PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH FUNDING SCHEME

公共政策研究資助計劃 Project Number : 項目編號：

2015.A6.061.15D

Project Title : 項目名稱：

Toward a Better Understanding of the Chinese Mindset in Cruise Tourism Development: A Conjoint Analysis of Chinese Travelers' Preferences for Cruising Attributes 中式思維：基於聯合分析法的中國遊客郵輪旅遊偏好研

究

Principal Investigator : 首席研究員：

Dr HUNG Kam 洪琴博士

Institution/Think Tank : 院校 ／智庫：

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 香港理工大學

Project Duration (Month): 推行期 (月) ：

21

Funding (HK$) : 總金額 (HK$)：

463,025.00

This research report is uploaded onto the Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office’s (PICO’s) website for public reference. The views expressed in this report are those of the Research Team of this project and do not represent the views of PICO and/or the Assessment Panel. PICO and/or the Assessment Panel do not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this report.

Please observe the “Intellectual Property Rights & Use of Project Data” as stipulated in

the Guidance Notes of the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme. A suitable acknowledgement of the funding from PICO should be included in any

publication/publicity arising from the work done on a research project funded in whole or in part by PICO.

The English version shall prevail whenever there is any discrepancy between the

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CPU PPR Project No.: 2015.A6.061.15D

CENTRAL POLICY UNIT

PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH FUNDING SCHEME

FINAL REPORT Project Title:

(English)

Toward a better understanding of the Chinese mindset in cruise tourism development: A conjoint analysis of Chinese travelers’ preferences for cruising attributes

(Chinese) 中式思維：基於聯合分析法的中國遊客郵輪旅遊偏好研究

Particulars of PI and Co-Is

Name Post Institution

Principal Investigator (PI)

Kam Hung Associate Professor

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Co-investigator(s) (Co-I(s))

Zhaoping Liu Assistant Professor

Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)

Co-investigator(s) (Co-I(s))

Basak Denizci Guillet Associate Professor

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

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Part A: 1. Abstract

1.1 Chinese 郵輪旅遊在北美以及歐洲發展方興未艾。而在亞洲以及香港，郵輪旅遊的發展則仍處於初創期。

目前，學術界對郵輪旅遊的研究主要側重於西方市場，而對於亞洲市場知之甚少。香港希冀在對

舊啟德機場的改造中，將簇新的啟德郵輪碼頭打造成為亞太地區重要的郵輪母港。在亞太範圍

內，越來越多的郵輪母港不斷建成及投放使用，如於2009年投入運營的天津國際郵輪母港，

2011年投入使用的上海吳淞口國際郵輪碼頭，以及2012開放的新加坡郵輪中心。在日漸激烈的亞

洲郵輪市場，香港需要具有前瞻性方能在市場的爭奪戰中突圍。郵輪旅遊，作為一種新興旅遊體

驗方式，有潛力成為香港的一個主要旅遊吸引物。但是，對亞太市場認識的缺乏，為產品設計，

營銷策略以及市場發展政策的制定帶來隱患。照搬照抄西方商業模式，有可能存在不適用的問

題。如香港迪士尼樂園，需要重新修訂其設計，運營以及管理，以迎合亞洲顧客的需求。皇家加

勒比郵輪集團駐上海代表亦強調在開發中國市場的過程中，打造本土化產品是關鍵。因此，瞭解

亞洲市場上顧客的心態，對發展香港郵輪旅遊至關重要。

本研究採用聯合分析方法，以辨析最受中國消費者歡迎的郵輪產品。中國遊客認為在他們的郵輪

旅遊決策中位價格是最重要的考慮因素，其次是出發港口的便利性，停靠時間，停靠港的文化體

驗，游輪容量和停靠港的特點。本研究充分考慮文化因素的影響，沒有基於西方郵輪市場的研究

結果，對中國市場偏好進行事前假設。而是採用聯合分析方法，從中國人的角度進行探究。聯合

分析方法在充分考慮了顧客自身經歷的基礎上，對顧客偏好進行合情合理的分析。聯合分析方法

在郵輪相關研究方面，尚屬首次。本研究認為該方法可以有效地達到研究目的。在實際應用方

面，本研究結果將會有效幫助郵輪企業制定針對中國郵輪市場的產品以及相關策略方針。

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1.2 English Although cruise tourism has been a thriving business in North America and Europe for some

time, its development in Hong Kong and Asia is still in its early stages. Recent research on

cruise tourism has focused primarily on the Western world, with little understanding of the

mindset and preferences of Asian travelers. In reconstructing Kai Tak airport as a new mega

cruise terminal, Hong Kong aims to become the leading cruise hub in the Asia-Pacific. To

compete with the increasing number of new cruise terminals established in other Asian cities

(e.g., Tianjin Cruise Terminal in 2009, Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal

in 2011, and Singapore Cruise Centre in 2012), Hong Kong must be proactive in reaching

and retaining the Asian cruise market. Cruise tourism is an alternative that enables tourists to

experience Asia in a new way, and has the potential to become one of Hong Kong’s main

attractions. There is, however, a risk that the lack of understanding exhibited by Asian

consumers in the cruise tourism market may lead to inappropriate products, marketing

strategies, and cruise development policies. Western business models may not be appropriate

in Asia, which can be seen in various examples, such as Hong Kong Disneyland, where the

design, operation, and management had to be modified to meet Asian customers’ needs.

Discussions with representative executives of Costa and Royal Caribbean international cruise

lines in Shanghai made it clear that localized products had to be developed to address the

needs of Chinese consumers. Therefore, understanding the mindset of Asian customers is

vital to developing cruise tourism in Hong Kong.

This study incorporates conjoint analysis to enable an understanding of the cruise products

most preferred by Chinese consumers. Mid-range pricing was found to be the most important

cruising attribute to Chinese travelers, followed by convenience of the port for embarkation,

duration, cultural experience at ports of call, cruise ship capacity, and feature of ports of call.

The study is culturally sensitive, and does not make any assumptions regarding consumer

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preferences based on Western examples. Consumer preferences are gauged from a Chinese

perspective by using conjoint analysis, which accommodates the kinds of trade-offs that

customers would experience in reality and thus is considered a realistic approach in judging

consumer preference. Methodologically, conjoint analysis is applied to cruise tourism for the

first time, and is arguably a fruitful approach in achieving the goals of the research.

Practically, the study may help the cruise industry to formulate appropriate cruise products

along with relevant policies and strategies for China’s cruise tourism development.

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2. Research methodology (i.e. how the research has been conducted; what data/results have been obtained or generated; how the conclusions, policy implications and recommendation are derived)

Phase One – Qualitative Study

First, literature review was conducted to understand if any similar research have been

conducted in this topic. It was found that Chinese travelers’ preferences for cruising products

have not yet been identified in past literature. Conducting a prior preliminary study is a

common practice in conjoint analysis to derive critical items for later consumer evaluation

(e.g., Chiam, Soutar, & Yeo, 2009). Due to the lack of research on this topic, Chinese

travelers’ preferences for cruising products were first explored using interviews with

qualified mainland Chinese to discover their preferred cruising attributes. The interviews

were conducted in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen (four first-tier cities in

mainland China) based on economic income and city competitiveness. In total, 20 interviews

were conducted with five interviews conducted in each city. The population statistics for each

city are provided in Table 1, which reveals a near 50-50 gender distribution in each selected

city. Therefore, 50-50 gender distributions were used to select the target respondents. The

following sampling criteria were also applied in the study:

1. All should be at least 25 years old.

2. All should have above-average income.

3. All must have taken a cruise vacation within past 12 months

The first criterion is to exclude students and anyone underage from the study as well as to

include potential cruisers in the study. While North American cruisers tend to be middle aged,

married, affluent, and highly educated travelers, the demographics of Asian cruisers are not

readily available for analysis. However, Mr. Kevin Leong, the General Manager of the Asia

Cruise Association, reported at the Hong Kong Cruise Forum in January 2013 that Asian

Cruise clients tend to be between 25 and 55 years old (average mid-40’s). The second

criterion is to include only financially viable consumers in the sample, as cruising is

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considered to be a luxury activity, and the target customers are often high-end consumers.

The exact financial profile of Asian cruisers is unknown and a common income requirement

is not meaningful because of different living standards in different cities. Therefore, an

above-average income requirement was set in each city for the sampling. Table 2 shows the

income requirement for sampling in each city. The last criterion of cruising experience is to

ensure meaningful inputs from respondents.

TABLE 1 POPULATION STATISTICS

Statistical Year

Population Female Male

Beijing 2014 21,705,000 51.4% 48.6% Shanghai 2014 24,256,800 49.6% 50.4% Guangzhou 2014 13,080,500 50.4% 49.6% Shenzhen 2013 10,628,900 52.2% 47.8%

Sources: Beijing Statistics Bureau, 2014; Shanghai Statistics Bureau, 2014; Guangzhou Statistics Bureau, 2014; Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2014; Shenzhen Statistics Bureau, 2013

TABLE 2 INCOME REQUIREMENTS FOR SAMPLING

Statistical Year

Average Disposable

Income (RMB)

Average number of

family members

Average Household Disposable Income (RMB)

Monthly Household Income Requirement (RMB)

Beijing 2014 43,910 2.6 114,166 10,000 Shanghai 2014 47,710 2.7 128,817 10,000 Guangzhou 2014 42,049 2.92 122,783 10,000 Shenzhen 2014 40,948 2.11 86,400 7,500

Sources: Beijing Statistics Bureau, 2014; Beijing Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2014; Shanghai Statistics Bureau, 2014; Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2014; Guangzhou Statistics Bureau, 2014; Guangzhou Statistics Bureau, 2014; Shenzhen Statistics Bureau, 2014; Shenzhen Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2014.

