A comparison of photo-taking and online-sharing behaviors of mainland Chinese and Western theme park visitors based on generation membership

Abstract

This research investigates and compares the photo-taking and online photo-sharing behaviors of mainland Chinese and Western theme park visitors using decade length generations. Given the rapid growth in digital photography and growing popularity of online sharing of photos, an enhanced understanding of the photo-taking and photo-sharing behaviors of visitors based on generation membership will assist theme park managers develop new social media marketing strategies. Most previous research has employed Western definitions of generations such as baby boomer, generation X, and generation Y. These definitions do not always apply in non-Western settings indicating the need for an alternative approach. This study uses a decade length definition of generations: the post-70s, post-80s, and post-90s. Results of the survey found that photo taking and online photo sharing are very popular but do vary between generations and cultures. For example, mobile phones were found to be the most popular photographic equipment for mainland Chinese and the least popular for post-90s Western respondents. All generations rated family/friend, landscape, and selfies as the top three areas of photo content. Selfies were twice as popular with mainland Chinese post-90s as their Western counterparts in the same generation. The findings highlight the usefulness of decade length generations and of identifying photo-taking and photo-sharing activities based on cultural groupings. The findings also indicated opportunities for co-creation at least in the area of photo taking in a theme park setting.

Keywords

Culture generations online photo sharing photography selfies theme parks Western culture

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Andereck

Valentine

Vogt

. (2007) A cross-cultural analysis of tourism and quality of life perceptions. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 15(5): 483–502.

Beldona

Nusair

Demicco

(2009) Online travel purchase behavior of generational cohorts: a longitudinal study. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management 18(4): 406–420.

Benckendorff

Moscardo

Pendergast

(2010) Tourism and Generation Y. Oxfordshire: CABI.

Bourdieu

(1996) Photography: A Middle-Brow Art. California: Stanford University Press.

Buckley

Cater

Linsheng

. (2008) Shengtai luyou: a cross-cultural comparison in ecotourism. Annals of Tourism Research 35(4): 945–968.

Buhalis

Law

(2008) Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the internet the state of tourism research. Tourism Management 29(4): 609–623.

Cai

Wang

Chen

(2011) The mix-in art of the post-80s’ headmaster and the post-90s’ students in vocational colleges. Journal of Shandong Institute of Commerce and Technology 11(4): 40–41.

Chalfen

(1979) Photograph’s role in tourism: some unexplored relationships. Annals of Tourism Research 6(4): 435–447.

Charters

Fountain

(2006) Younger wine tourists: a study of generational differences in the cellar door experience. In: Carlsen

Charters

(eds) Global Wine Tourism: Research, Management and Marketing. Wallingford: CABI, pp. 153–160.

10.

Chen

Choi

(2008) Generational differences in work values: a study of hospitality management. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 20(6): 595–615.

11.

China Internet Watch (2013) Facebook has 95 million users in China. Available at: https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/4570/facebook-had-95m-users-china/ (accessed 27 July 2016).

12.

Cong

Morrison

. (2014) Analysis of wildlife tourism experiences: an exploratory study of encounters with giant pandas in Chengdu, China. Tourism Management 40: 300–310.

13.

Davis

(1984) Decade labeling: the play of collective memory and narrative plot. Symbolic Interaction 7(1): 15–24.

14.

Day

(2013) How selfies became a global phenomenon. The Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jul/14/how-selfies-became-a-global-phenomenon (accessed 14 July 2013).

15.

Deng

Yang

(2009) Studies on “post-80s” youth career status and assessment: case study of Beijing region. China Youth Studies 20(7): 15–21.

16.

Dong

Siu

NYM

(2013) Servicescape elements, customer predispositions and service experience: the case of theme park visitors. Tourism Management 36: 541–551.

17.

Doolin

Burgess

Cooper

(2002) Evaluating the use of the Web for tourism marketing: a case study from New Zealand. Tourism Management 23(5): 557–561.

18.

Egri

Ralston

(2004) Generation cohorts and personal values: a comparison of China and the United States. Organization Science [Serial Online] 15(2): 210–220.

19.

Feighery

(2009) Tourism, stock photography and surveillance: a foucauldian interpretation. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change 7(3): 161–178.

20.

Feng

Morrison

Ismail

(2004) East versus west: a comparison of online destination marketing in China and the USA. Journal of Vacation Marketing 10(1): 43–56.

