Analysis of the Relationship between Tourist Motivation, Satisfaction and Loyalty for China Special Theme Tourism

Abstract

China special theme tourism (CSTT) is called Red Tourism in China. It is new theme tourism, formally proposed in 2004. In December 2005, the CPC Central Committee and State Council issued the "2004-2010 National Red Tourism Development Plan" where Red Tourism was officially planned and implemented. Red tourism, as a new kind of thematic tourism, refers to the tourism activities that regard the revolution memorials, monuments as well as the revolutionary spirit established after 1921 and the memorial marker during the period of revolutionary war by the Communist Party of China as the carrier; the revolutionary history, the deeds and the spirit it contains are the theme. Red tourism involves organizing the activities of tourists to include visits, to study the revolutionary spirit, to receive education on revolutionary traditions and to raise tourists’ spirits, relax and enhance their experience. This paper use motivation factor and investigates CSTT satisfaction and their correlation with tourists’ satisfaction and loyalty. Quantitative methodology is adopted for this research which includes the collection of data in the cases-Yan’an (N=493), linear regression is also used in order to test the hypothesis by following the hypothesis testing model. The regression equation and associated statistics are used to discover which factors have a profound impact upon satisfaction in CSTT. According to the results of this empirical study, it has been found that four parts main relationships existed in CSTT motivations which include satisfaction, therefore, a relationship model has been built. Therefore, it is apparent from this finding that destination marketers should customize their marketing plans by using a different communication mix with a unique promotional tool through employing a local celebrity, thus giving them an inherent competitive advantage. Finally, the study discusses the contributions of the research and makes recommendations for the CSTT and for further research.