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HONG KONG SAR –\u00a0Media
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To illustrate the magnitude of opportunity, international
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This is the subject of a paper titled Tourist
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Psychological closeness refers to one’s feelings of
In the tourism context, Prof. Wan and her co-authors explain
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In addition, the more local residents suffer directly or
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“It is essential for cities and destination
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The
Prof. Wan and her co-authors conducted three experiments to
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A second study was conducted to test whether the degree to
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According to the results, the participants who imagined
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In the third experiment, the researchers examined the notion
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The participants were randomly told that they were tourists
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Prof. Wan explains that since Hong Kong is known to be the “most
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Implications
As the study results show that tourists are less likely to
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“At the end of the day, the best advice is to remind
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On the other hand, destination marketers should also remind
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“For instance, Koreans and Americans both love eating
Reference:<\/b><\/p>\n
Lisa
\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
This
\nOutReach<\/a>\u00a0– 25 March 2021 –\u00a0It’s
\nbeen a bad year for tourism and a boom in the travel and hospitality sector
\nwould no doubt be good for the economy. However, it could also be a nightmare
\nfor people living and working amid the flux of transient tourists. It wasn’t
\nthat long ago that we saw media reports of tourist misbehaviour from carving
\nnames on ancient Egyptian bas reliefs<\/a> to chasing
\ngeishas<\/a> down the streets in Kyoto. Around the world, countries are
\nlooking for ways to curb bad behaviour from tourists. Iceland, for instance,
\nlaunched the Inspired
\nby Iceland<\/a> pledge in June 2017 that urges tourists to travel
\nresponsibly. Apart from implementing official rules, a recent research study
\nreveals that poor tourist behaviour could be reduced by simply making the
\ntourists feel closer to the locals.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\ntourist arrivals fell
\nby 72 percent<\/a> in January to October over the same period in 2019,
\ntranslating into a loss of US$935 billion \u2013 more than 10 times the loss the
\nindustry suffered during the 2009 global financial crisis. Hotels and the
\ntourism industry are hoping for “revenge travel” to take place, a
\nriff on the concept of “revenge spending” that describes shopping
\nstarved consumers overcompensating by splurging when the pandemic is over. But
\nhow can places that seek to cash in on the return of tourist dollars do so
\nwhile avoiding a return to the old days of bad tourist behaviour?<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nMisbehaviour: Psychological Closeness to Fellow Consumer and Informal Social Control<\/a>.
\nThe study is the first to examine the psychological closeness between locals
\nand tourists and how this “psychological distance” affects tourists’
\nintention to misbehave. It was conducted by Lisa
\nWan<\/a>, Associate Professor at the School of Hotel and Tourism
\nManagement and Department of Marketing at The Chinese University of Hong Kong
\n(CUHK) Business School and her co-authors Prof. Michael Hui at University of
\nMacau and Yao Qiu at CUHK Business School.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nattachment and connection towards other people. We tend to feel psychologically
\ncloser to someone whom we perceive as “one of us”. People who belong
\nto the same social group are likely to follow the same set of social or
\ncultural norms because they care about the consequences of their behaviour due
\nto the need for approval and belongingness. In-group members are also likely to
\nimpose informal social control on fellow members, such as showing angry looks
\nor sharing comments on those who violate the social norms to reinforce the
\norder of the group. However, the same social practice does not usually apply to
\nout-group members.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nthat when people are travelling abroad, they feel less connected to locals than
\nthey would at home. In other words, tourists feel psychologically distant from
\nlocals. Since they do not perceive themselves as belong to the same “group”,
\nit is less likely for them to comply with local norms because they are less
\nconcerned about the consequences of their behaviour and they do not expect
\ntheir actions to invoke informal social control from locals. Locals, on the
\nother hand, consider tourists as outsiders and therefore may not always voice
\nout their disapproval of tourist bad behaviour.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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\nindirectly from the bad behaviour of the tourists, the higher the likelihood
\nthey would impose informal social control on tourists who are violating the
\nsocial norms. This is emphasised when locals feel victimised or responsible for
\nprotecting the interests of their community. For example, local residents in Sai
\nKung<\/a> \u2013 a district in Hong Kong, protested after getting upset at
\nthe influx of tourists during the pandemic and the mounting garbage problem
\nleft behind. The researchers predict that tourists would have a higher
\nintention to misbehave when they think their behaviours are less likely to
