For the purpose of this study, a research design based on
personal interviews was developed, to identify Chinese travel
agents’ views on regional travel potential in Australia and their
corresponding management and marketing approaches in
comparison with their destination suppliers. In order to obtain
a better understanding of their marketing approaches and improve
the research reliability, relevant marketing materials were collected
and studied too.
In terms of the participants from the destination, four groups of
people were included in the survey due to their active role in the
Chinese tourism market development in the Goldfields region of
Victoria, Australia. They were travel agents, relevant tourism businesses
(e.g., restaurants, local tour operators), attractions, and
destination marketers. They were believed to be more knowledgeable
and to have a basic understanding about the Chinese
tourism market due to their close relationship with this market
(Table 1). In order to obtain meaningful data, this study focuses on
people with experiences in dealing with the Chinese market in the
region, which resulted in a limited sample population. Although
most Chinese package tourists only visit the Sovereign Hill in Ballarat
as day-trippers and few independent Chinese visitors travel to
Bendigo, this study still managed to interview at least two attractions
and two businesses in each town.
Among the seven approved ADS inbound tour operators based
in Melbourne, four participated in the interview regarding their
services to the Goldfields. Relevant statistics show that Shanghai
and Guangzhou are two leading sources of Chinese package tourists
to Australia (Tourism Victoria, 2002). Therefore, 24 Chinese travel
agents in these two cities were approached and interviewed using
the convenience sampling method.
Although this sample size is small, it is sufficient for the
following analyses using Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests that require