“Performing tourism: Chinese outbound organized mass tourists on their travels

through German tourism stages”

PhD Candidate: Alma Berenice Pendzialek, MBACatholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU - Dep. of Tourism Geography)Research first supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hans Hopfinger (KU)Second supervisor: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt (FH-Westkueste, Heide)October 31, 2013

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Agenda

• Background

• Research Methods

• Stand of the research as of today

• Perspectives

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BackgroundGrowth and diversification of the market

Sources: CNTA, COTRI

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90

100

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Est.2013

Chinese outbound tourism in million border-crossings, 2000 - 2013

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Source: UNWTO

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20

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100

120

China Germany USA UnitedKingdom

Russia France Canada Japan Australia Italy

Top spenders in international tourism, 2009- 2012 (in US$ billion)

2009 2010 2011 2012

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Two main segments:- Group Package Travellers (GPT) - Free Independent Travellers (FIT)

Proportion of GPT and FIT market segments in COT, 2011

Source: CNTA

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Rationale

• Over-generalise application of tourism theories.

• Studies under a „managerism“ approach.

“There was an obvious skew towards analysing either the visitor or consumer profiles and the image of destinations” (Tse, 2009, p.23)

• Studies based on “Western” concepts, not critically adapted to China´s reality.

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Aim

• To explore and provide further understandings on the tourist performances of Chinese outbound organized mass tourists on German tourism stages.

• How?

Dramaturgical metaphor of Erving Goffman (1959)

and “Performance Studies” from

Richard Schechner (2002, 2006)

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Objectives

• To analyse the development of the Chinese outbound tourism in general and especially mass organized tourists, in order to explore how Chinese tourists learn to be a tourist

• To conduct an ethnographic study, as to identify how Chinese tourists perform on German tourism stages

• To describe the construction of tourism stages in Germany, in order to contextualize the performances allow for the Chinese outbound tourists to happen

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Performance – Analytical Framework

• Performances

• Time

• Stages

• Social and space regulation

Adapted from Edensor, Crouch, Larsen.

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Research Methods• Methodology

Paradigm: Phenomenological

Ontology: Relativist / Multiple realities

Epistemology: Subjectivist

Methods: Qualitative

Axiology: Value-laden

Adapted from Jennings (2005, p.104)

Ethnographic character of the research.

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• Methods

• Secondary Research

• Primary Research

• Interviews

• Ethnography

Qualitative Research

• Analysis of statistical information

Quantitative Research

Open and Semi-structured in-depth expert interviews in China (8) and Germany (9)

Semi- structured in-depth interviews with tour guides (4) in Germany

Participant observation (3 GPTs). Complemented with semi-structured interviews (5) and open semi-structured questionnaires (45) to tourists.

Arrivals, expenditure, other micro- and macro-economic indicators

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Status of the research as of today

• Chapters

Chapter 2 –Theorising Chinese tourism

Chapter 3 – Performance turn in tourism studies

Chapter 4 – Learn to be a tourist

(Still under construction)

Chapter 5 – Methodology and methods

(Still under construction)

• Field research information

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Perspectives

• Methodology chapter

• Analysis of the findings

• Write following chapters

• Further advice

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Thanks a lotfor your attention!

谢谢！

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ReferencesCai, L., Li, M., & Knutson, B. (2008). Research on China Outbound Market: A Meta-Review. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 16(1), 5–20.

China Outbound Tourism Research Institute COTRI (2013). Latest Chinese Outbound Tourism Developments. Heide, from : www.china-outbound.com/120.html

Edensor, T. (2007). Mundane mobilities, performances and spaces of tourism. Social & Cultural Geography, 8(2), 199–215.

Edensor, T. (2001). Walking in the British Countryside: Reflexivity, Embodied Practices and Ways to Escape. In P. Macnaghten& J. Urry (Eds.), Bodies of nature (pp. 81–106). London, Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications.

Edensor, T. (2000). Staging tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 27(2), 322–344.

Edensor, T. (1998). Tourists at the Taj: Performance and meaning at a symbolic site. International library of sociology. London, New York: Routledge.

Fugmann, R., & Aceves, B. (2013). Under Control: Performing Chinese Outbound Tourism to Germany. Tourism Planning & Development, 10(2), 159–168.

Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Anchor books. New York: Doubleday.

Jennings, G. R. (2005). Interviewing: a Focus on Qualitative Techniques. In B. W. Ritchie, P. Burns, & C. Palmer (Eds.), Tourismresearch methods. Integrating theory with practice (pp. 99–117). Wallingford, UK, Cambridge, MA: CABI.

Schechner, R. (2006). Performance studies: An introduction (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

Schechner, R. (2002). Performance studies: An introduction (1st ed.). London [u.a.]: Routledge.

Schechner, R., & Appel, W. (1990). By means of performance: Intercultural studies of theatre and ritual. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Schechner, R., & Brady, S. (2013). Performance studies: An introduction (3rd ed.). London, New York: Routledge.

Tse, T. S. M. (2009). Forces shaping the trends and patterns of China´s outbound international tourist flows, Southern Cross University.

UNWTO (2013). Tourism Highlights: 2013 Edition. Madrid: UNWTO, from http://mkt.unwto.org/en/publication/unwto-tourism-highlights-2013-edition. 15