Tourism demand and the use of the internet: The Hong Kong Experience

Abstract
This paper examines the relevance and importance of the Internet for researching
information and making on-line reservations for tourism products in Hong Kong.
Most academic in Hong Kong about Information Communication Technologies (ICTs)
and the use of the Internet has focus on how suppliers of the online tourism demand
and use of their consumer website. This paper approaches the use of the Internet
from a tourism demand perspective and looks at the profile of domestic (including
tourists from Mainland China) and international visitors to the Hong Kong that use
the Internet. 200 people were interviewed from 10 October 2010 to 30 October 2010
and were asked if they used the Internet to find information about the destination and
if they made reservations. The sample had a domestic and experience bias and
although most domestic and repeat visitors to Hong Kong come from Mainland China
and Asia Regions and therefore one would assume that they would be familiar with
the region and the tourism product, the results found that domestic visitors still used
the Internet to search for information and make reservations. The study had only
20% of the total sample using the Internet and although this may seem low the results
from this investigation are relevant as they indicate that both domestic and
international tourists use the Internet and it is important for tourism operators to
maintain an up to date web page and have facilities for online reservations as people
who use the Internet to search for information went on to make on-line reservations.

Introduction
Technology and more specifically Information Communication Technologies (ICTs)
are being utilized by the tourism and hospitality industry globally. Hong Kong
Tourism Board (HKTB) heavily relies on web based promotion in targeting the highly
interactive traveler. Hong Kong Hotel Association (HKHA) and the Travel Industry
Council (TIC) have a web presence and linked to the HKTB website. Individual
tourism operators, tourist attractions, restaurants and hotels have been encouraged
through their web pages and have a web presence, chiefly through links with the
HKTB. Through their own webpage and these links tourism operators in Hong Kong
seemingly have access to the on-line population of the world.

Most tourism operators, tourist attractions, restaurants and hotels are family and local
owned, small and medium size enterprises that have limited financial resources,
expertise and time to establish and maintain an up to date website. However, the use
of ICTs generally, and more specially Internet use by the tourism industry, is driven
by tourism demand (Buhalis, 2003). The HKHA want to know how many visitors to
the peninsular used the Internet firstly to gather information about their members’
service and secondly to make reservations. This data was important to the HKHA to
provide convincing evidence to their members of the importance of either establishing
and/or maintaining an up-to-date web presence.

Hong Kong has a large volume of domestic visitors in the peak autumn and winter
months originating mainly from Mainland China and Japan. International visitors
have been steadily increasing over the last 10 years, attracting FITs especially the
backpacker market and family group from South East Asia. More importantly
international visitors in the shoulder periods, either side of spring, from February to
April, have lengthened the tourism season for operators. Leisure tourism has been
slower to take off on the Internet with business travel representing the highest portion
of travelers who are using the Internet to gather information on a destination and to
make on-line travel reservations (Buhalis, 2003). The HKTB is chiefly a leisure and
event market destination attracting business travelers and therefore a low level use of
the Internet. Buhalis (2003) argues that leisure travel has been much slower to take
off on the Internet than many industry analysts had participated because of the
domination of package holidays. This argument of lower Internet use by the leisure
traveler is relevant for Hong Kong which is dominated by packaged holidaymakers
instead of FITs.

This paper examines if distinctions exist for the level of Internet usage for different
groups of visitors based on the demographic information provided by 200
questionnaires collected in Oct2010. The paper will provide a profile of visitors who
use the Internet for destination information prior to choose a service and who make
on-line reservations. Although the percentage of visitors who used the Internet was
relatively small it will be concluded that tourism service providers in Hong Kong
should maintain an up to date website and provide Internet reservationfacilities.

Research on the Demand and Supply of Internet Use in Hong Kong

The Internet as a marketing tool has been heavily promote by the Hong Kong
Government as well as the HKTB but these has been lack of research on tourism
demand and Internet use, with most of the research focusing on how suppliers of the
tourism product in Hong Kong use the Internet. Milne and Mason (2001) reviewed
the pros and corns of using the Internet to market community based tourism, web-
raising awareness and the implication of this process on community development.
Methodology
Data was collected from October 2010 from all different tourist attractions of Hong
Kong. People were approached randomly in cafes, restaurants, bars, beaches,
museum, heritage sites, hostels, hotels, piers, airports, bus stations, theme parks and
asked if they were visitors to the area. The sample size for this study is 200
respondents with 60% of the sample being male, and 40% female. Domestic visitors
to the region made up 80% of the total sample and international visitors 20%. The
purpose of the survey was not only to ascertain if the visitor used the Internet for their
trip, but to collect data on the following:

1. The average length of visitor stay in Hong Kong

2. The type of accommodation use
3. Analysis of expenditure
4. Demographic information
5. The must visit tourist attractions

Two questions were included in the questionnaire that referred to Internet use and
Internet reservations. Respondents were asked whether they had used the Internet to
find out information, how had the Internet aided their reservationprocess, how many
reservations they made and what exactly did they book. The data was analysed using
SPSS statistical analysis of frequencies, means and crosstabs.

Profile of the Respondents

The age breakdown of the total sample was: 20% of respondents were aged between
21-25, 30% between 26-35, 26% between 36-45, 14% between 46-65, and 10% were
aged 66 and above. The majority of respondents were aged between 46 years of age
and 65 years, however, the mean fell into the 24-34 age group. The demographics of
the sample are shown in Table 1, which highlights age and gender.

Table 1. Age and Gender of the Sample

Age Group Males (n) Percentage Female (n) Percentage
Under 21
21-25
26-35
36-45
46-65
66 and above
Total
International visitors were comparatively younger than domestic visitors. The
majority of domestic visitors were aged 36-45 with most of the sample being aged 30
years and over. In contrast, more than half of the total sample of international visitor
was aged lower than 30 years.

Table 2. Profile of Domestic Visitors 2003

Region where
visitors live
Guangzhou
Shenzhen
Shanghai
Beijing
Xiamen
Kunming
Wuhan
Urumuqi
TOTAL
The majority of domestic visitors in all group, excluding those under 21 and those
aged 65 years and older all come from the Guangdong Province including visitors
from Guangzhou and Shenzhen. This may be due to the relative proximity of Hong
Kong; it is within three hours of land traveling time by train and road. The relatively
short distance allows residents of the visitor from Guangdong Province for a day trip
or short-break holiday, with many have relatives in Hong Kong. Visitors from
Shanghai, Beijing and Xiamen are also prominent within the age breakdown of
domestic visitors. The two to four hours of short air traveling distance, with many
have strong business transaction in Hong Kong. Table 2 shows that Guangzhou
visitors frequent travel to Hong Kong more than any other region, followed by
visitors from Shenzhen.

International visitors comprised 20% of the sample with the majority coming from
Taiwan – 38%, followed by the Japan – 24%, South Korea – 18%, North America –
16% and then 12% - Australia. Visitors came from Europe and South East Asia
predominate 30% of the sample and only small numbers came from Africa and South
America, Africa and Middle East as can be seen in Table 3. This signifies that Hong
Kong is international tourist destination but still favor by the travel distance.

Table 3. Profile of International Visitors 2003

Use of the Internet to Find Out Tourist Information about Hong Kong
Respondents were asked whether or not they used the Internet to find out tourist
information about Hong Kong. Only 20 respondents or 10% of the total sample
indicated that they did use the Internet with 180 respondents or 90% saying no, they
had not. Although only a small proportion of visitors had used the Internet to collect
information before traveling. This is indicative of the importance for information
provided about Hong Kong to be available on the web as some visitors do access it
and do use the Internet as an information source. One also needs to take into account
that most visitors to Hong Kong has relatives, repeat visitors from mainland China or
following tour packages and not be seeking any new sources of information via the
Internet.

Pearson’s Rank Spearman Correlation test and T-tests were conducted on the variable
age and Internet usage. Neither test provided any significance using age as a
descriptive variable which leads one to assume that a person’s age is not a defining
factor when using the Internet. Table 4 shows the cross tabulation of age and Internet
usage across all age categories. Of the 20 respondents who had used the Internet to
find out more tourist information, the majority (80%) were aged between 21 to 45
years.

Table 4 Ages of Respondents who used the Internet to find out more tourist
information.
Age Under 21-25 26-35 36-45 46-65 65 TOTAL
21 Above
Number 20
within
total
sample
who had
used the
Internet
Percentag 100%
e of total
sample
who had
used the
Internet

One can argue that most international tourists may typically join package tour and
receive sufficient information from the tour operators and those domestic visitors has
relative and majority are frequent repeat visitors. For those age over 45 years old are
not familiar with information technology, prefer to gain information from traditional
tour guide book and other travelers from word of mouth.