In the interviews, participants shared their key considerations when choosing a

cruise vacation. All interviews were audio recorded. To reduce the number to a manageable

size for conjoint analysis, a panel of eight experts comprising scholars who specialize in

tourism research and have taken cruise vacations were formed to judge the relevancy,

applicability, and redundancy of the cruising features, along with their associated levels.

Questionnaire was designed based on panel experts’ inputs. Some basic information

including demographics and past cruising experience have also been included in the

questionnaire. A pilot test was followed among 37 mainland Chinese to test the completion

time and refine the questionnaire. Change of wordings, question orders and modify

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sentence structures were made on the questionnaire after the pilot test to align respondents’

interpretation of questions with the original meaning intended by researchers.

Phase Two – Quantitative Survey

Two rounds of surveys were conducted in phase two. The first round of survey was

to determine the major cruising attributes for formulating conjoint questions. A seven-point

Likert scale (1 = least important, 7 = most important) was applied for participants to

evaluate the importance of these attributes. Following the suggestions of the literature

(Smith, 1995; Ping, 1998) to keep the number of attributes to a manageable size (five or

six) for each set of evaluations, only the most salient destination attributes were included in

the final stage of conjoint analysis. Given the vital role of the first round survey in

determining critical attributes for conjoint analysis, a random sample was taken from a

reputable and reliable survey company in China.

Similar to phase one, the target population includes four tier-one cities in mainland

China, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. According to Orme (1998),

the optimum sample size for conjoint analysis is between 150 and 1,200. As four cities were

included in the study, with a sample size of 200 for each city, the target sample size in the

first round of survey was 800 among which half of them are cruisers and another half are

non-cruisers. While cruisers must have taken a cruise visiting oversea country(ies)

including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan for at least 2 nights within past 12 months, non-

cruisers must have at least one oversea trip (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) for

leisure purpose over the last 12 months. Previous studies (e.g., Hung, 2008; Li, 2006) have

tended to match study samples with an actual cruise population to generalize the study

results to the target market. Age, gender, and income requirements are usually imposed

during the sampling process. Same as the interview sampling criteria in phase one, ≥25

years old, 50-50 gender distribution, and above average income (Table 2) were required for

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survey sample in phase two.

In the question concerning the importance of the 13 attribute in cruising

considerations, The following question was asked: “Assume you are thinking of going on a

cruise vacation, what will be your major considerations? Please indicate the level of

importance of each of the following attribute to your cruise decision, with ‘1’ refers to ‘Not

important at all’ and ‘7’ refers to ‘Very important’.”

A second round survey was conducted in Phase Two to evaluate the six preferred

cruising attributes of Chinese tourists. 1,600 samples were obtained in the second round

survey with 400 samples from each of the four cities among which half of them are cruisers

and another half are non-cruisers. Two sections of questions were included in the

questionnaire. In the first section, participants were asked to prioritize all of the given

combinations of cruising attributes based on their preferences. In the second section, the

participants were asked to fill out some basic socio-demographic information and past

cruising experience. Price, cruising duration, convenience of home port, cultural experience

at port of call, cruise ship capacity and whether the port of call is exotic have been derived

from previous steps as the most salient cruising attributes. With the levels assumed for each

attribute, the number of possible attribute combinations was 3*3*2*2*2*3 = 216 (Table 3).

TABLE 3 ATTRIBUTES AND ATTRIBUTE LEVELS SELECTED FOR CONJOINT ANALYSIS

Attributes Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Price < US$450 US$450-900 > US$900 Duration 2-3 nights 4-6 nights ≥7 nights Convenience of the port for embarkation Convenient Not convenient Feature of ports of call Exotic Familiar Cultural experience at ports of call Very rich Very limited Cruise ship capacity < 2000 passengers 2000-4000 passengers > 4000 passengers

Respondents were asked to respond to a scenario in the conjoint question. The

following instructions were given: “Imagine you are going on a cruise vacation in low

season and need to decide a cruise to go. You are provided with the information of cruising

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price, duration, convenience of the port for embarkation, feature of ports of call, cultural

experience at the ports of call, and maximum capacity of cruise ship. Please rank the

following combinations from the most preferred choice to the least preferred choice with

the most preferred choice ranked as ‘1’.”

A definition was provided to each attribute on the questionnaire to avoid different

interpretations of the terminologies.

1. Price refers to the total amount that travelers need to pay for a cruise vacation.

2. Duration refers to the number of nights that passengers need to stay on cruise ship.

3. Convenience of the port for embarkation refers to how much time and effort people

need to spend to reach the port for embarkation.

4. Feature of ports of call refers to the characteristics of the ports listed on cruising

itinerary where passengers are allowed to get off the cruise ship and stay there for a

period of time.

5. Cultural experience at ports of call refers to having cultural encounters and gaining

cultural understanding at ports of call.

6. Cruise ship capacity refers to the maximum number of people that a cruise ship can

accommodate.

To avoid overburdening respondents when ranking their priorities, a fractional

factorial (orthogonal and balanced) design was applied to allow participants to evaluate only

a small set of combinations drawing from the full profiles (Green, Krieger & Vavra, 1997).

A fraction of all combinations of the attribute levels was generated from the fractional

factorial design in the SPSS conjoint method. After pilot testing the conjoint questions, it was

found that presenting all hypothetical cruising combinations on one screen for respondents’

ranking is mentally challenging which may result in inaccurate data. Choice based conjoint

analysis was adopted in which three hypothetical cruising combinations were presented at a

time to reduce the mental workload of respondents.

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In summary, the project was conducted in six steps.

Step 6: Second round survey

To obtain conjoint data for achieving research objectives

Stpe 5: First round survey

To determine the most salient attributes for cruising products

Step 4: Pilot test

To test qusetionnaire

Step 3: Panel of experts

To judge the relevancy, applicability, and redundancy of the measurement items

Step 2: Photo-interviewing

To derive preferred attributes for cruising products

Step 1: Literature review

To search for relevant information

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3. Policy implications and recommendation

Cruise tourism in North America has been experiencing steady growth since 1990,

and as many as 68% of all cruise passengers in 2012 were North American (Cruise Lines

International Association [CLIA], 2013a). North America has long been the center of the

cruise business, followed by Europe, but recently the increasing interest in cruises by Asian

travelers, and their affordability has resulted in destinations such as China, Japan,

Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand actively developing cruise

terminals to accommodate mega cruise ships. Despite the efforts made by numerous

destinations and cruise lines to further develop their business, there is a general lack of

understanding of the mindset of Asian cruise customers. At the January Hong Kong Cruise

Forum 2013, organized by Seatrade, the lack of understanding of Asian consumers was

identified as an obstacle in further cruise product development in the Asian market. John F.

Tercek, Vice President of Commercial Development for Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited,

commented that to understand the Asian cruise market, developers must learn what Asian

customers want, what they do, and what product the cruise companies can provide to cater

to their needs. Bruce Krumrine, Vice-president of Shore Operations for Princess Cruises,

further noted that research on how to raise awareness of Chinese consumers’ attitudes

toward cruises would be beneficial to the industry.

Hong Kong is certainly in a good position to explore the emerging Chinese cruise

market, with 71.8% of its tourists coming from mainland China (Tourism Commission,

2013). However, the recent HK$8.2-billion project to turn the former Kai Tak Airport into a

cruise terminal, transforming Hong Kong into “Asia’s cruise hub,” is not free of obstacles.

The development of the cruise market is in its early stages, there is competition from

neighboring countries, and an evident lack of understanding of the potential market,

reflected in the low use of the new cruise terminal. This study therefore aims to understand

the mindset of Chinese travelers, which is important in the effective design of targeted,

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attractive, and appealing cruise products. Conjoint analysis was conducted among Chinese

travelers to understand their preferences and their preferred combination of cruising

attributes. This information will be critical in the formulating of appropriate marketing

strategies and in tailor-making cruise products and services that will satisfy Chinese

customers’ needs. For instance, price is the key consideration in Chinese travelers

preference for cruising vacation. However, competing solely on price will not be effective

as the study results indicated that Chinese travelers prefer to keep the price at mid-range

instead of low. This may be due to the perception of poor service quality usually associated

with low cost tour and the prestige image of cruise vacation. Convenience of the port for

embarkation is considered to be another important consideration. As transportation cost is

not included in the cruise package, and time is precious for travelers, destination marketers

should aim to project a short psychological distance of the port from traveler’s residence by

providing shuttle bus from the major transportation hubs, promoting cruising to the

neighboring cities, or targeting at older travelers who are not limited by time. Chinese

travelers also prefer to have rich cultural experience at different ports of call. The

opportunities of learning and experiencing local culture should be provided to the cruisers.

While Chinese travelers are becoming more and more experienced in travel, their desire for

having authentic and meaningful encounters with the local culture become stronger. The

traditional perception of Chinese prefers shopping only should be altered.