21.

Garlick

(2002) Revealing the unseen: tourism, art and photography. Cultural Studies 16(2): 289–305.

22.

Garrod

(2008) Exploring place perception a photo-based analysis. Annals of Tourism Research 35(2): 381–401.

23.

Getz

Carlsen

(2008) Wine tourism among generations X and Y. Turizam: Znanstveno-Stručni Časopis 56(3): 257–269.

24.

Graburn

(1983) The anthropology of tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 10(1): 9–33.

25.

Grasso

(2014) Age, period and cohort analysis in a comparative context: political generations and political participation repertoires in Western Europe. Electoral Studies 33: 63–76.

26.

Grégoire

Salle

Tripp

(2015) Managing social media crises with your customers: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Business Horizons 58(2): 173–182.

27.

Gursoy

Maier

Chi

(2008) Generational differences: an examination of work values and generational gaps in the hospitality workforce. International Journal of Hospitality Management 27(3): 448–458.

28.

Gye

(2007) Picture this: the impact of mobile camera phones on personal photographic practices. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies 21(2): 279–288.

29.

Hays

Page

Buhalis

(2013) Social media as a destination marketing tool: its use by national tourism organisations. Current issues in Tourism 16(3): 211–239.

30.

Hennig

(2002) Tourism: enacting modern myths. In: Dann

(ed) The Tourist as a Metaphor of the Social World. Wallingford: CABI, pp. 169–187.

31.

Hochschild

(1978) The Unexpected Community: Portrait of an Old Age Subculture. Berkeley: University of California Press.

32.

Hofstede

(1980) Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills: SAGE Publications.

33.

Hofstede

(2011) Dimensionalizing cultures: the Hofstede model in context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture 2(1): 1–11. Available at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=orpc&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com.au%2Fscholar%3Fstart%3D20%26q%3DHofstede%2C%2BG.%2B%26hl%3Den%26as_sdt%3D0%2C5#search=%22Hofstede%2C%20G.%22 (accessed 19 September 2016).

34.

Howe

Strauss

(2000) Millennials Rising: The Next Generation. New York: Random House.

35.

Hsu

Cai

Wong

(2007) A model of senior tourism motivations—anecdotes from Beijing and Shanghai. Tourism Management 28(5): 1262–1273.

36.

(2013) A research review on theme park. Business and Management Research 2(4): 83–87.

37.

Huang

Tsai

(2003) The study of senior traveler behavior in Taiwan. Tourism Management 24(5): 561–574.

38.

Hung

Petrick

(2011) Why do you cruise? Exploring the motivations for taking cruise holidays, and the construction of a cruising motivation scale. Tourism Management 32(2): 386–393.

39.

Hunter

(2008) A typology of photographic representations for tourism: depictions of groomed spaces. Tourism Management 29: 354–365.

40.

Jenkins

(2003) Photography and travel brochures: the circle of representation. Tourism Geographies 5(3): 305–328.

41.

Kawano

Lui

Tsang

. (2015) The Chinese Tourist Boom, When Now, Where Next, Goldman Sachs. Available at: http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/macroeconomic-insights-folder/chinese-tourist-boom/report.pdf (accessed 20 July 2016).

42.

Kimmel

Kitchen

(2014) Word of mouth and social media. Journal of Marketing Communications 20(1–2): 2–4.

43.

Kozak

(2002) Comparative analysis of tourist motivations by nationality and destinations. Tourism Management 23(3): 221–232.

44.

Kozak

Duman

(2012) Family members and vacation satisfaction: proposal of a conceptual framework. International Journal of Tourism Research 14(2): 192–204.

45.

Kristensson

Matthing

Johansson

(2008) Key strategies for the successful involvement of customers in the co-creation of new technology-based services. International Journal of Service Industry Management 19(4): 474–491.

46.

Lee

LYS

Tsai

Tsang

. (2012) Selection of outbound package tours: the case of senior citizens in Hong Kong. Journal of China Tourism Research 8(4): 450–468.

47.

Lehto

Jang

Achana

. (2008) Exploring tourism experience sought: a cohort comparison of baby boomers and the silent generation. Journal of Vacation Marketing 14(3): 237–252.

48.