The gender of those who had used the Internet to find out more tourist information
included 12 (60%) females and 8 (40%) males. Of the total sample who had used the
Internet, 18 of these respondents had tertiary education or above level and 2 of had
secondary education level. This signifies that the education level has direct co-
efficient linkage with the usage of internet to find tourist information.

Table 5. Internet Usage and Educational Background

Education Level Primary Secondary Tertiary Education
Education Education
Number within
total sample
Percentage of total
sample and who
had used the
Internet

Of the 120 respondents who had used the Internet, nearly all of them were traveling
with other companions, partners, and family members or as part of group. The
majority of people were traveling with one other person, although in some cases, 4
people traveling together scored relatively highly. Data on the number of people
traveling and who used information from the Internet can be seen in Table 6.

Table 6. Internet Usage and People Traveling

Number
in
group
Number
with
Total
Number
with
total
who
had
used
Internet
For those respondents who had used the Internet to find tourist information it was
important to assess where these respondents lived. Hypothetically, one would expect
international visitors from America and Europe to use the Internet more than domestic
visitors due to lack of prior knowledge of the area especially if they were a first time
visitor to Hong Kong. A breakdown of regions and countries where these respondents
lived can be seen in Table 7 and Table 8.

Total
Guangzhou

Shanghai

Urumuqi
Shenzhen

Beijing

Xiamen

Kunming

Wuhan
Region

Number of
respondents
Percentage
of
Respondents

For domestic visitors most users came from Guangzhou. This could be seen as
surprising as one would assume visitors, from regions located further away would be
m ore likely to use the Internet. For International visitors, people from North America
and Europe had the highest usage rate followed by Australia and Japan. Internet
World Stat (2010) report identifies that USA as the second highest ranking nation for
Internet use in 2010 with Japan ranked third and the South Korea ranked in eleventh
of the world. The results of this survey may reflect the small number of North
Americans in the sample (Refer to Table 3). Tests were conducted to see if there was
any significance across the variables for regions and countries, but tests confirmed
that there was direct linkage factor related to where visitors came from and the level
of Internet usage.

Table 8. International Visitors who had used the Internet and the Country of Origin
Australia

Singapore

Total
Taiwan

Japan

KoreaSouth

UK

Philippines
America
Country

North

Number of
respondents
Percentage
of
Respondents

Internet Reservations
Respondents were asked whether they had used the Internet to make any reservations.
40 respondents or 20% of the total sample of indicated that they had, with 160
respondents or 80% of the sample saying no they had not. Of the 40 respondents who
had used the Internet to make reservations, 15% were domestic visitors and 85%
international visitors. Table 9 shows where domestic visitors live and Table 10 shows
where international visitors who made Internet come from.

Table 9. Domestic Visitors who Made Reservations on the Internet

Total
Guangzhou

Shanghai

Urumuqi
Shenzhen

Beijing

Xiamen

Kunming

Wuhan
Region

Number of
respondents
Percentage
of
Respondents

From the information in Table 9 you can see that the highest percentage of domestic
visitors to Hong Kong who make reservations on the Internet came from Guangzhou
which corresponds with the information from Table 7.

Table 10. International Visitors who Made Reservations on the Internet

Australia

Singapore

Total
Taiwan

Japan

KoreaSouth

UK

Philippines
America
Country

North

Number of
respondents
Percentage
of
Respondents
The most prominent group of international visitors who used the Internet to make
reservations are from the North America. This result is same as the level of Internet
usage for finding tourist information. Table 10 shows North America respondents
scoring the highest, next the Japan, and South Korea third highest for international
visitors using the Internet to make reservations.

Again there was a positive correlation between those sample who had made
reservations over the Internet and traveling with others. Within the sample, 40% were
traveling with another companion, 20% of traveling with 4 others, 15% traveling with
5 or 6 others and the remaining 255 evenly spread across all the other group size
categories. These results has violate Buhalis’ (2003) claim that families do not use the
Internet as much as other groups because of the complexity of family holidays making
it hard to book in advance on the Internet.

A cross tabulation was also undertaken on the variable “age” and those who had find
tourist information via the Internet. The majority who had use the Internet were those
aged between 21 to 45 years, which correspondence to 40 respondents or 40%. These
results indicate that the younger age groups are using the Internet preferably than the
older generation. The breakdown of ages and Internet usage is shown in Table 11.