Past literature has mainly focused on understanding the decision-making processes

of Western travelers, with limited understanding of the mindset of Chinese travelers, which

is relevant in the development of cruise tourism in China. Most cruise studies have focused

on conceptual model building and testing, which is considered to be suitable for mature

destinations such as North America. However, Hong Kong’s cruise tourism is at an early

stage of development. Imposing Western models when attempting to understand the

decision-making processes of Chinese consumers may not be appropriate, given the cultural

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differences, pace of development, and consumers’ mindsets. Additionally, previous cruising

studies have asked participants to evaluate each preference separately, with no

consideration of the interaction effect of all options. This study uses the alternative

approach of conjoint analysis, to attempt to understand what Chinese consumers want from

cruising products. This approach is being adopted for the first time in cruising research, and

is considered to be a more realistic method, as it accommodates the trade-offs that

customers typically face in reality. The study reveals not only the relative importance of

each cruising attribute, but also the most preferred combination of attributes among

mainland Chinese. It is expected that this culturally-sensitive study will become a good

base for further investigations into the travel decisions made by Chinese tourists.

Practically, a better understanding of Chinese consumers’ mindsets in cruise tourism will

help the cruise industry strategically tailor their products for Chinese travelers, and plan

their marketing campaigns accordingly. This study will be a benchmark for further studies

of Chinese cruise tourism, and will contribute to the development of a coherent research

agenda of cruise tourism in China and in other cross-cultural contexts.

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4. Details of the public dissemination held, if any, and how it is related to the project (A copy of the publicity of public dissemination can be attached. All the publicity of public dissemination must include an acknowledgement of the funding support of the CPU.)

Date (DD/MM/YYYY)

Name of Activity

Type of Activity

Information Disseminated,

Format and Methods of

Dissemination

Users/ Audience

How it is related to the

project

June 24-26, 2017 June 5-6, 2017

The 1st Global Congress of Special Interest Tourism and Hospitality (GLOSITH) Conference (Appendix C) 3rd Global Tourism & Hospitality Conference (Appendix D)

Conference Conference

Stand up presentation with PowerPoint Stand up presentation with PowerPoint

Conference attendees Conference attendees

The presentation was to share the interview results with scholars to gain some feedbacks for the survey design. The presentation was to share the preliminary results of the study and to refine the relevant manuscript for journal submission

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5. Effectiveness of the project (comparison of the project results against its original objectives and targets as set out in the project proposal)

5.1 Objectives as per original application

1. To determine the relative importance given to different cruising attributes by Chinese

tourists.

2. To identify the most favorable cruising attributes’ combinations among Chinese

tourists.

3. To examine the above two objectives according to Chinese tourists’ psychographic

information.

5.2 Achievement

Phase One – Qualitative Study

The qualified candidates were asked during the interviews in a flexible manner to

stimulate sharing of their cruising considerations. The interviews were voice-recorded, and

the average duration of interview was 63 minutes. Twenty cruisers participated in the

interviews and their average age was 41 years old. Among the participants, nine of them have

higher diploma, 10 of them are bachelor’s degree holders, and one has a postgraduate degree.

In terms of marital status, two are single, four are married without kids, and 14 are married

with kids. The average age of their kids is 11 years old. Table 4 summarizes interviewees

profile in terms of their city of residence, gender, age, occupation, education, marital status,

age of child (if any), and homeport city of the most recent cruise.

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TABLE 4 RESPONDENTS’ PROFILE #City Gender Age Occupation Education Marital Status Age of child Homeport Beijing F 44 Manager Bachelor Married with kid 14 Milan Beijing M 45 Manager Bachelor Married without kid -- Miami Beijing F 41 Self-employed Bachelor Single -- Tianjin Beijing M 37 Supervisor Postgraduate Married with kid 3 Tianjin, Beijing M 37 --- Bachelor Married with kid 6 Tianjin, Shanghai F 33 --- Higher diploma Married with kid 4 Shanghai Shanghai F 42 Supervisor Bachelor Married with kid 14 Shanghai Shanghai M 54 Self-employed Higher diploma Married with kid 24 LA Shanghai M 35 Manager Bachelor Married without kid -- Singapore Shanghai F 41 Manager Higher diploma Married without kid -- Shanghai Guangzhou F 35 --- Bachelor Married with kid 7 Miami Guangzhou M 35 General Manager Bachelor Married with kid 5 Seattle Guangzhou F 45 Interpreter Higher diploma Married with kid 16 Tianjin Guangzhou M 41 Manager Higher diploma Married with kid 10 Guangzhou Guangzhou F 46 Manager Higher diploma Single -- Tianjin Shenzhen F 41 Supervisor Bachelor Married with kid 5 Shenzhen Shenzhen M 36 General Manager Bachelor Married with kid 2 HK Shenzhen F 30 Manager Higher diploma Married without kid -- Xiamen Shenzhen M 55 Self-employed Higher diploma Married with kid 25 Xiamen Shenzhen M 45 Self-employed Higher diploma Married with kid 13 Guangzhou The interviews were transcribed verbatim prior to importing them into NVivo 11 for further

analysis. Following Creswell’s (2007) data analysis spiral, data were first repeatedly read to

familiarize the researcher with the content and obtain an initial feeling of the data structure.

Memoing, classifying, and interpreting were conducted while reading to make sense of the

data and drive meaningful patterns. Finally, the results were described, explained, and

visualized. Thirteen preferred cruising attributes were derived from data analysis which are

included in Table 5.

TABLE 5 PREFERRED CRUISING ATTRIBUTES

If the price of cruise is reasonable. If the cruising duration is what I would prefer. If the home port for embarkation is convenient to me. If the port of call is likely to provide me rich cultural experience. If the cruise ship is large. If the port of call is exotic. If the port of call is likely to provide me abundant shopping opportunities. If the cruise ship is new. If the port of call is new to me. If there are abundant shopping opportunities on the cruise ship. If the cruise passengers are likely to be diversified. If the crew members are likely to be diversified. If I’ve been on that particular cruise ship before.

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Phase Two – Quantitative Survey

First round survey was conducted to derive top cruising attributes for inclusion in

the follow up conjoint survey. The 13 cruising considerations and the corresponding

importance mean score of each attribute are provided in Table 6. Originally, it was planned

to include five attributes in the subsequent conjoint design. However, the research team

decided to include six attributes at the end as two attributes (i.e., “If the cruise ship is

large” and “If the port of call is exotic”) were showing the same mean values. The top six

cruising considerations of respondents revealed in the first round survey are price, cruising

duration, convenience of home port, cultural experience at port of call, cruise ship capacity

and whether the port of call is exotic.

TABLE 6 CONSIDERATIONS IN CRUISING DECISIONS

Cruising attributes Mean Standard

Deviation If the price of cruise is reasonable. 5.94 1.018 If the cruising duration is what I would prefer. 5.88 0.995 If the home port for embarkation is convenient to me. 5.85 1.037 If the port of call is likely to provide me rich cultural experience. 5.73 1.069 If the cruise ship is large. 5.71 1.180 If the port of call is exotic. 5.71 1.146 If the port of call is likely to provide me abundant shopping opportunities. 5.19 1.312 If the cruise ship is new. 5.15 1.273 If the port of call is new to me. 5.13 1.366 If there are abundant shopping opportunities on the cruise ship. 4.99 1.452 If the cruise passengers are likely to be diversified. 4.84 1.485 If the crew members are likely to be diversified. 4.81 1.500 If I’ve been on that particular cruise ship before. 4.07 1.732

To achieve the research objectives, second round survey with conjoint question was

conducted. Table 7 shows the profile of respondents in the final round of survey in which

1600 people responded to the survey. The gender distribution is about half-half with 847

(52.9%) males and 753 (47.1%) females. The monthly household income of most

respondents are between RMB10001-20000 (39.4%), followed by RMB20001-30000

(24.4%) and RMB30001-40000 (10.5%). Majority of respondents (70.9%) have Bachelor

18

degree, work full-time (90.6%), and are married (86.6%).

TABLE 7 RESPONDENTS’ PROFILE

Psychographic information

Frequency Percentage Mean Std. Deviation

Age 35.04 7.658 Monthly

household income

7501-10000 63 3.9 10001-20000 630 39.4 20001-30000 390 24.4 30001-40000 168 10.5 40001-50000 104 6.5 50001-70000 70 4.4 70001-90000 66 4.1 More than 90000 109 6.8

Have you ever cruised before?

Yes 916 57.3 No 684 42.8

Subscription to Wi-Fi service

Yes 723 90.4 No 77 9.6

Gender Male 847 52.9 Female 753 47.1

Education High school 48 3.0 Diploma 247 15.4 Bachelor 1135 70.9 Postgraduate 170 10.6

Job status Full-time employed 1450 90.6 Part-time employed 96 6.0 Full-time homemaker 20 1.3 Student 8 .5 Retired 23 1.4 Others 3 .2

Marital status Married without kids 160 10.0 Married with kids 1225 76.6 Single 211 13.2 Divorced 4 .3

Table 8 shows the characteristics of respondents’ most recent cruise vacation. For

those who have been on the cruise for at least two nights within past 12 months, most cruisers

stayed on the cruise for five nights (23.4%), followed by 7 nights (17.6%), 6 nights (13.6%),

and 3 nights (12%). Majority of them (90.4%) subscribed to Wi-Fi service on board. In terms

19

of number of parties in the travel group, most respondents traveled in three (33.6%), followed

by two (21.0%) and four persons (17.1%). Over half of respondents cruised with

spouse/partner (55.9%), followed by cruising with their kid(s) (20.6%). Approximately one

third of respondents cruised for the first time (31.3%) with remaining of them have been on

the cruise at least twice.

