Shopping Tourism Hong Kong A study of shopping tourism: Is Hong Kong a good place for shopping?

Background to the research Issue 2

Discussion of relevant literature

Proposed research Methodology and analysis

Sampling Method

Demographic Characteristics

Analysis of the results from Survey

Survey Question 7- Who are the main companions for visit in HongKong?

Background to the research Issue

Within the past three decades shopping tourism at international level has been increased hugely the reason being advancement in the airline industry as well as lessening in traveling expenses. This is evident from the latest data which shows that in 2008 international arrival was 922 million which is an increase of 4.47% since in 2005 it was 800 million (UNWTO, 2009, p.4). Although world economy faced economic recession in 2008, yet it did not impact on the tourism rate which increased by 1.99% in the period of 2007-2008.

Tourism now has become an industry which has a significant role in the economic growth of any country. Visitors coming to a destination spend money on shopping, hotel accommodation, eatables, and transportation as well as on entertainment and thus contribute to increase the gross domestic product (GDP). Tourism also helps to create employment and provide socio-economic development. The data show that during the year 2008 almost 80 countries were able to earn 1 billion USD from international tourism (UNWTO, 2009). Figure 1 represents the international arrivals during the period 1999-2008

Shopping and tourism are among the most important cross-border activities for generating positive social and economic changes. Shopping and tourism are interconnected in many ways, and the relationship between the two phenomena is rather complex. Although shopping tourism is a phenomenon well-known in common parlance, constructing a scientific framework and definition for it is rather complicated. Shopping is one of the most common and enjoyable leisure activities among tourists, and in many cases it represents a basic motivation for travel. The relationship between shopping and tourism can be divided into two categories. The first one, where the primary purpose of the tourist trip is to shop, is termed 'shopping tourism'. The second is called 'tourist shopping', where shopping is done as a secondary activity during a trip which might be motivated primarily by something else (e.g.sun bathing, ecotourism, cultural tourism, etc.) (Dallen, 2005)

The current research paper is aimed at exploring the concept of shopping tourism. Particularly the researcher will focus on exploring the scope of Hong Kong for being a shopping place for tourists. For this purpose the researcher conducted survey with 70 tourists at Honk Kong to know whether HongKong is a good place for shopping or not.

Figure 1-International tourist arrivals

Objectives of the Study

Previously many research studies have been conducted on the concept of shopping tourism involving different destinations. (Ko, 1999; Lehto, Cai, O'Leary, & Huan, 2004; Mok & Iverson, 2000; Moscardo, 2004; Oh, Cheng, Lehto, & O'Leary, 2004). These studies have focused on the shopping behaviors, consumer satisfaction, products and services' quality in the tourism destinations. Some have focused on the prices of services and goods in different tourist destinations. Shopping preferences and choices of tourists as well destinations choices related to shopping have also been discovered. However no research study has focused on exploring Hong Kong as a shopping place.

Research Question

In the current study, the author addressed main question of;

Is Hong Kong a good place for shopping?

To address this research question the researcher focused on the main variables like price, quality and variety and thus following three sub-questions were focused and addressed;

1. Are tourists satisfied with the quality and prices of the goods at Hong Kong?

2. Are prices important for tourists?

3. Are tourists satisfied with the variety of goods at Shopping Mall in Hong Kong?

4. Is environment of shopping malls satisfactory?

Discussion of relevant literature

Tourism may be defined as, "The sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the interaction of tourists, business suppliers, host governments and host communities in the process of attracting and hosting these tourists and other visitors," (McCabe, 2009, p. 4).

A unique type of shopping tourism that has received considerable attention is shopping in border areas -- also known as cross-border shopping. This consumer activity takes place near international boundaries. Economic, legal and social differences on opposite sides of an international border can be the major driving force for cross-border travel. As a result, activities such as gambling, prostitution, drinking, and shopping become important...

