A Cross-cultural Comparison of Chinese and American Tourists’ Satisfaction with Chengdu

International College, University of The Thai Chamber of Commerce, Bangkok, Thailand

^* Corresponding author: lxq94312@gmail.com

Abstract

Compared with China’s domestic and outbound tourism, China’s inbound tourism has developed relatively slowly. An understanding of cultural similarities and differences can support destination managers in formulating strategies and increase the satisfaction of inbound tourists. As one of the best tourist cities in China, Chengdu is an important destination for inbound tourists. Meanwhile, American tourists are the major source of tourists for Chengdu’s inbound tourism. Based on the Cultural Dimensions Theory proposed by Hofstede, this research focuses on a cross-cultural comparison of two important markets for Chengdu tourism: Chinese and American tourists. In addition, electronic word-of-mouth (E-WOM) has become an important source of tourist information, the analysis of E-WOM may provide more insights into users’ feelings than questionnaires. This study uses content analysis to quantify online reviews and importance performance analysis to compare the importance and satisfaction of Chinese and American tourists with destination attributes. The results clearly show the comparison between the two groups in destination assessment.