TABLE 8 CRUISING CHARCTERISTICS

Trip

characteristics Frequency Percentage

Number of nights on the cruise

2 nights 47 5.9 3 nights 96 12.0 4 nights 47 5.9 5 nights 187 23.4 6 nights 109 13.6 7 nights 141 17.6 8+ nights 173 21.6

Wi-Fi subscription

Yes 723 90.4 No 77 9.6

Who accompanied you during your

recent cruise trip?

Myself 47 4.2 Spouse/partner 623 55.9 My kid(s) 229 20.6 My parent(s)/ parent(s) in law 86 7.7 My relative(s) 13 1.2 My friend(s) 116 10.4

Cruising experience

1 time 250 31.3 2 times 202 25.3 3 times 157 19.6 4 times 46 5.8 5 times 61 7.6 6 times 29 3.6 7+ times 55 6.8

Number of parties 2 158 21.0 3 253 33.6 4 129 17.1 5 53 7.0 6 47 6.2 7+ 113 15.1

This study employs conjoint analysis using six cruising attributes including price,

convenience of the port for embarkation, duration, cultural experience at ports of class, cruise

20

ship capacity and feature of ports of call. Each attribute includes two to three levels.

Sawtooth’s choice-based conjoint (CBC) module was used to generate the choice sets which

contain 18 product combinations. Three combinations were presented at a time instead of

presenting all combinations at once to avoid information overload which could be difficult

for respondents to comprehend. Hierarchical Bayes (HB) regression method of CBC/HB tool

to calculate the utility scores and the importance values. HB develops part worth from choice

data at the individual level. The CBC/HB tool uses data from all respondents to estimate

utility scores for each individual.

Objective 1. To determine the relative importance given to different cruising attributes by

Chinese tourists.

As shown in Table 9, among the cruise attributes included in the study, price is the most

important attribute to Chinese tourists with 27% importance followed by convenience

of the port for embarkation (18%), duration of the cruise (17%), cultural experience at

ports of call (15%), cruise ship capacity (13%) and feature of ports of call (10%).

Please note that all importance levels add up to 100%.

21

TABLE 9 IMPORTANCE VALUES

Objective 2. To identify the most favorable cruising attributes’ combinations among

Chinese tourists.

In addition to the attributes, there are levels associated with each attribute. Partial

utility scores were computed to identify the most preferred level in each attribute

included in the study (Table 10). It is interesting that the most preferred price for

the cruise is not the cheapest option (<US$450) but is the middle price range

(US$450-900). It might be that Chinese tourists do not perceive cruising to be a

cheap trip option compared to other types of holidays. And therefore they have a

reasonable price expectation. High price (>US$900) has negative utility value

implying that this is the least favorite price. In terms of duration, the most preferred

22

duration is 4-6 nights followed by ≥7 nights. Two to three nights has negative utility

value implying that participants found this length to be too short for the cruise trip.

It is not surprising that participants prefer convenient port for embarkation, exotic

ports of class and very rich cultural experience at ports of call. In terms of cruise

capacity, the most preferred size is a cruise ship with <2000 passengers. Least

preferred size is >4000 passengers. Negative utility value is an indication of that.

TABLE 10 PARTIAL UTILITY SCORES

Utility Price <US$450 .126 US$450-900 .536

>US$900 -.662 Duration

2-3 nights -.344 4-6 nights .338

≥7 nights .007 Convenience of the port for embarkation

Convenient .677 Not convenient .-.677 Feature of ports of call Exotic .195 Familiar -.195 Cruise ship capacity < 2000 passengers .166 2000-4000 passengers .036 >4000 passengers -.202 Cultural experience at ports of call

Very rich .707 Very limited -.707 (Constant) -3.896

Objective 3. To examine the above two objectives according to Chinese tourists’

psychographic information.

23

Importance values were computed according to participants’ psychographic

information. Overall, feature of ports of call continues being the least important

attribute among the attributes included in the study, regardless of the participants’

background information. Similarly, price is the most important attribute among the

attributes included in the study with a few exceptions. Table 11 shows that there are

not very large differences in importance values depending on the psychographic

information.

TABLE 11 IMPORTANCE VALUES ACCORDING TO PARTICIPANTS’ PSYCHOGRAPHIC

INFORMATION

Psychographic information

Price Duration Convenience of the port for embarkation

Feature of ports of call

Cruise ship capacity

Cultural experience at ports of call

Age 25-34 27 17 18 10 13 14 35-44 27 17 19 10 12 15 45-54 27 17 18 10 12 16 55-64 27 16 20 9 13 15 65 and above 26 20 17 11 9 18

Household income

7501-10000 34 14 17 11 12 12 10001-20000 28 18 18 10 12 15 20001-30000 27 16 19 10 13 16 30001-40000 25 17 18 11 13 15 40001-50000 26 19 18 11 12 15 50001-70000 27 16 19 8 15 14 70001-90000 28 18 17 9 14 14 More than

90000 28 17 17 11 14 14

Have you ever cruised before?

Yes 27 17 18 10 13 15 No 28 17 19 10 12 15

Subscription to Wi-Fi service

Yes 27 17 18 10 13 15 No 29 17 18 10 11 15

Who accompanied

you during your recent cruise

trip?

Myself 28 17 17 11 12 15 Spouse/partner 27 17 18 10 13 15 My kid(s) 27 18 18 10 13 15 My parent(s)/

parent(s) in law 25 19 18 9 12 17

My relative(s) 26 18 17 8 14 17 My friend(s) 28 17 18 10 12 15

24

Gender Male 28 17 18 10 13 15 Female 27 17 18 10 12 15

Education High school 30 19 17 11 12 12 Diploma 28 18 17 10 13 17 Bachelor 27 17 18 10 12 15 Postgraduate 28 16 17 11 13 15

Job status Full-time

employed 27 17 18 10 13 15

Part-time employed

30 17 16 12 14 12

Full-time homemaker

29 19 16 10 11 15

Student 24 15 18 8 16 19 Retired 26 17 20 8 11 17 Others 37 18 14 13 6 12

Marital status Married

without kids 27 17 19 10 13 14

Married with kids

27 17 18 10 13 15

Single 28 17 18 10 12 15 Divorced 25 27 15 13 8 12

25

6. Layman summary on policy implications and recommendations

6.1 Chinese 郵輪旅遊在北美和歐洲是一個蓬勃發展的行業，但其在亞洲的發展仍處於起步階段。 亞洲郵輪市

場的兩位數增長率表明郵輪已經成為亞洲新的出行方式。 鑒於郵輪需求不斷上升，香港重建啟德

機場，作為一個新的大型郵輪碼頭，致力成為亞太區主要的郵輪樞紐。 但近年來亞洲郵輪市場的

競爭日益激烈，例如在中國大陸，新加坡，台灣，越南，日本等鄰近國家和地區建立了新的郵輪

碼頭。 郵輪旅遊已經成為為亞洲遊客提供全新體驗的替代選擇，其中中國市場最為突出。 然

而，我們對在郵輪旅遊市場裡的中國消費者缺乏瞭解，可能會導致不合適的產品，營銷策略和郵

輪發展政策。

本研究採用了嚴格的程序，以發掘中國遊客在決定郵輪假期時最關注的郵輪產品特徵。本研究運

用了定性和定量的方法。在最後的問卷調查中使用了聯合分析方法來瞭解中國消費者對郵輪產品

的需求。這種方法首次在郵輪研究中被採用，並且是一種更現實的方法，因為它把客戶通常在現

實中所面臨的折衷納入考慮範圍內。本研究發現價格是中國遊客最關注的郵輪屬性，其次是出發

港口的便利性，停靠時間，停靠港的文化體驗，游輪容量和停靠港的特點。這項研究不僅揭示了

每個郵輪屬性的相對重要性，也揭示了中國內地遊客最在乎的屬性組合。這些成果將有助於郵輪

行業從戰略角度為中國旅客量身定製產品，並據此規劃其營銷活動。

26

6.2 English Cruise tourism is a thriving business in North America and Europe, but its development in

Asia is still at its infancy. The double-digit growth rate in Asian cruise market indicates that

cruise has become a new way of travel in Asia. Seeing the rising demand in cruising, Hong

Kong reconstructed the Kai Tak airport as a new mega cruise terminal in its effort to become

the leading cruise hub in Asia Pacific. However, there is rising competition in Asian cruise

market in recent years with new cruise terminals established in neighboring countries/regions

including mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and Japan. Cruise tourism has

become an alternative that provides new experience to Asian tourists among which Chinese

market is most prominent. However, the lack of understanding exhibited by Chinese

consumers toward the cruise tourism market may lead to inappropriate products, marketing

strategies, and cruise development policies.

This study adopted rigorous procedures to derive the most salient attributes for cruising

products among Chinese travelers in deciding their cruise vacations. Both qualitative and

quantitative methods were employed in the study. Conjoint analysis was used in the final

survey to understand what Chinese consumers want from cruising products. This approach is

being adopted for the first time in cruising research, and is considered to be a more realistic

method, as it accommodates the trade-offs that customers typically face in reality. It was

found that price is the most important cruising attribute to Chinese tourists followed by

convenience of the port for embarkation, duration of the cruise, cultural experience at ports

of call, cruise ship capacity and feature of ports of call. The study reveals not only the relative

importance of each cruising attribute, but also the most preferred combination of attributes

among mainland Chinese. The results will help the cruise industry strategically tailor their

products for Chinese travelers, and plan their marketing campaigns accordingly.