Cross-border shopping, where people travel beyond the boundaries of their own nation specifically to shop in a neighboring country, is common in all parts of the world (Timothy and Richard Butler, 1995)
Honk Kong is a significant destination for shopping tourism. Data show that tourism demand international arrived to Hong Kong has gradually increased from 1985 to-date. During this period there seems an increasing trend in the number of visitors with growth rate of 9.1% per year. While during 2010 Hong Kong received 36 million record visitors that are 21.8% higher than the visitors in 2009. (Tourism.gov, 2010)

The main markets of Hong Kong tourism are Mainland China, Australia, United Kingdom, United States, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. According to 2009 statistics China had 56.5% share in the total tourism expenditure (HKTB, 2009)

Research studies show that shopping is the main inbound spending category in tourism. Hong Kong Tourism data of 2008 show that tourists spend 53.96 billion on shopping out of the total HKD tourist expenditure of 94.21 billion which is 57.3%. While the contribution from tourists belonging to Mainland China spend most on shopping at Hong Kong and contribute almost HKD 4,056 per capita. While tourists from UK and U.S. spend on shopping the least which is HKD 1,347 and 1,257 respectively. Similarly Japanese tourists spend HKD 1,622 per capita and other four main markets are found to be spending between HKD 2,000 and HKD 3,000 per capita on shopping at Hong Kong (Chengaung, 2010)

Proposed research Methodology and analysis

Doing research in shopping is rather difficult, since the relevant shopping data are not routinely collected or compiled in official records. Consequently, our research was based on a standard survey questionnaire, comprising 16 questions. The survey was carried out at Hong Kong and questionnaires were get filled by the visitors at different main shopping malls of Hong Kong. The visitors were targeted, because it was the purpose of the study to get direct information from the tourists and their shopping perceptions and behaviors towards Hong Kong shops and products, answers were based on the subjective opinion of respondents. Altogether 70 questionnaires were fully completed

Data Collection

Many researchers have considered qualitative research methods to measure and forecast tourism demand of a destination. These types of method are used to obtain an understanding of human behavior as well as factors behind these behaviors. The researcher used survey questionnaire as an instrument to collect data for the study. The survey questionnaire was developed based on the review of the previous literature. The survey aimed to sample both traditional and modern retail environments. The questionnaire was developed in English as the majority of tourists are familiar with the English.

The questionnaire consisted of 16 questions. Survey question 1-4 were aimed at exploring the demographic characteristics of the survey population. In these questions the tourists were asked to inform about their occupation, gender, age and nationality. Survey question five and six asked about their stay and visit to Hong Kong. Survey question seven asked about the companions during visit i.e., family, spouse, friend. Survey questions 8, 9 and 10 asked the tourists about their income, the amount they want to spend on shopping and the products they want to buy at Hong Kong.

Survey questions 11, 12 and 13 were aimed at exploring tourists' perceptions about the environment, quality of service and environment at Hong Kong shopping malls. The last three questions asked the participants of the survey to express level of their satisfaction about their shopping experience at Hong Kong and also whether they desire to come to HK again for shopping. The purpose of including these questions was to know whether Hong Kong is a good place for shopping tourism.

Sample Size

The target population of the research was tourists who had come to visit Hong Kong and do shopping during 6 October to 20 October. A total of 3 shopping markets located at Hong Kong were selected for conducting survey. A total of 70 tourists were selected to participate in the survey. The rule to choose this sample size was taken from Stevenson (1999) who suggested that for every variable there is a need to choose 15 cases. Through this study the researcher measured four variables. These were the 1) quality of goods at HK 2) the transportation at HK 3) Shopping choices of tourists and 4) perception of Prices

Scholars in the field have also suggested that researcher should choose the sample size beyond this minimum limit (Hair, 2006). Bases on Stevens suggestions the sample size would be 60 and whereas the author decided to conduct research with 70 participants based on Stevenson suggestion.

Sampling Method

The researcher adopted convenient method of sampling. As the target of the research was tourists visiting…