Chinese tourism in Europe has tripled over the last decade to reach 6 million tourists
in 2018. Understanding tourist behavior allows for improvement of the tourist
experience and better management of destinations. To these ends, this study
analyzes (1) the motivations, expectations and satisfaction of Chinese tourists
and (2) defines the main differences between young Chinese (18-29 years old)
and more mature Chinese tourists. Data is extracted from 360 survey
questionnaires that were administered to tourists after their trips to Europe.
Destination Spain, in Western Europe, is selected as the case study. Mean
analysis, one-factor ANOVA and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) have
been conducted. The results show that more mature travelers have significant
differences in the travel arrangements, motivations, expectations and
evaluations of their trips than do younger travelers. Younger tourists chose
independent trips, while the more mature ones chose either full group packages
or independent trips. The younger have a wider range of motivations and
preferences for activities at their destinations. New trends in Chinese
tourists visiting Europe are discussed and implications for the destination are
explored