Factors that impact on the Visitors’ decision to visit a destination

Chinese visitor’s may have considered in their decision to visit New Zealand. This question was asked on a 5-point scale ranging from whether the respondents believed the factors were ‘unimportant’ (1) to ‘very important’ (5). The factors that were being investigated involved: the duration of flight from China, the overall cost of the visit, if the destination was safe, if the destination was an English-speaking country, and whether a high level of environmental protection impacts on the respondents’ decision to visit New Zealand. This question was essentially asked to establish which factors were more important in the eyes of the respondents, but also if a destination’s level of environmental protection is a significant influence when Chinese visitors choose their holiday destinations.

Table 4-9: Factors considered in Respondents decision to visit New Zealand n=70

Factors Unimportant

In terms of examining whether the duration of flight from China to New Zealand was an important factor in the decision for the respondents to visit the destination (table 4.9), only 10% of the respondents believed that this factor was ‘very important’, with the majority of respondents expressing that this factor was ‘moderately important’ or below

(82.9%), with 32.9% of respondents stating that this factor was ‘unimportant’ in their decision to visit New Zealand.

Out of the 70 responses given in relation to the importance of the overall cost of the visit in the respondents’ decision to visit New Zealand (table 4.9), 17.1% of the respondents expressed that this factor was ‘very important’, with 30% of the responses articulated that the respondents believed that the overall cost of the visit was ‘of little importance; however, this was closely followed by the respondents who believed that the overall cost of the visit as ‘important’ in their decisions to visit New Zealand (25.7%).

When investigating the safety of the destination on a scale of importance in the respondent’s decision to visit New Zealand (table 4.9), 38.6% of the respondents believed that this factor was ‘very important’. The safety within the destination was the factor that had the highest proportion of responses that stated the factor as ‘very important’. However, in further examination of this factor, 78.6% of the responses stated that the level of significance in regards to their decision was ‘moderately important’, which included the responses expressing this factor as ‘important’ or ‘very important’. Therefore, it was interesting to find that 14.3% of the Chinese respondents believed the safety of the destination was ‘unimportant’ or ‘of little importance’.

In terms of whether the country was English-speaking seemed to be ‘of little importance’ to the Chinese respondents (28.6%) (table 4.9). It was identified that 34.3%

of respondents who believed that it was either ‘important’ or ‘very important’ that the country they were to visit was English-speaking, with 12.9% expressing it was a ‘very important’ factor. However, 41.5% of the sample population illustrated that this factor was below ‘moderately important’. This finding was interesting due to the fact that the respondent’s mother tongue not being English, but Chinese; yet, this visit to New Zealand could have been an opportunity for the respondents to ‘develop’ their English skills.

Interestingly, half of the respondents demonstrated the importance of a high level of environmental protection in their decision to visit New Zealand (table 4.9), with 60% of the responses stating that this factor was ‘important’ or ‘very important’. From the 70

responses given, 35.7% expressed that a high level of environmental protection was

‘very important’ in their decision; nonetheless, 14.3% of the respondents considered that this factor was completely ‘unimportant’.

Conversely, when studying the overall importance of the five factors in the decision for the Chinese visitors travelling to New Zealand, the means of each factor was examined (figure 4.4). It was acknowledged that in regards to the factors that the respondents perceived as ‘very important’, the safety within the destination sustained the largest mean of 3.97 (SD=1.154), which was followed by responses indicating that the destination having a high level of environmental protection played a very important impact on the visitors decision to visit New Zealand, with the mean of 3.63 (SD=1.385).

The overall cost of the visit to New Zealand was also an important factor with a mean of 3.10 (SD=1.287).

However, it was interesting to find that the destination being an English-speaking country having such a low mean, at 2.93 (SD=1.243), based on the findings of other studies expressing Chinese visitors rarely speaking English, which would therefore impact on the visitors’ level of experience and satisfaction. It was also identified that the duration of flight from China had the lowest mean at 2.27 (SD=1.273), expressing this factor as the least important impact on the visitor’s decision to travel to New Zealand.

