A Survey Of Zhejiang Outbound Tourism Market

China's outbound tourism has obtained swift and violent development; while the related researches are recognizably lag behind the time. Outbound tourism research is unfolding in our country for China's outbound tourism is in urgent need of relevant research results to guide its practice. Based on the conclusion of considerable materials, questionnaire survey, data treatment and multivariate statistical analysis, this thesis makes a deep study on the supply and demand outbound tourism market of Zhejiang Province. The fields of study include the definition of relevant concept about outbound tourism and analysis of the affecting factors of outbound tourist decision-making behavior, the tourist resources and tourism product features of Zhejiang approved outbound tourist destinations, the current status of outbound tourism market, the characteristics of actual and potential outbound tourist market and the suggestions of the development for Zhejiang outbound tourism market.(1) Based on the composition of tourist resources with unique features of Zhejiang approved tourist destinations, the HK & Macau routes, Thailand, Singapore & Malaysia routes, Australia & New Zealand routes, European routes, America & Canada routes, Middle East routes and Africa routes are the main outbound tourist products of Zhejiang. However, the various kinds of outbound tourist products have their distinctive features among exit port, travel arrangement, scenic spots to visit, types of tourism, travel costs, etc.(2) Zhejiang outbound tourism market develops rapidly, but it is extremely sensitive to the changes of external environment, mainly due to economy, policy, supply conditions, tourist motivation, travel information and other factors. The inter-annual change of Zhejiang outbound tourists is very vigorous. Zhejiang outbound tourism market mainly depended on HK & Macau tour before 2005, while traveling abroad is dominant in 2005. Seasonal distribution of Zhejiang outbound tourists is relevantly steady, and traveling abroad is steadier than traveling to HK & Macau. Visited outbound tourist destinations are mainly in the range of 2 000 km, namely HK & Macau, Thailand, Singapore & Malaysia, etc. Zhejiang outbound tourists are centered in Hangzhou.(3) 11 cities of Zhejiang have different latent outbound emissiveness (LOE) under the influence of citizen living standard, economic development opening to the outside world and social support situation. LOE of Hangzhou & Ningbo are the strongest, LOE of Jiaxing & Shangxing are stronger, LOE of Wenzhou, Huzhou, Jinhua & Taizhou are general, LOE of Quzhou, Zhoushan & Lishui are weaker.(4) Outbound tourism has become one of important leisure life styles for Zhejiang citizen. Its outbound travel groups are crowded in middle aged and young, husband and wife family structure, middle-income family, diversified professions and higher educational level. The outbound tourists have the primary tourist behavioral characteristics based on sightseeing, such as tourists' travel motivations, perception for tourist routes, tourist activities participated in destinations, composition of tourist consumption, and so on, but the leisure vacation market and official market take on great potential for development. Visited outbound tourist destinations are headed by traditional short-range countries and regions, and try traveling to remote countries, e.g. Europe and America. Zhejiang outbound tourists acquire the related information mainly by the channel of travel agency and internet. They have a special fondness of traveling with their family members, high standards in flexibility of travel, more rational consumption idea, high value on travel agents and visited destinations, strong desire to travel abroad, HK & Macau in future. Meanwhile, the professional differentiation in terms of tourist motivation, organizational forms and tourist companions, the average family income differentiation in terms of tourist frequencies, preferred destination and tourist consumption are both very prominent.(5) Zhejiang citizens never traveling abroad, HK & Macau don't participate the outbound tourist decision-making to the full extent. Acquire knowledge and physical & mental relaxation are their primary potential outbound tourist motivations. They'll obtain related information mainly through internet, travel agency and tour guide, pay more attention to the brand of travel agency, have a preference for traveling at their own expense, and attach great importance to the natural landscape and cultural appeal of destinations. They wish to travel during their paid vacation and stay in destination for about a week. The tourist consumption they can accept is in line with their average family income. The spatial distribution of intended outbound tourist destinations show the inverse distance-decay principle, and they have strong fancy for traveling to Europe and America. Zhejiang citizens never traveling abroad, HK & Macau with different vital statistics and latent outbound emissiveness have different tourist inclination.(6) Based on above study of Zhejiang outbound tourism market, the thesis puts forward some suggestions of its further development. Zhejiang actual outbound tourism market should improve its statistics and relevant materials, realize the innovation of outbound tourist products and design outbound tourist routes scientifically. Zhejiang potential outbound tourism market should keep its hold on the market positioning, intensify publicity and promotion, etc.