Cai

(2012) The effects of personal values on travel motivation and behavioral intention. Journal of Travel Research 51(4): 473–487.

49.

Hudson

(2013) The application of generational theory to tourism consumer behavior: an American perspective. Tourism Management 37: 147–164.

50.

Lee

(2011) Motivations and perceived value of volunteer tourists from Hong Kong. Tourism Management 32(2): 326–334.

51.

McKercher

. (2011) Tourism and online photography. Tourism Management 32(4): 725–731.

52.

Lyu

(2016) Travel selfies on social media as objectified self-presentation. Tourism Management 54: 185–195.

53.

MacKay

Couldwell

(2004) Using visitor-employed photography to investigate destination image. Journal of Travel Research 42(4): 390–396.

54.

Make a websitehub.com (2015) 2015 Chinese social media stats and trends. Available at: http://makeawebsitehub.com/chinese-social-media-statistics/ (accessed 27 July 2016).

55.

Mashable Australia (2015) Facebook now has 1.44 billion monthly users. Available at: http://mashable.com/2015/04/22/facebook-quarter-user-numbers/#iozHjRX.p8q6 (accessed 29 July 2016).

56.

Master

Prideaux

(2000) Culture and vacation satisfaction: a study of Taiwanese tourists in South East Queensland. Tourism Management 21(5): 445–450.

57.

Mattila

(2000) The impact of culture and gender on customer evaluations of service encounters. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research 24(2): 263–273.

58.

McCrindle

Wolfinger

(2011) The ABC of XYZ: Understanding the Global Generations. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press Ltd.

59.

Munar

Jacobsen

JKS

(2014) Motivations for sharing tourism experiences through social media. Tourism Management 43: 46–54.

60.

Munir

Phillips

(2005) The birth of the ‘Kodak Moment’: institutional entrepreneurship and the adoption of new technologies. Organization Studies 26(11): 1665–1687.

61.

Murray

(2008) Digital images, photo-sharing, and our shifting notions of everyday aesthetics. Journal of Visual Culture 7(2): 147–163.

62.

Oxford University Press (2015) Oxford Dictionaries. Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/selfie (accessed19 November 2015).

63.

Palmer

McCole

(2000) The role of electronic commerce in creating virtual tourism destination marketing organisations. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 12(3): 198–204.

64.

Pizam

Sussmann

(1995) Does nationality affect tourist behavior? Annals of Tourism Research 22(4): 901–917.

65.

Prahald

Ramaswamy

(2004) Co-creation experiences: the next practice in value creation. Journal of Interactive Marketing 18(3): 5–14.

66.

Prayag

Hosany

(2014) When Middle East meets West: understanding the motives and perceptions of young tourists from United Arab Emirates. Tourism Management 40: 35–45.

67.

Prideaux

Coghlan

(2010) Digital cameras and photo taking behaviour on the Great Barrier Reef—marketing opportunities for reef tour operators. Journal of Vacation Marketing 16(3): 171–183.

68.

Raymond

Hall

(2008) The development of cross-cultural (mis)understandings through volunteer tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 16(5): 530–543.

69.

Sifferlin

(2013) Why selfies matter. Time Magazine. Available at: http://healthland.time.com/2013/09/06/why-selfies-matter/ (accessed 6 September 2013).

70.

Solnet

Hood

(2008) Generation Y as hospitality employees: framing a research agenda. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 15(1): 59–68.

71.

Stein

(2013) Millennials: the Me Me Me Generation. Time Magazine. Available at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2143001,00.html (accessed 20 May 2013).

72.

Strauss

Howe

(1991) Generations. New York: William Morrow.

73.

Themed Entertainment Association (2016) The TEA/AECOM 2013 Theme Index: The Global Attractions Attendance Report. Burbank, USA: Themed Entertainment Association.

74.

Urry

(1990) The Tourist Gaze: Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Societies, Theory, Culture & Society. London: SAGE.

75.

Van der Merwe

Slabbert

Saayman

(2011) Travel motivations of tourists to selected marine destinations. International Journal of Tourism Research 13(5): 457–467.

76.

Van House

(2011) Personal photography, digital technologies and the uses of the visual. Visual Studies 26(2): 125–134.

77.

Wang

Park

Fesenmaier

(2012) The role of smartphones in mediating the touristic experience. Journal of Travel Research 51(4): 371–387.