Figure 4-4: Examination of Factors that Impacted on the Respondents Decision to Visit New Zealand n=70

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

Mean

Factors

Mean 3.97 3.63 3.1 2.93 2.27

Safe Destination High Level of Environmental

Protection Overall C ost of Visit English-Speaking

C ountry Duration of Flight from C hina

4.2.5 Sustainability

As one of the key areas being investigated in this study, a section to examine

‘sustainability’ was derived to tackle the aims of this research. This section essentially observes a number of components, such as if the respondents have heard of the term

‘sustainability’, the respondents’ level of understanding of the term, the respondents’

perception of ‘sustainability’, whether the respondents believe it is important for tourists to understand the term, and if the respondents think New Zealand is a sustainable tourist destination.

When asked if the respondents have heard of the term ‘sustainability’, 74.3% expressed that they have heard of the term; whereas, 25.7% acknowledged that they have not.

There was one question within the questionnaire that asked the Chinese visitors what they interpret ‘sustainability’ to mean. This question was ultimately not analysed because the interpretations expressed became too complex to tackle and analyze.

Conversely, from the 52 respondents that stated they have heard of the term

‘sustainability’, 73.1% of the respondents believe they have a ‘moderate’ and/or above

‘moderate’ understanding of the term ‘sustainability’, with 23.1% expressing they believe they have a ‘very good’ understanding of ‘sustainability’ (table 4.10). Hence 26.9% of the respondents stated they consider they have a below ‘moderate’

understanding of the term, with 19.2% reporting they have a ‘very limited’

understanding of the term ‘sustainability’. With regards to the level of understanding respondents have of the term ‘sustainability’, the mean was 3.06. However, it should be identified that not too much can be interpreted from the findings relating to the understanding of the term ‘sustainability’ because these responses are self-declared.

Table 4-10: Level of Understanding Respondents have of the term 'Sustainability' (5-point scale) (%) n=52

From the 52 responses that demonstrated the respondents have heard of the term

‘sustainability’, it was acknowledged that 75% of the responses believed that it is important for tourists to understand the term ‘sustainability’ because of a number of reasons; namely ‘to respect future tourists’ (30.4%), ‘protect present resources’ (22.8%),

‘ensure resources can be utilized by the next generations’ (19%), and ‘to give tourists a sense of responsibility’ (3.8%). The ‘other’ category consisted of 22.8% of the responses, and entailed statements that involved ‘developing a deeper understanding of New Zealand’, ‘the development of tourism’ (50%), ‘to improve tourism issues’

(37.5%), and the ‘other’ category (12.5%). However, the remaining 25% of the 52 responses expressed that they do not believe it is important for tourists to understand

‘sustainability’ and demonstrated several reasons; a general response was that respondents believed ‘tourists come to a destination to enjoy themselves, and only stay for a short period of time, therefore shouldn’t worry about sustainability’, others expressed that they thought it was not their concern because ‘they don’t belong to that country, but should be the concern of a tourist board or local government’. In regards to this statement it is established that it echoes responses expressed by the Chinese visitors on who the respondents believed was most responsible for the impacts of tourism on the destination, which was evidently governments, this will be examined further in the discussion section of this study.

As another primary section in the examination of ‘sustainability’, the sustainability of New Zealand as a tourist destination was investigated in terms of the Chinese visitors’

view. Investigating whether respondents believed New Zealand is a sustainable tourism destination or not was beneficial to this study by demonstrating firstly the Chinese respondents’ perception of New Zealand’s tourism industry, but secondly to identify if there is a need for New Zealand’s tourism industry to do more to illustrate the significance of sustainable tourism to the visitor market.

Table 4-11: Do Respondents think New Zealand is a Sustainable Tourism Destination (5-point scale) (%) n=52

From the study of the responses regarding whether or not the respondents’ thought New Zealand was a sustainable tourism destination (table 4.11), 51.9% of the responses reported that New Zealand was more than just a reasonably sustainable tourism destination. The majority of the responses expressed that the Chinese visitors believed New Zealand was a very sustainable tourism destination (40.4%), this response was closely followed by the responses expressing that respondents thought New Zealand was only a reasonably sustainable tourist destination (34.6%). Nonetheless, 13.5% of the responses was ranked below New Zealand being a reasonably sustainable tourism destination, with 7.7% of the responses expressing they thought New Zealand was not a very sustainable tourism destination; with the mean at 3.71 (SD=1.273).