Table 11 Cross Tabulation of Age and Internet Use

Age Under 21-25 26-35 36-45 46-65 65 TOTAL
21 Above
Number of 20
respondents
Percentage 100%
of
respondents

Respondents were then asked if they had indicated ‘yes’ to the question: Did you
make reservations on the Internet? They were then asked how many reservations they
made. Table 12 shows that most people only made one or two reservations on-line. 8
respondents or 40% of the total sample only reserved one item on the Internet with 6
respondents or 30% make two reservations. The minimum number of reservations
was (1), and the maximum (10), with the mean response rate being ( ). 90% of the
total sample did not use the Internet which could mean that they have prefer to get
tourist information from the tourist board information center, travel agency, or do not
have a need to search on the Internet for information or to make reservations.

Table 12. How many Internet Reservation did you Make?

Number of made Frequency Percentage Valid Percent
Internet
Reservations
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
SUB TOTAL
Missing
TOTAL

There was a high correlation between the number of people who used the Internet to
find tourist information, and then went on to make a reservation while on the Internet
(refer to Table 13). It can be inferred that the Internet search was carried out for
purpose of make reservation. A total of 40 reservations were made on the Internet,
with 26 of these being airline bookings, 10 for the accommodations and 4 for events.

A cross tabulation was run on whether respondents who had used the Internet to find
tourist information were the same people who had made reservations on the Internet.
80% of whose who had used the Internet had made reservations on the Internet. The
information is shown in Table 13.

Table 13. Internet usage and Booking Made

Internet Reservations Total
Does Does Not
Internet Does Count
search for % within
tourist internet
information tourist
information
% within
internet
reservations
% of Total
Does Not Count

Type of Booking Made On-Line

Respondents were finally asked what they booked online. Table 14 lists the items
included in the questionnaire. For the item, ‘most things’ this corresponds to the
respondent having made travel, accommodation, events reservations over the Internet.
Transportation was the most common item booked online. These results show that for
a proportion of visitor to Hong Kong a number of them do make reservation online.
For accommodation, tourist attractions providers in Hong Kong it can be concluded
that they must have well developed websites and facilitate reservations via the
Internet.

Table 14. What services did you reserve over the Internet?
Service Frequency Percentage Valid Percentage
Airline Booking
Accommodation
Theme Park Ticket
Event Ticket
Others
SUB TOTAL
Missing
TOTAL

Tests were run to see if the length of stay and using the Internet for tourist information
and reservations showed any particular significance. Both T-test and then Peason’s
Rank Correlation test proved that they have strong correlation between these two
variables. Those who stayed less than 7 days tended to find tourist information less
on the Internet than those who were staying for a shorter period of time. One can
infer that those who stay for a shorter period of time may be first time visitors or
traveling to more than one destination. It can also be assumer that those people who
do stay for a long period of time (one week or more) either are backpackers or with
relatives or friends in Hong Kong.

Conclusion
With the consumers become more knowledgeable, price sensitive and familiar with
using this medium, as the level of trust and security to make reservations increases
and improvement in technology such as broadband, free mobile wi-fi service and the
costs associated with accessing this technology falls (Buhalis, 2003) it can be
concluded that more consumers will be researching and buying the tourism product
using the Internet. In this study only 10% of the total sample used the Internet. This
percentage can only increase in the future. This study has a bias in the most of the
data was collected during the trade fair peak season period and was chiefly targeting
domestic visitors to Hong Kong who are either familiar with the tourism product, who
are repeat visitors, or attending trade fair or staying with friends and relatives. The
results from this study are relevant as they indicate that both domestic and
international tourists use the Internet and it is important for tourism service providers
to maintain an up-to-date web page and have facilitates for online reservation as
people who used the Internet to find tourist information went on to make an online
booking in this study. The results also show that domestic tourists in nearby
Guangdong Province cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, have approximately the
same level of Internet use as international visitors even though one would assume
they are more familiar with the destination and the products on offer and the products
on offer and it is relatively inexpensive and convenience for them to find through
travel agents and their relatives.

The finding of this study support the claim that the use of ICTs in the tourism industry
is driven by tourism demand (Buhalis, 2003). There is a lack of academic research of
the profile of tourism consumers that are seeking and purchasing the tourism product
using the Internet and yet tourism suppliers keep hearing that “product and service
must go online” . It is hoped that this research can be built upon by other researchers
investigating Internet use and tourism demand in Hong Kong especially as the
dynamic world of ICTs penetrates all aspects of society.

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