is not appropriate in the temporal tourism environment ( Jebbouri et al, 2021 ; Ju et al, 2021 ). Kim et al (2019) argued that destination familiarity can be enhanced not only by direct experience, but also by indirect experience without actual travel experience.…”

Exploring the Relationship of Image Formation on Tourist Satisfaction and Loyalty: Evidence From China

“…Nevertheless, researchers have criticized the measurement of the single-dimension construct of destination familiarity, noting that is not appropriate in the temporal tourism environment ( Stylidis, 2020 ; Ju et al, 2021 ). According to Kim et al (2019) , destination familiarity can be increased by direct experiences, such as purchasing and usage behavior, while indirect experience can also significantly influence the familiarity of a tourist with a given destination; this can include exposure to advertisements, reviews from others, the geographic distance between origin and destination, having received information regarding a given destination, perceived knowledge related to education, media coverage, travel guides, social media, and personal contact with others ( Kim et al, 2019 ; Chi et al, 2020 ; Stylidis, 2020 ; Ju et al, 2021 ). Researchers have therefore suggested that two aspects of destination familiarity should be operationalized: experiential and informational ( Kim et al, 2019 ).…”

“…The results of many studies have demonstrated that destination familiarity based on past travel experience significantly affects the travel decision-making process of visitors ( Prentice, 2006 ; Tan and Wu, 2016 ), but visitors can still attain a definite level of destination familiarity via indirect experience ( Chi et al, 2020 ). Other means of direct experience in creating destination familiarity have largely been overlooked in tourism literature ( Ju et al, 2021 ).…”

“…One main measurement of familiarity with a destination is the geographic distance between the origin of tourists and the destination country ( Hu and Ritchie, 1993 ), as tourists prefer to travel to destinations culturally dissimilar from their home countries ( Ju et al, 2021 ). According to Wang et al (2021a) , tourism is itself one of the products of a country, and the intention to visit can be regarded as similar to the intention to purchase.…”

Assessment of tourists perceived without travel risks and intention to visit night market aftermath the COVID-19 pandemic: An empirical approach

“…Meanwhile, SN as an external source also can affect one's perceptions and feelings of ability to perform certain behaviours due to a tourist's perceptions of a product or service greatly influenced by his or her cognitive and affective components (Stylidis et al, 2020). A tourist's perceived ability to visit a destination is highly based on his or her initial knowledge and images of that place (Ju et al, 2021), SN or contact with others as indirect received information can significantly influences one's knowledge, perceptions and feelings of ability to choose a tourism destination (Stylidis et al, 2020). Numerous empirical studies also demonstrated how SN positively influences attitude (Wang et al, 2022b; and PBC (Dinc, Budic, 2016;Wang et al, 2022c).…”