Americans' intentions to vacation in East Asia: An empirical investigation of the relationships among information source usage, destination image, perceived risks, and intention to visit

In 2004, 22.3 million Americans vacationed overseas, increasing by 11 percent since 2003 (TIA, 2005). However, only 10 percent of these tourists visited China, Japan, or South Korea. To attract more American tourists to these destinations, East-Asia-based tourism marketers must better understand which factors contribute to Americans' decisions to vacation for the first time in China. Japan, and South Korea.The aim of this research was to develop, and to empirically test, a model explaining Americans' intentions to vacation for the first time in China, Japan, and South Korea. Based on a review of the relevant literature, information source usage, cognitive and affective destination image, and perceived risks were identified as key factors influencing travelers' intentions to visit East Asia.Data were collected using a self-administered, on-site survey. Only American citizens, 18 years of age or older, who had never visited China, Japan, or South Korea, were included in the participant sample. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed conceptual model relative to these data.The results of the SEM analyses showed that respondents reporting both a high (emotionally neutral) cognitive destination image and a high (emotionally positive) affective destination image of China, Japan, and South Korea, as well as low perceived risks of vacationing in these three countries, had greater intention to visit them. Similarly, respondents reporting a high cognitive image of China, Japan, and South Korea and low perceived risks of vacationing in these countries also reported having high affective image of these destinations. Additionally, respondents who frequently obtained information on China, Japan, and South Korea were found to have a high cognitive image of these three countries and low perceived risks of vacationing there. However, information source usage was not found to directly influence affective image. SEM analysis showed that information source usage indirectly influenced affective image through cognitive image and perceived risks. Cultural experiences was the information source most strongly correlated with Americans' intentions to visit China, Japan, and South Korea. Similarly, for all three countries the strongest cognitive image items were interesting historical attractions, many things to see and do, and unique cultural resources.Despite these similarities in participants' responses for China, Japan, and South Korea, some differences were identified. One key difference was that, depending on the country, a different factor was shown to be most strongly correlated with intention to visit for China, it was affective image for Japan, it was cognitive image and, for South Korea, it was perceived risks.These findings suggest that tourism marketers should jointly sponsor cultural events in the U.S. to promote vacations in China, Japan, and South Korea. Joint trips, in which Americans would visit similar attractions in all three countries could also be marketed. Not only were cultural experiences identified as an information source to be studied in future research, but study results also demonstrated the value of studying cognitive and affective destination image as being distinct but interrelated. A conceptual model is presented that might be tested in the future regarding other underperforming international tourism regions.