27

Part B: The Final Report Please include all relevant information not reported in Part A. BACKGROUND OF RESEARCH

The Development of the Cruise Industry

The history of the North American cruising industry can be traced back to the 17th century,

when Samuel Cunard traveled across the Atlantic with 63 passengers on a 1,154-ton steamship in

1840 (Gulliksen, 2008). Early cruises mainly functioned as transportation from point A to point B.

However, this diminished with the growth of airline services in the 1950s (Gulliksen, 2008). Since

then, carrying leisure travelers as an alternative revenue source has become a lucrative business

strategy for many cruise lines, such as Princess Cruises (established in 1965), the Norwegian Cruise

Line (established in 1966), the Royal Caribbean International (established in 1969), and Carnival

Cruise Lines (established in 1972).

Cruise tourism has experienced a steady growth in recent decades, with an annual average

passenger growth of 7.5% since 1980 (CLIA, 2013b). Cruise ships, with their reputation as

“floating resorts”, have a unique niche in the tourism industry, and enjoy increasing popularity

among the public. Today, taking a cruise vacation is a popular holiday option among North

Americans and is a booming business worldwide. According to the CLIA’s report (2013a), 19.4

million people traveled on cruises worldwide in 2011 alone, and of these, 68.7% were from North

America. The popularity of cruise vacations continues to grow, and a recent study conducted by the

CLIA (2011) found that out of ten vacation types measured, it was the only one to increase in

traveler numbers. Cruises have also been identified as the most interesting travel mode among U.S.

consumers (CLIA, 2013b). These led CLIA to draw the conclusion, “the cruise industry is the most

exciting growth category in the entire leisure market” (CLIA, 2007, p. 3). This popularity is likely

to continue, given the vast number of Americans (51 million) who have indicated an interest in

taking a cruise vacation within the next three years (CLIA, 2008a).

Although North America and Europe have been the focal center of the cruise business,

28

cruise companies are now expanding their customer base, by appealing to Asian customers. The

growing importance of Asia, and China in particular, in the global economy has drawn much

attention to the Asia-Pacific region. Despite the small Asian share of overall cruise tourism

(representing only 3.4% of global itineraries and deployment), its growth potential is revealed in the

302% increase in ship deployment in the Asia-Pacific region between 2008 and 2013 (CLIA,

2013a). The establishment of the Asia Cruise Association (ACA) in 2009 signaled the region’s

dedication to a more systematic development of cruise tourism. In North America, the CLIA

provides cruise operation regulations for its members, assists travel agencies and cruise alliances in

providing high quality services, and helping customers plan their cruise vacations. It is expected

that the ACA will perform a similar role. Such an association is deemed to be necessary, particularly

as the Asian cruise industry grows, and it is considered to be a reflection of the dedication of the

region to cruise tourism development. While competition is inevitable among different cruise lines,

as in any business, alliances and collaborations between industry partners such as cruise ships,

travel agencies, and destinations can be mutually beneficial, and without this the sustainable

development of cruise tourism in the Asia-Pacific region may not be achievable.

Hong Kong has grown to become a significant destination for cruise tourism in Asia, with its

HK$8.2-billion investment in the new cruise terminal and its determination to become “Asia’s

cruise hub”. It will develop further by both the active participation of the government and industry

at different levels, and the huge potential demand from the Chinese public for travel alternatives.

Chinese consumers are eager to experience new products for their enjoyment of life, and traveling

for leisure is one such new experience. Chinese consumers are now starting to travel both locally

and internationally. This can be seen in the large numbers of domestic and outbound tourists. They

therefore represent a lucrative market to many businesses and destinations, particularly in Hong

Kong, with its high volume of tourism from the mainland Chinese market. China’s large population

base and consumption power should therefore influence cruise companies and their decisions. The

question is “how”; specifically, “how to get cruise vacations into the mindset of Chinese consumers,

29

and how to cater for their needs on board”. To gain a deeper understanding of Chinese consumers’

decision-making when choosing their travel products, it is important to understand what they desire

from a cruise vacation.

Research on Cruise Tourists

The study of tourists in the context of cruise tourism is relatively limited, and has been

centered in the Western hemisphere. Some research has been conducted to understand cruise

decision-making. Li and Petrick (2008), for example, applied the investment model (Rusbult, 1980)

in their study and found that loyalty derives from cruise passengers’ satisfaction with the

relationships they form with cruises, the quality of other alternatives, and their investment size in

this relationship. Petrick and his colleague (Petrick, 2004a; Petrick and Sirakaya, 2004) compared

first timers and repeaters and found that while first timers are less price-sensitive, loyal cruisers are

more likely to revisit and spread positive word of mouth. In a more recent study, Hung and Petrick

(2011a) integrated congruity and destination image in a conceptual framework to explain cruising

intentions, and suggested a positive relationship between cruising intentions and the congruence

between self-image and destination image. Hung and Petrick (2012a) later proposed an alternative

decision-making model, adopting the framework of the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability model, and

the effects of congruity, travel constraints, and self-efficacy were found to be significant. In their

recent publication, Hung and Petrick (2012b) further tested the constraint-effects-mitigation model

(Hubbard & Mannell, 2011) in cruise tourism, and compared constraints to cruising between

cruisers and non-cruisers. The model was found to have an acceptable fit to the data, and non-

cruisers had more constraints than cruisers, lower travel motivations and intention, and were less

likely to negotiate their constraints to cruise.

In previous studies, different factors have been identified to influence people’s intention to

go on a cruise. For instance, Petrick (2004b) tested three competing models for predicting

behavioral intentions and found that repurchase intention is directly influenced by quality, value,

30

and satisfaction and among which, quality has an indirect effect on repurchase intention via the

mediators of satisfaction and value. Duman and Mattila (2005) examined the predicting role of

certain affective factors (control, novelty, and hedonics) on behavioral intentions, and their results

supported this. Hung and Petrick (2011b) examined the role of cruising motivation on the intention

to cruise and found a positive influence of the former on the latter. Some investigations have also

been conducted to understand constraints to cruising (e.g., Cruise Line International Association

(CLIA); Yarnal, Kerstetter, and Yen, 2005; Kerstetter, Yen, Yarnal, 2005; Hung and Petrick, 2010).

In general, across these studies on barriers to cruising decisions four categories of barriers have

been identified, namely intrapersonal, interpersonal, structural, and not-an-option constraints. Other

influential factors of behavioral intentions identified in cruising studies include price sensitivity

(Petrick, 2005), critical incidents (Petrick, Tonner, & Quinn, 2006), and the perceived image of

cruise travel (Park, 2006).

Although a number of studies have recently been initiated to examine different aspects of

cruise tourism, the study of consumers in cruise tourism has been traditionally focused in the North

American and European markets, with minimal attention given to understanding the Chinese

mindset in the development of cruise tourism in Asia. Given the growing potential of the Asian

market in cruise tourism, understanding these attitudes is vital to attract and retain Asian customers.

Culture, which is defined as “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the

members of one category of people from those of another” (Hofstede & Bond, 1988, p. 6), affects

human behavior including consumption behavior. It should not be assumed that the Western cruise

tourism development paradigm could be equally applied to cruise tourism in Pacific Asia, due to the

cultural differences between Asia and North America as evidenced in past research. For instance,

Hofstede (1983) compared the national cultures of 40 countries and found cultural differences

across these countries on four cultural dimensions namely, power distance, uncertainty avoidance,

individualism, and masculinity. In China, renqing (favor), mianzi (face), guanxi (relation), and bao

(repay), are some of the unique social norms guiding Chinese behavior (Hwang, 1987). Therefore,

31

the newly emerged cruise market in China and the lack of understanding of this target market

highlights the need to develop a new research agenda for investigating Chinese travelers’

preferences for cruising products. Previous cruise studies have also mainly focused on Structural

Equation Model building and testing. While this line of study is logical for a well-developed study

context, such as North America, it may not be suitable China, which has only reached the initial

stage of cruise tourism development. It is the intention of the investigators to remain culturally

sensitive in their investigation by keeping any assumptions framed in Western paradigms to a

minimum.

This study uses conjoint analysis, a multivariate research technique commonly used in

consumer research, to understand Chinese preferences for cruise vacation attributes. In an actual

purchasing decision, consumers often need to evaluate a product from all dimensions, and trade-offs

commonly arise in the decision process (Ping, 1998). By allowing trade-offs in data analysis,

conjoint analysis is deemed to be a more realistic method in judging consumer preference, as it not

only identifies the importance weight of each preference, but also determines the most preferred

combination of product attributes (Levy, 1995). However, this method has rarely been used in

tourism research to predict tourist preferences. More commonly it is used to assign an importance

value to each option without noting the combined effect of these options on tourist preferences.

Such a tendency has also been observed in cruise studies, where participants were also only asked

to evaluate each preference with no consideration of the interaction effect of all options. Therefore,

this study seeks to incorporate conjoint analysis to evaluate not only the importance weights of

cruising attributes by Chinese tourists, but also the combination of attributes they most prefer.