\naffect local residents.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\norganisations that rely heavily on tourism sector but suffer from the influx of
\ntourists to grasp the underlying reasons or even the motivations for tourists’
\nmisbehaviour,” Prof. Wan says.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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\nImportance of Psychological Distance<\/b><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\ntest their hypotheses. In the first study, the participants \u2013 recruited from a
\nlocal Hong Kong university, were asked to imagine themselves either as tourists
\nin Bangkok or as local residents in Hong Kong. They were asked if they would
\neat on a public bus, something that is banned in many cities in the world
\n(including Hong Kong). The results show that those who imagined themselves as
\ntourists in Bangkok reported a higher intention of eating on the bus because
\nthey feel less close to fellow passengers on the bus and consequently, they
\nperceive a significantly lower likelihood of disapproval from other passengers.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nwhich local residents would suffer as a result of tourist misbehaviour could contribute
\nto how likely this said misbehaviour would occur. A total of 200 American
\nparticipants were asked to imagine themselves at a supermarket checkout before
\ncatching a train. They were surveyed on whether they would misuse the express
\ncheckout service (by having more items than the supermarket’s limit for the
\nlane) in order to catch the train, which they were about to be late for.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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\nthemselves as tourists showed a higher intention to use the express checkout
\nlane when they thought their actions would not significantly affect other
\ncustomers at the supermarket. This shows that tourists would indeed consider
\nhow deeply it would affect local residents before committing misbehaviour.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nof excitement and its relation to tourists’ misbehaviour. The researchers
\ntheorised that excitement may lead to misjudgement on whether their behaviours
\nare disapproved by locals. Over 200 students and staff members from a Hong Kong
\nuniversity were recruited for the study.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nin Tokyo, tourists in Bangkok or non-tourists. They were asked whether they
\nwould occupy a priority seat on public transport. The results reveal that when
\nthe participants believe their actions were less likely to affect other
\npassengers, those who imagined themselves as tourists in Bangkok were more
\nlikely to misbehave than those who imagined themselves as tourists in Tokyo. In
\naddition, the participants who imagined themselves as tourists in Bangkok also
\nperceive a significantly lower likelihood of disapproval from fellow passengers
\nthan they were tourists in Tokyo due to the difference in psychological
\ndistance.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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\nJapanese City” outside Japan, it is understandable that Hong Kong people
\nfeel psychologically closer to locals in Tokyo than locals in Bangkok.
\nFurthermore, the findings rule out the excitement factor because if it was
\nindeed associated with tourist misbehaviour, then a higher intention to
\nmisbehave should be reported by both groups regardless of their travel
\ndestinations.<\/p>\n
\n
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\n
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\nfor Destination Marketers<\/b><\/p>\n
\n
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\nmisbehave if they believe their bad behaviours will cause significant harm to
\nother consumers, the researchers suggest marketers and authorities in the
\ntourism industry to remind tourists about the negative consequences of even
\nseemingly minor misbehaviour and for tourists to constantly put themselves in
\nthe shoes of the locals. For example, hotel managers could design table
\ndecorations that remind tourists about the bad consequences of wasting food and
\nthe unnecessary burden on locals due to their wasteful behaviour.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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\nvisitors to ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’,” says
\nProf. Wan. “They need to know that their actions will cause the same level
\nof nuisance and provoke a similar level of disapproval if they were done back
\nhome.”<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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\nthe tourists that bad conduct may tarnish the image of their home country.
\nAbove all, marketers should try to increase the psychological closeness between
\ntourists and local residents by highlighting their similarities, such as
\npromoting a friendly and welcoming image of the destination and the local
\nresidents, thereby creating opportunities for healthy interactions between
\ntourists and locals.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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\nfriend chicken and drinking beer. Perhaps destination marketers can think of
\nsome promotional materials based on such similarity,” says Prof. Wan. “However,
\nthe easiest way to make their guests feel at home is always a warm smile.”<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nC. Wan, Michael K. Hui and Yao (Chloe) Qiu (2021). “Tourist misbehavior: Psychological
\ncloseness to fellow consumers and informal social control<\/a>.” Tourism Management<\/i>, Volume 83, 2021,
\nArticle 104246. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.tourman.2020.104258<\/a>
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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\narticle was first published in the China Business Knowledge (CBK) website by
\nCUHK Business School: https:\/\/bit.ly\/3tHsPDB<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n
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