인 바운드 중국인의 쇼핑관광경험에 관한 탐색 연구

An exploratory research regarding shopping tourism experiences of inbound Chinese tourists: Is shopping in Korea tour planned or impulsive?

Chinese market is one of the two biggest inbound tourism markets and the fastest growing market in Korea. Moreover, recent market research of KTO showed that Chinese tourists tended to spend more money for shopping than Japanese tourists(i.e., the other biggest market) did in 2009. Using a qualitative research method, this study explored shopping experiences of inbound Chinese tourists in Korea. Particularly, it investigated whether their shopping were more likely to be planned or impulsive. Data were collected from in-depths interviews with 11 Chinese women FIT tourists and two Korean sales women from December 2010 to January 2011. Participant observations were also conducted for a better understanding of Chinese inbound shopping behavior in Korea. Results showed that Chinese inbound tourists were most likely to do planned shopping, while they occasionally tended to do unplanned shopping. However, they rarely did impulse shopping. The findings were discussed in the context of establishing shopping tourism strategies for Chinese inbound tourist market in Korea.