32

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Ping, C. Y. (1998). Use of Conjoint Analysis to Study Consumer Preferences on a Household

Durable in Southern China. A master thesis. Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Polytechnic

University.

Rusbult, C. E. (1980). Commitment and Satisfaction in Romantic Associations: A Test of the

Investment Model. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 16, 172–86.

36

Shanghai Statistics Bureau. (2012). Shanghai Statistical Yearbook. Retrieved from http://www.stats-

sh.gov.cn/tjnj/nj12.htm?d1=2012tjnj/C0218.htm

Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.(2013). 2012 Shanghai

employees’ average salary notice. Retrieved from

http://www.12333sh.gov.cn/200912333/2009xxgk/ztxx/gzzd/201303/t20130329_1146170.sht

ml

Shenzhen Statistics Bureau (2011). 2010 The sixth national census statistics of Shenzhen. Retrieved

from http://www.sztj.gov.cn/xxgk/tjsj/pcgb/201105/t20110512_2061597.htm

Shenzhen Human resources and Social Security Bureau (2013). 2012 Shenzhen employees’ average

salary notice. Retrieved from http://shenzhen.chashebao.com/ziliao/11316.html

Smith, S. (1995). Tourism Analysis: A Handbook (2nd ed.). Harlow: Longman.

Tourism Commission (2013). Tourism Performance in 2012. Retrieved on October 11, 2013, from

http://www.tourism.gov.hk/english/statistics/statistics_perform.html.

Yarnal, C., Kerstetter, D., and Yen, I. Y. (2005). So why haven’t you taken a cruise lately? An

exploration of constraints to cruising. Tourism Review International, 8, 281-296.

Zhang, H. Q., Yuan, J. X., Ye, H. B., and Hung, K. (2013). Wine tourism phenomenon in China: an

emerging market. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 25 (7),

1115-1134.

37

Part C: Supporting Documents

Please provide all relevant supporting documents (dissemination materials, publication etc.) Two manuscripts derived from the project are currently under review by the International Journal

of Hospitality Management and Tourism Management, which are top international journals in

hospitality and tourism respectively. The paper submitted to the Tourism Management has passed

the first round review and been invited for second round submission. The investigators are

currently working on preparing other manuscripts based on the survey data.

• Hung, K. and Wang, S. (Under review). An overview of cruise research by comparing cruise

studies published in Chinese and English. International Journal of Hospitality

Management.(Appendix A)

• Hung, K. (Under review; invited for 2nd submission). Understanding the cruising experience

of Chinese travelers through photo-interviewing technique and hierarchical experience

model. Tourism Management. (Appendix B)

Presentations on the preliminary results of the project have been made at two international

conferences. The comments received from the conference attendees are useful inputs for further

developing the presentations into journal manuscripts.

• Hung, K. and Wang, L. (2017). Understanding the mindset of Chinese cruisers for creating

memorable cruising experience. The 1st Global Congress of Special Interest Tourism and

Hospitality (GLOSITH) Conference, Beppu, Japan, June 24-26, 2017. (Appendix C)

• Hung, K. and Wang, R. (2017). It’s magic! Finding the perfect ingredients for a satisfying

cruising experience among Chinese cruisers. 3rd Global Tourism & Hospitality Conference.

June 5-6, 2017, Hong Kong. (Appendix D)

Appendix A

 

Appendix B

 

 

 

Appendix C

Understanding the mindset of Chinese cruisers for creating memorable cruising experience

By

Kam Hung, PhD, CHE Associate Professor, MSc Program Leader School of Hotel and Tourism Management

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Phone: (852)34002258

Email: kam.hung@polyu.edu.hk

Liang Wang, PhD (Corresponding Author) Lecturer, Bachelor Program Coordinator

School of Management Zhejiang University, China Phone: (86571)88206872

Email: wang_liang@zju.edu.cn

Acknowledgement: The work described in this paper was jointly supported by grants from the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. 2015.A6.061.15D) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Project No. PolyU155027/14B)

Abstract:

China has emerged as one of the major source markets for cruise development in Asia. However,

there is a lack of understanding on what cruising means to Chinese travelers and how memorable

experience can be created among them. To explore the full potential of cruise tourism in China and

to contribute to the body of knowledge of tourism experience, this study interviewed Chinese

cruisers to understand their mindsets for creating memorable cruising experience.

Keywords: Cruise; Chinese travelers; memorable experience; tourism experience; China

Extended Abstract

Although cruise tourism has been a thriving business in North America and Europe for

some time, its development other regions is at rising stage. The double-digit growth rate in Asian

cruise market indicates that cruise has become a new way of travel in Asia in which China

contributes to most of the cruise passenger growth (Cruise Lines International Association [CLIA],

2014a; 2016). There is, however, a risk that the lack of understanding exhibited by Asian

consumers in the cruise tourism market may lead to inappropriate products, marketing strategies,

and cruise development policies. China has quickly emerged as a key player in Asian cruise market

with 770,000 more cruise travelers since 2012 which represents 66% annual passenger growth in

China (CLIA, 2016). Chinese represent a lucrative market to many businesses and destinations

with its high volume of tourists from the mainland Chinese market. China’s large population base

and consumption power should therefore influence cruise companies and their decisions. The

question is “how”; specifically, “how to get cruise vacations into the mindset of Chinese consumers,

and how to create a memorable and rewarding cruising experience for them”. This study aims to

interpret the cruising experience of mainland Chinese travelers to understand what cruise tourism

means to them and what leads to a memorable cruising experience.

Pine and Gilmore (1998) proposed a theory of experience economy, explaining a trend of

economic center, which is from companies selling actual commodity, following with providing

service, to eventually staging a memorable experience for their customers. One important point

they made is that the experience is an economic offering, rather than an extension of consuming

goods or service. They suggested that creating a memorable and personalized experience could

bring economic benefit and differentiate the position of a company among competitors. In terms

of tourism, the term experience has been brought up among scholars many years before the Pine

and Gilmore’s experience economy. Quan and Wang (2004) suggested that the tourist experience

should be consisted of two parts, one is the namely “peak experience”, the type of experience

different from the tourists’ daily lives, and the other one is the “supporting consumer experience”,

such as food and beverage. They argued that both parts of tourism experience could be contrasted

with, intensifying and extending the routine life experience of a tourist. Additionally, they used the

food consumption during travels as evidence proving that both parts are connected,

interchangeable and important in forming tourism experience. Andersson (2007) examined the

production and consumption of experience in a tourism setting, suggested that the value of

experience is “function of the individual need for basic, social and intellectual experiences in order

to stimulate the arousal level at the time the experience take place” (Anndersson, 2007: 52). Walls,

Okumus, Wang and Kwun (2011) outlined a conceptual model of consumer experience in the

tourism and hospitality setting, suggesting that consumer experience is influenced by individual

characters, situational factors, human interaction elements and physical experience elements. As

for the experience, they distinguished two axes, which are from emotive to cognitive, and from

ordinary to extraordinary.

While the past literature provides some understanding of customer experience for

designing tourism products and services, the understanding of cruising experience is rather limited,

particularly among Chinese travelers. The understanding of tourism experience is not only crucial

for developing cruise tourism in Asia, but also beneficial as a reference point for other land-based

tourism as unlike other travel modes, cruise tourism has the reputation to produce consistent high

satisfaction among travelers. This is evidenced in the report of CLIA (2014b) that 89% of American

and Canadian cruisers are highly satisfied with their cruise experience and 86% of them plan to

take another cruise vacation. This makes cruising as a desirable context for studying how to create

enjoyable and memorable experience in tourism. This study utilized in-depth interviews with

qualified mainland Chinese with the aids of photos from their cruise vacations to understand the

meaning of cruising to mainland Chinese travelers. Twenty Chinese cruisers participated in the

study. The study reveals interesting results concerning Chinese travelers experience with their

cruise vacation.

References

Cruise Lines International Association (2014). 2014 North American Cruise Market Profile.

Retrieved on April 25, 2017, from the World Wide Web

https://www.cruising.org/docs/default-

source/research/clia_naconsumerprofile_2014.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Cruise Lines International Association (2014). Asia Cruise Trends 2014 Edition. Retrieved on

April 25, 2017, from the World Wide Web https://www.cruising.org/docs/default-

source/research/asiacruisetrends_2014_finalreport-4.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Cruise Lines International Association (2016). Asia Cruise Trends 2016 Edition. Retrieved on

April 25, 2017, from the World Wide Web https://www.cruising.org/docs/default-

source/research/clia-2016-asia-cruise-trends-report-.pdf?sfvrsn=0

Andersson, T. D. (2007). The tourist in the experience economy. Scandinavian Journal of

Hospitality and Tourism, 7(1), 46-58.

Quan, S., & Wang, N. (2004). Towards a structural model of the tourist experience: An illustration

from food experiences in tourism. Tourism management, 25(3), 297-305.

Pine, B. J., & Gilmore, J. H. (1998). Welcome to the experience economy. Harvard business review,

76, 97-105.

Walls, A. R., Okumus, F., Wang, Y. R., & Kwun, D. J. W. (2011). An epistemological view of

consumer experiences. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30(1), 10-21.

