Feeling superior or deprived? Attitudes and underlying mentalities of residents towards Mainland Chinese tourists

Abstract

5The exponential increase in the number of Mainland Chinese tourists (MCTs) and their sudden 6 influx to popular destinations worldwide have resulted in increasingly frequent media reports on 7 their behaviours and encounters with hosts. However, the academic literature has inadequately 8 analysed resident attitudes towards this surging and, in a few destinations, dominant group. The 9 current study addresses this gap by examining the attitudes and mentalities of Hong Kong (HK) 10 residents towards MCTs and revealing their underlying psychological mechanism. A total of 39 11 semi-structured interviews demonstrate that unfavourable attitudes towards MCTs have 12 exceeded neutral or positive attitudes. Moreover, HK residents share two intertwined mentalities 13 sense of superiority and feeling of deprivation. Findings are discussed under the social identity 14 meta-theoretical framework, and a cyclic psychological mechanism of 'social categorization-15 social identity-social comparison' is identified underlying resident attitude and community 16 mentality formation.17 18

A qualitative cognitive appraisal of tourist harassment

“…The aggressive behaviors reported by the interviewees include grabbing, forceful or unwanted touching, sexual advances, and aggressive selling. Tourists are perceived to be wealthier than locals (Ajaguna, ; Boakye, , ; Chen et al, ; Harper, ). Therefore, local vendors heckle unsuspecting visitors in an attempt to induce them to purchase displayed merchandise.…”

“…First, the interviews were transcribed, and a process using open coding, category creation, and abstraction was followed in line with the principles of interpretative phenomenology (Braun & Clarke, ; Chen et al, ; Elo & Kyngäs, ; Marshall & Rossman, ). Through open coding, an initial coding template was defined for five of the interviews to describe various facets of the data.…”

“…External attribution is linked to multiple factors in the literature, including capable guardianship (Boakye, ; Cohen & Felson, ; Siegel, ), hotspots (Boakye, ; Cochran, Bromley, & Branch, ; Crotts, ), and conducive opportunity (Miethe & Meier, ). Studies have also suggested that the apparent inequality between tourists (viewed as rich) and host communities intensifies the harassment of tourists (Aziz, ; Chen et al, ; Chen, Chen, & Okumus, ; Harper, ). In developing regions such as Africa where panhandling towards locals and foreigners is a common spectacle, it is difficult to determine whether such acts constitute harassment.…”

“…By contrast, tourist harassment has been substantially ignored despite its potential to adversely affect visitor experience and intentions at a destination (Nicely & Armadita, ,b). Implicitly, tourist harassment is a behavior that potentially alarms, annoys, torments, or even traumatizes the visitor (Badu‐Baiden, Adu‐Boahen, & Otoo, ; Boakye, ; Chen, Hsu, & Li, ; McElroy, Tarlow, & Carlisle, ; Milman, ; Nicely & Armadita, ; Ryan, ).…”

Living as Residents in a Tourist Destination: A Phenomenological Approach

“…Thus, due to the interest of tourists, residents may preserve the valuable natural environment and traditional culture in the destination [21]. On the other hand, growing pressure on tourists has made residents think negatively about tourists [23,24]. Residents' negative attitudes toward tourists are a result of exceeding the area's human capacity limit.…”