Documenting Chinese tourists' motivation patterns

Researchers and destination marketers are aware of the need to understand the motives of Chinese tourists. Using exploratory factor analysis the study investigated the cross-cultural applicability of the Travel Career Pattern approach to motivation (Pearce and Lee, 2005) for an extensive Chinese sample. The demographic factors of age and travel experience and their links to the motivational factors were analyzed and interpreted. Solid support for the original motive factors and their alignment in patterns of core, mid-level, and lesser importance were established. The subtle nuances in the Chinese tourists' motivational patterns and the way some motives were reconstituted arguably reflected culturally specific ways of thought and the evolution of Chinese travel patterns. The specific roles of age and travel experience variables were influential in shaping the motivation patterns. These directions in building the travel career approach to motivation offer promise for further analysis and refinement in many contexts.