Appendix D

It’s a magic! Finding the perfect ingredients for a satisfying cruising experience among

Chinese cruisers

Kam Hung & Regina Wang School of Hotel and Tourism Management

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Phone: (852)34002258

Email: kam.hung@polyu.edu.hk

Acknowledgement: The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. 2015.A6.061.15D)

Abstract

North America has long been the center of the cruise business, followed by Europe, but

recently the increasing interest in cruises by Asian travelers, and their affordability has resulted

in destinations such as China, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand

actively developing cruise terminals to accommodate mega cruise ships. Cruise vacation has an

appeal to Chinese travel population as an attractive travel alternative. However, there is a lack of

understanding on the mindset of Chinese travelers, which is important in the effective design of

targeted, attractive, and appealing cruise products. This study used mixed approaches with

incorporation of explicit (in-depth interviews) and implicit (interpretation of photos/pictures)

methods to explore the cruising experience of Chinese travelers with an aim to identify the

meaning of their cruise vacation and understand what leads to their satisfying cruising

experience.

Keywords: Cruise tourism; Chinese; cruising experience; mixed methods; cruise vacation

Introduction

Although cruise tourism has been a thriving business in North America and Europe for

some time, its development in Hong Kong and Asia is still in its early stages. Recent research on

cruise tourism has focused primarily on the Western world, with little understanding of the mindset

and preferences of Asian travelers. In reconstructing Kai Tak airport as a new mega cruise terminal,

Hong Kong aims to become the leading cruise hub in the Asia-Pacific. To compete with the

increasing number of new cruise terminals established in other Asian cities (e.g., Tianjin Cruise

Terminal in 2009, Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal in 2011, and Singapore

Cruise Centre in 2012; Shenzhen Prince Edward Bay Cruise Homeport in 2016), Hong Kong must

be proactive in reaching and retaining the Asian cruise market. Cruise tourism is an alternative that

enables tourists to experience Asia in a new way, and has the potential to become one of Hong

Kong’s main attractions. There is, however, a risk that the lack of understanding exhibited by Asian

consumers in the cruise tourism market may lead to inappropriate products, marketing strategies,

and cruise development policies. Western business models may not be appropriate in Asia, which

can be seen in various examples, such as Hong Kong Disneyland, where the design, operation, and

management had to be modified to meet Asian customers’ needs. Therefore, understanding the

mindset of Asian customers is vital to developing cruise tourism in Hong Kong. This study aims

to interpret the cruising experience of mainland Chinese travelers to understand what cruise

tourism means to them and what leads to a satisfying cruise experience.

The Development of the Cruise Industry

The history of the North American cruising industry can be traced back to the 17th

century, when Samuel Cunard traveled across the Atlantic with 63 passengers on a 1,154-ton

steamship in 1840 (Gulliksen, 2008). Early cruises mainly functioned as transportation from

point A to point B. However, this diminished with the growth of airline services in the1950s

(Gulliksen, 2008). Since then, carrying leisure travelers as an alternative revenue source has

become a lucrative business strategy for many cruise lines, such as Princess Cruises (established

in 1965), the Norwegian Cruise Line (established in 1966), the Royal Caribbean International

(established in 1969), and Carnival Cruise Lines (established in 1972).

Cruise tourism has experienced a steady growth in recent decades, with an annual

average passenger growth of 7.5%since 1980 (CLIA, 2013b). Cruise ships, with their reputation

as “floating resorts”, have a unique niche in the tourism industry, and enjoy increasing popularity

among the public. Today, taking a cruise vacation is a popular holiday option among North

Americans and is a booming business worldwide. According to the CLIA’s report (2013a), 19.4

million people traveled on cruises worldwide in 2011 alone, and of these, 68.7% were from

North America. The popularity of cruise vacations continues to grow, and a recent study

conducted by the CLIA (2011) found that out of ten vacation types measured, it was the only one

to increase in traveler numbers. Cruises have also been identified as the most interesting travel

mode among U.S. consumers (CLIA, 2013b). These led CLIA to draw the conclusion, “the

cruise industry is the most exciting growth category in the entire leisure market” (CLIA, 2007, p.

3). This popularity is likely to continue, given the vast number of Americans (51 million) who

have indicated an interest in taking a cruise vacation within the next three years (CLIA, 2008a).

Although North America and Europe have been the focal center of the cruise business,

cruise companies are now expanding their customer base, by appealing to Asian customers. The

growing importance of Asia, and China in particular, in the global economy has drawn much

attention to the Asia-Pacific region. Despite the small Asian share of overall cruise tourism

(representing only 3.4% of global itineraries and deployment), its growth potential is revealed in

the 302% increase in ship deployment in the Asia-Pacific region between 2008 and 2013 (CLIA,

2013a). The establishment of the Asia Cruise Association (ACA) in 2009signaled the region’s

dedication to a more systematic development of cruise tourism. In North America, the CLIA

provides cruise operation regulations for its members, assists travel agencies and cruise alliances

in providing high quality services, and helping customers plan their cruise vacations. It is

expected that the ACA will perform a similar role. Such an association is deemed to be

necessary, particularly as the Asian cruise industry grows, and it is considered to be a reflection

of the dedication of the region to cruise tourism development. While competition is inevitable

among different cruise lines, as in any business, alliances and collaborations between industry

partners such as cruise ships, travel agencies, and destinations can be mutually beneficial, and

without this the sustainable development of cruise tourism in the Asia-Pacific region may not be

achievable.

Hong Kong has grown to become a significant destination for cruise tourism in Asia, with

its HK$8.2-billion investment in the new cruise terminal and its determination to become “Asia’s

cruise hub”. It will develop further by both the active participation of the government and

industry at different levels, and the huge potential demand from the Chinese public for travel

alternatives. Chinese consumers are eager to experience new products for their enjoyment of life,

and traveling for leisure is one such new experience. Chinese consumers are now starting to

travel both locally and internationally. This can be seen in the large numbers of domestic and

outbound tourists. They therefore represent a lucrative market to many businesses and

destinations, particularly in Hong Kong, with its high volume of tourism from the mainland

Chinese market. China’s large population base and consumption power should therefore

influence cruise companies and their decisions. The question is “how”; specifically, “how to get

cruise vacations into the mindset of Chinese consumers, and how to cater for their needs on

board”. To gain a deeper understanding of Chinese consumers’ decision-making when choosing

their travel products, it is important to understand what they desire from a cruise vacation.

Research on Cruise Tourists

The study of tourists in the context of cruise tourism is relatively limited, and has been

centered in the Western hemisphere. Some research has been conducted to understand cruise

decision-making. Li and Petrick (2008), for example, applied the investment model (Rusbult,

1980) in their study and found that loyalty derives from cruise passengers’ satisfaction with the

relationships they form with cruises, the quality of other alternatives, and their investment size in

this relationship. Petrick and his colleague (Petrick, 2004a; Petrick and Sirakaya, 2004)

compared first timers and repeaters and found that while first timers are less price-sensitive,

loyal cruisers are more likely to revisit and spread positive word of mouth. In a more recent

study, Hung and Petrick (2011a) integrated congruity and destination image in a conceptual

framework to explain cruising intentions, and suggested a positive relationship between cruising

intentions and the congruence between self-image and destination image. Hung and Petrick

(2012a) later proposed an alternative decision-making model, adopting the framework of the

Motivation-Opportunity-Ability model, and the effects of congruity, travel constraints, and self-

efficacy were found to be significant. In their recent publication, Hung and Petrick (2012b)

further tested the constraint-effects-mitigation model (Hubbard &Mannell, 2011) in cruise

tourism, and compared constraints to cruising between cruisers and non-cruisers. The model was

found to have an acceptable fit to the data, and non-cruisers had more constraints than cruisers,

lower travel motivations and intention, and were less likely to negotiate their constraints to

cruise.

In previous studies, different factors have been identified to influence people’s intention

to go on a cruise. For instance, Petrick (2004b) tested three competing models for predicting

behavioral intentions and found that repurchase intention is directly influenced by quality, value,

and satisfaction and among which, quality has an indirect effect on repurchase intention via the

mediators of satisfaction and value. Duman and Mattila (2005) examined the predicting role of

certain affective factors (control, novelty, and hedonics) on behavioral intentions, and their

results supported this. Hung and Petrick (2011b) examined the role of cruising motivation on the

intention to cruise and found a positive influence of the former on the latter. Some investigations

have also been conducted to understand constraints to cruising (e.g., Cruise Line International

Association (CLIA); Yarnal, Kerstetter, and Yen, 2005; Kerstetter, Yen, Yarnal, 2005; Hung and

Petrick, 2010). In general, across these studies on barriers to cruising decisions four categories of

barriers have been identified, namely intrapersonal, interpersonal, structural, and not-an-option

constraints. Other influential factors of behavioral intentions identified in cruising studies include

price sensitivity (Petrick, 2005), critical incidents (Petrick, Tonner, & Quinn, 2006), and the

perceived image of cruise travel (Park, 2006).

