1. “Performing tourism: Chinese outbound
organized mass tourists on their travels
through German tourism stages”
PhD Candidate: Alma Berenice Pendzialek, MBA
Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU - Dep. of Tourism Geography)
Research first supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hans Hopfinger (KU)
Second supervisor: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt (FH-Westkueste, Heide)
October 31, 2013
1

2. Agenda
• Background
• Research Methods
• Stand of the research as of today
• Perspectives
2

3. Background
Growth and diversification of the market
Sources: CNTA, COTRI
00
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Est.
2013
Chinese outbound tourism in million border-crossings,
2000 - 2013
3

4. Source: UNWTO
00
20
40
60
80
100
120
China Germany USA United
Kingdom
Russia France Canada Japan Australia Italy
Top spenders in international tourism, 2009- 2012
(in US$ billion)
2009 2010 2011 2012
4

5. Two main segments:
- Group Package Travellers (GPT)
- Free Independent Travellers (FIT)
Proportion of GPT and FIT market segments in COT, 2011
Source: CNTA
5

6. Rationale
• Over-generalise application of tourism theories.
• Studies under a „managerism“ approach.
“There was an obvious skew towards analysing either the visitor or
consumer profiles and the image of destinations” (Tse, 2009, p.23)
• Studies based on “Western” concepts, not critically adapted
to China´s reality.
6

7. Aim
• To explore and provide further understandings on the
tourist performances of Chinese outbound organized mass
tourists on German tourism stages.
• How?
Dramaturgical metaphor of Erving Goffman (1959)
and “Performance Studies” from
Richard Schechner (2002, 2006)
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8. Objectives
• To analyse the development of the Chinese outbound tourism in
general and especially mass organized tourists, in order to explore
how Chinese tourists learn to be a tourist
• To conduct an ethnographic study, as to identify how Chinese
tourists perform on German tourism stages
• To describe the construction of tourism stages in Germany, in
order to contextualize the performances allow for the Chinese
outbound tourists to happen
8

9. Performance – Analytical Framework
• Performances
• Time
• Stages
• Social and space regulation
Adapted from Edensor, Crouch, Larsen.
9

10. Research Methods
• Methodology
Paradigm: Phenomenological
Ontology: Relativist / Multiple realities
Epistemology: Subjectivist
Methods: Qualitative
Axiology: Value-laden
Adapted from Jennings (2005, p.104)
Ethnographic character of the research.
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11. • Methods
• Secondary Research
• Primary Research
• Interviews
• Ethnography
Qualitative Research
• Analysis of statistical information
Quantitative Research
Open and Semi-
structured in-depth
expert interviews in
China (8) and
Germany (9)
Semi- structured in-
depth interviews with
tour guides (4) in
Germany
Participant observation
(3 GPTs).
Complemented with
semi-structured
interviews (5) and open
semi-structured
questionnaires (45) to
tourists.
Arrivals, expenditure,
other micro- and macro-
economic indicators
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12. Status of the research as of today
• Chapters
Chapter 2 –Theorising Chinese tourism
Chapter 3 – Performance turn in tourism studies
Chapter 4 – Learn to be a tourist
(Still under construction)
Chapter 5 – Methodology and methods
(Still under construction)
• Field research information
12

13. Perspectives
• Methodology chapter
• Analysis of the findings
• Write following chapters
• Further advice
13

14. Thanks a lot
for your attention!
谢谢！
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15. References
Cai, L., Li, M., & Knutson, B. (2008). Research on China Outbound Market: A Meta-Review. Journal of Hospitality Marketing &
Management, 16(1), 5–20.
China Outbound Tourism Research Institute COTRI (2013). Latest Chinese Outbound Tourism Developments. Heide, from :
www.china-outbound.com/120.html
Edensor, T. (2007). Mundane mobilities, performances and spaces of tourism. Social & Cultural Geography, 8(2), 199–215.
Edensor, T. (2001). Walking in the British Countryside: Reflexivity, Embodied Practices and Ways to Escape. In P. Macnaghten
& J. Urry (Eds.), Bodies of nature (pp. 81–106). London, Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications.
Edensor, T. (2000). Staging tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 27(2), 322–344.
Edensor, T. (1998). Tourists at the Taj: Performance and meaning at a symbolic site. International library of sociology. London,
New York: Routledge.
Fugmann, R., & Aceves, B. (2013). Under Control: Performing Chinese Outbound Tourism to Germany. Tourism Planning &
Development, 10(2), 159–168.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Anchor books. New York: Doubleday.
Jennings, G. R. (2005). Interviewing: a Focus on Qualitative Techniques. In B. W. Ritchie, P. Burns, & C. Palmer (Eds.), Tourism
research methods. Integrating theory with practice (pp. 99–117). Wallingford, UK, Cambridge, MA: CABI.
Schechner, R. (2006). Performance studies: An introduction (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Schechner, R. (2002). Performance studies: An introduction (1st ed.). London [u.a.]: Routledge.
Schechner, R., & Appel, W. (1990). By means of performance: Intercultural studies of theatre and ritual. Cambridge, New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Schechner, R., & Brady, S. (2013). Performance studies: An introduction (3rd ed.). London, New York: Routledge.
Tse, T. S. M. (2009). Forces shaping the trends and patterns of China´s outbound international tourist flows, Southern Cross
University.
UNWTO (2013). Tourism Highlights: 2013 Edition. Madrid: UNWTO, from http://mkt.unwto.org/en/publication/unwto-
tourism-highlights-2013-edition. 15