Profiling trusted information sources for Chinese tourists traveling to Pacific SIDS

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates the information sources of the Chinese outbound tourists traveling to Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS). SIDS have the least experience with Chinese tourism in the region, but they are experiencing some of the highest growth rates of this important and lucrative market. A two-stage qualitative approach involving face-to-face elements and online technologies was adopted to study the case of the Cook Islands. Through five focus group interviews and a 3-month Web content analysis, this study determined the information channels trusted by the Chinese tourists and the differences in review contents generated by users or the management of destination marketing organization. Results show that the Internet is the most popular travel information source for Chinese tourists with preferred and trusted platforms, namely, Sina Weibo, Qyer, Mafengwo, and TripAdvisor, for practical and helpful information for travel decision making. The dendrogram mapping of the marketer- and user-generated contents of web content analysis reveals a travel information gap involving subjective opinions and mismatched positioning. Tourism planners, operators, and marketers are recommended to consider the negative comments to help improve the products and packages.