Although a number of studies have recently been initiated to examine different aspects of

cruise tourism, the study of consumers in cruise tourism has been traditionally focused in the

North American and European markets, with minimal attention given to understanding the

Chinese mindset in the development of cruise tourism in Asia. Given the growing potential of the

Asian market in cruise tourism, understanding these attitudes is vital to attract and retain Asian

customers. Culture, which is defined as “the collective programming of the mind that

distinguishes the members of one category of people from those of another” (Hofstede & Bond,

1988, p. 6), affects human behavior including consumption behavior. It should not be assumed

that the Western cruise tourism development paradigm could be equally applied to cruise tourism

in Pacific Asia, due to the cultural differences between Asia and North America as evidenced in

past research. For instance, Hofstede (1983) compared the national cultures of 40 countries and

found cultural differences across these countries on four cultural dimensions namely, power

distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity. In China, renqing (favor),

mianzi (face), guanxi (relation), and bao(repay), are some of the unique social norms guiding

Chinese behavior (Hwang, 1987). Therefore, the newly emerged cruise market in China and the

lack of understanding of this target market highlights the need to develop a new research agenda

for investigating Chinese travelers’ preferences for cruising products. Previous cruise studies

have also mainly focused on Structural Equation Model building and testing. While this line of

study is logical for a well-developed study context, such as North America, it may not be suitable

China, which has only reached the initial stage of cruise tourism development. It is the intention

of the investigators to remain culturally sensitive in their investigation by keeping any

assumptions framed in Western paradigms to a minimum. Via the understanding of the cruising

experience of Chinese travelers, this study aims to identify the meaning of cruise vacation to

Chinese travelers and the constitutions of their perfect cruise experience.

Research Methods

To understand the meaning of cruising to mainland Chinese travelers, in-depth interviews

with qualified mainland Chinese with the aids of photos from their cruise vacations were

conducted. Since most human communication is nonverbal (Knapp, 1980; Mehrabian, 1971), and

visual images can help informants convey their information more explicitly (Zaltman, 1997), in-

depth interviews with the aids of photos/pictures were used in this study to gain a full picture of

the study topic. Participants were asked to bring photos/pictures which best represent their cruising

experience to the interviews. Other than interviewing with the researcher, participants were asked

to illustrates their experience with the phots/pictures they brought. The interviews were conducted

in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen (four first-tier cities in mainland China) based on

economic income and city competitiveness. The population statistics for each city are provided in

Table 1, which reveals a near 50-50 gender distribution in each selected city. Therefore, 50-50

gender distributions will be used to select the target respondents. The following sampling criteria

will be applied in the study:

1. All should be between 25 and 55 years old.

2. All should have above-average income.

3. All must have taken a vacation away from home for at least three nights in the past two

years.

The first criterion is to exclude students and anyone underage from the study as well as to include

potential cruisers in the study. While North American cruisers tend to be middle aged, married,

affluent, and highly educated travelers, the demographics of Asian cruisers are not readily available

for analysis. However, Mr. Kevin Leong, the General Manager of the Asia Cruise Association,

reported at the Hong Kong Cruise Forum in January 2013 that Asian Cruise clients tend to be

between 25 and 55 years old (average mid-40’s). Population statistics also reveal a similar gender

distribution (50:50) in each investigated city. The second criterion is to include only financially

viable consumers in the sample, as cruising is considered to be a luxury activity, and the target

customers are often high-end consumers. The exact financial profile of Asian cruisers is unknown

and a common income requirement is not meaningful because of different living standards in

different cities. Therefore, an above-average income requirement was set in each city for the

sampling.

Findings and conclusions

The study reveals interesting results concerning Chinese travelers experience with their

cruise vacation. To most Chinese travelers, cruising is a new travel mode which has not yet

reached its full capacity among Chinese population. The exploration of travel alternative to

cruise arena has undoubtedly contributed to the positive travel experience among most Chinese

cruisers. The informants vividly described their appreciation to their cruise vacations in which

“happy”, “relaxing”, and “comfortable” are the most commonly referred terms in expressing

their feelings toward cruising experience. Their feelings are resulted not only by the magnificent

facilities and amenities of cruise, but also by the service provided on board, the freedom to do or

not to do anything, their interaction with crew members, and their cultural experience both on

board and on the land. Most Chinese cruisers are impressed by the size, design, décor, cleanness,

varieties of entertainments/food, high-standard service as well as the convenience of traveling

without worrying about following any schedules. Chinese tend to to join group tours when

traveling to foreign countries due to the government policies and their lack of proficiency in

foreign languages. The hectic travel schedule with group tour appears to be a vivid contrast to the

relaxation of cruise vacation where travelers are allowed to do whatever they want and whenever

they want. Respondents appreciate the total freedom during cruise vacation. For those who

traveled with family, their satisfaction toward cruise is usually dependent on the experience of

their travel companions such as their kids or parents. The narratives of care takers convey the

relief of them from taking care of everyone’s needs during travel with the activities and

provisions fitting everyone’s need on board. The full scale of facilities and activities as well as

attentive services takes away their worries of not meeting everyone’s needs. Freedom, escape

and relaxation have been reported in past literature (Hung & Petrick, 2011) as major cruising

motivations of Americans. It seems that Chinese travelers have similar cruising experience as

their American counterparts.

As most cruisers do not subscribe to telecommunication due to expensive fees, traveling

in isolation with regular living environment and social circles turns out to be an enjoyable

experience for most cruisers. They enjoy the pure fun and fully immersive travel experience on

their cruise vacation and appreciate the simplicity of life in comparison with the busy living in

normal life. Cruise travel differs from other types of travel in the sense that it is a floating resort

which is isolated from land by water. It would be worth to investigate if such a sense of isolation

with full service provided on board can produce a feeling of remoteness and detachment from

normal living, and how would this isolation affect vacation recovery of cruisers. In their study

smartphone (dis)connectedness and vacation recovery, Kirillova and Wang (2016, p. 157) found

that “quality of work and non-work social presence are positive moderators in the relationship

between destination restorative qualities and vacation recovery.” It would be interesting to

further study if the cruising experience and vacation recovery differ between smartphone

frequent and light users with/without subscription to Wi-Fi services in a close environment like

cruise ship.

Self-reflection is often reported among the informants who found their inner peace,

worthiness, and happiness via the close contact with nature and temporary detachment from daily

life. However, their quests for authentic Chinese food, language assistance, hot drinking water

and in-room laundry amenities reveal their mixed feelings for similarities and differences during

travel. On one hand, Chinese travelers likes their cruise experience to differ from their normal

forms of travel; on the other hand, they like cruise companies to provide them the service with

considerations of Chinese elements. Such a dilemma also reflects in their eagerness to go on next

cruise vacation to resume the great cruising experience and yet they do not want to go on the

same cruise ship or with same itinerary as previous cruise vacation. The optimal distinctiveness

theory (Brewer, 1991) in which people often desire for both similarities and differentiation in

their negotiation of social identities is in line with this dilemma. Further investigation will need

to be conducted in exploring the optimal state of Chinese travelers in cruise vacation.

During cruise vacation, Chinese travelers displayed their appreciation to foreign cultures,

not only on board but also on land. Their cultural experiences are mainly gained from the

comparisons of social behavior between foreign passengers and Chinese passengers, foreign

environment and Chinese environment, foreign serving staff and Chinese staff, foreign cuisine

and Chinese cuisine, as well as domestic cruise and international cruise. First, Chinese

passengers are accused to be lack of social etiquettes which may result in unpleasant influence

on informants’ cruising experience. Some misbehaviors were reported among Chinese cruisers in

contrast with the praises of good social manners of passengers from other countries. Second, the

narratives of informants reveal much social pressure and stress that Chinese people encounter in

their normal life. They mentioned about their disappointment with the change of lifestyle and

landscape in their own living environment and appreciate the retaining of simple life style and

contented living attitude of local people at the ports of call. Third, the informants prefer the

relaxing, genuine, and pleasant life and work attitude of foreign staff in contrast with their dislike

of the mechanic serving style of Chinese staff. They appreciate the attentive and interactive

service of crew members and are impressed by the high-standard service quality received on

board, especially when serving staff go extra miles to satisfy their needs. The exposure to such

new service environment is an eye-opening experience for Chinese travelers. In comparison with

novice cruisers, experienced cruisers tend to prefer choosing embarkation from a home port in a

foreign country instead of a Chinese home port to gain more in-depth cultural understanding by

meeting people from other countries and fully immerse themselves in a foreign environment.

While such a desire to learn and experience other cultures is similar to American cruisers in

Hung and Petrick’s (2011) study, the desire of Chinese cruisers to learn other cultures maybe

stronger than their American counterparts considering that cruise vacation is a relatively new

phenomenon in Asia and less travel experience of Chinese people in general. Cross-cultural

comparison studies should be conducted to under the differences between Chinese and foreign

cruisers.

Although some defects have also been reported by respondents such as limited time on

land for excursion, brief experience of local culture, lack of language assistance on some cruise

ships, irresponsible tour guides, and unclear instructions, respondents generally think that these

are not fetal to their cruising experience and have high satisfaction level toward their cruise travel.

Further studies on understanding what leads to an overriding experience of travelers despite service

failures will be interesting. Comparisons between customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction in case

of service failure will contribute to the body of service literature and practice.

In summary, a satisfying cruise experience includes the following ingredients. First, total

freedom which allow people to do whatever they want, whenever they what, and however they

want without jeopardizing other passengers’ right. Second, temporary detachment from work and

life with a choice of being connected to reality at wish. Third, high standard service in an

interactive and playful environment. Fourth, opportunities to appreciate nature and/or life and

regain self-value. Fifth, opportunity to experience other cultures or gain new knowledge. Last,

defects may exist in vacation but it may not lead to dissatisfaction with the presence of above

mentioned elements.

References

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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17 (5), 475-482.

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Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) (2008). 2008 CLIA Cruise Market Overview:

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http://www.cruising.org/press/research/index.cfm.

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reports

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