The impact of multidimensional country distances on consumption of specialty products: A case study of inbound tourists to Japan

Abstract

This study adapts and extends the cultural, administrative, geographic, and economic distance framework. The framework was proposed in the field of international business studies to examine the effect of distances between home and host countries on tourist preference for specialty products. We proposed four hypotheses based on segmentation and distance studies and conducted an empirical analysis of a questionnaire survey of 4474 foreign tourists from 49 different countries and regions visiting Japan. The results suggest that the four dimensions of distance have different impacts on the purchasing behavior of tourists. Moreover, the quadratic model results further suggest the existence of an optimal point of distance. In the discussion, we proposed effective segmentation strategies to increase inbound tourism.