Research on Cultural Heritage Tourism Development Based on Tourist Perception: Taking Beijing Olympic Park of China as an Example

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1 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols (2013) pp Online available since 2013/Aug/08 at (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland doi: / Research on Cultural Heritage Tourism Development Based on Tourist Perception: Taking Beijing Olympic Park of China as an Example Jionghua Li 1,a, Rosalind SIA 2,b and Yingbo Zhu 3,c 1 Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, , China 1,3 Centre of Tourism Development Research, China Women s University, Beijing, , China 2 Centre of Recreation and Tourism Research, Peking University, Beijing, , China a lijionghua@126.com, b rosalindsya@gmail.com, c zhyb12345@163.com Keywords: cultural heritage tourism; tourist perception; tourism market demand; tourists behaviour; Beijing Olympic Park Abstract. Cultural heritage tourism is one of the most essential components in tourist industry while tourist perception is of considerable referential importance for the development of cultural heritage destination. As one of the touristic hot spots after Beijing Olympics games as well as a typical sports cultural heritage tourist attraction, Beijing Olympic Park has become a new tourism landmark and tourist destination in Beijing. Based on a tourism market questionnaire survey, this paper analyses the present situation and existing problems of the tourism development in Beijing Olympic Park from the tourists perspective. This paper also tests five research hypotheses and makes some suggestions on the tourism market, tourism branding, tourism activities, tourism support system etc. specifically for Beijing Olympic Park. Introduction Tourist perception is a psychological process where tourists acquire information about the tourist destination; destination environment etc through senses and it is also a complex feedback in related to the tourism products and services provided. Tourist perception is an important content in the field of tourists behavioral research [1-5]. Understanding tourist perception scientifically is the foundation of tourist destination sustainable development. Cultural heritage tourist perception is a cultural consumption behavior result of the interaction between subject and object. In academic, cultural heritage objects theory has always been dominated by the cultural heritage tourism research, which emphasized on the resources endowment and theory supply of the culture heritage while discussion from the perspective of tourist is still lacking in this moment. Tourist perception had direct influences to tourist satisfaction level, which eventually affect the overall attraction of the tourism destination [6]. Therefore, the research about tourist perception will be able to provide useful guidance for the development of cultural heritage tourism destination. The Olympic cultural heritage tourism is a new tourism activity after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The Olympic Games is a global event which gained wide publicity, strong impact and great influence internationally. In 2008, the Olympic Games at Beijing caught the eye ball of international audiences and brought honor to the Chinese people worldwide. After the 2008 Olympic Games, tourists continuously came to visit Beijing Olympic Park as it s another new tourist destination for Beijing. It is a difficult task for the authority to use Cultural heritage tourism as an effective tool to develop Beijing into a world well-known international touristic city, with its unique image, world class tourist facilities to prolong the tourist stay etc at the post-olympic era. All of these are significantly important for the development of tourism industry in China [7]. Although most of the researchers and government departments were aware of the importance of tourist in the product development process, but very few empirical studies on tourist demand had been carried out. The paper would like to analysis the existing situation and current problems faced by the development Beijing Olympic park from the tourists perspective. This study will be able to bring benefit in tourism market segmentation, scenic spot planning and product design, also furthermore promote healthy and steady development of the sports culture heritage tourism. All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of TTP, (ID: /09/13,14:26:10)

2 22 Sustainable Cities Development and Environment Protection General Survey of the Area and Research Methods Beijing Olympic park is the main site to hold the 2008 Olympic Games. The outstanding features in the Olympic park such as the Bird Nest (Main Stadium) and the Water Cube (Swimming stadium) had become international well-known tourist attractions which also can be classified as Olympic heritage. Beijing Olympic Park is located at the north of the Beijing central axis and the fourth Beijing ring road. This park covers an area of 1135 hectares which divided into three main zones; forest park at the north, main stadium at the middle and events & supporting facilities at the south. The Chinese Ethnic Culture Park also included as part of the property of Beijing Olympic Park. The central part of the Olympic Park is the main venue for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games which it hold the Asia's largest urban artificial water system, Asia's largest green city landscape, the world's most wider pedestrian square and Asia's longest underground traffic corridor. This research is carried out with a 3-month field investigation using pre-designed questionnaire survey from May 2011 to July The questionnaire consisted of questions on demographic characteristics of visitors, travel purpose, tourist preference, tourist behavior etc. The questionnaires were collected immediately after answered which 520 questionnaires were given out and 500 valid questionnaires were verified with an effective rate of 96.2%. Theoretical Basis and Research Hypothesis Theoretical Basis. Tourist consumption behavior research showed that, even tourist consumption behavior had certain irrational tendency; they still pursuit maximum tourism utility. The Social Exchange Theory laid a theoretical foundation to explaining the tourist behavior. Through research, John Ap of American Texas University built social exchange process model to explain the relationship between the tourists perception, satisfaction and loyalty [8]. At the tourist destination, exchange process happened; tourists used their economic resources to exchange the friendly attitude and services provided by local resident. Repeat visit and recommendation to relatives and friends occurred when the tourists was satisfied during the exchange process, which eventually generated more potential tourists to the tourist destination. On the contrary, tourists might grumble and complaints which stopped them to revisit the destination again and spread the negative complaints through word of mouth or network which bring negative impact to the destination. Tourist, based on the social exchange theory, would evaluate tourism through the service they received, the estimated revenue gained, the cost to get the service etc. Research Hypothesis. The research aimed to explore the characteristics of typical Chinese sports culture heritage tourism market through analyzing tourists demand and behavior characteristics of Beijing Olympic park, to improve the facilities and services within the park, to develop tourism products and activities which adapt to the demand of the tourists and to promote the sustainable development of the Olympic park. With literature support from existing research materials, the paper put forward five research hypotheses, as sated below: H1: The tourists in Beijing Olympic park have significant characteristics. H2: The tourists in Beijing Olympic park have significant demand for sports culture tourism. H3: The main purpose for the tourists in Beijing Olympic park is sightseeing and self- participation level is very low. H4: The consumption level of the tourists in Beijing Olympic park is high. H5: The tourists in Beijing Olympic park show a high revisit rate. Analysis of the Results Demographical Characteristics. The survey showed that from gender analysis, there were 58% male and 42% female who visit Beijing Olympic Park, with a ratio of 1.38:1, for the total respondent surveyed. Obviously, male enthusiasm to visit Olympic site was slightly higher than women. As the result, the Olympic Park should give more emphasize to male visitor in the promotion and

3 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols advertisement later. For age group analysis, the survey found that most of the tourists visited the Park fell in the age group of 18 to 25 years old and years old, which is the youth group. In view of this, the Olympic Park should provide more youth- orientated cum healthy activities to meet the needs of these group. It is strongly suggested to provide more recreational facilities for the age group of 40 years old and above and 18 years old below, as they are the potential tourist as revealed by the survey. From education analysis, the tourists to Olympic Park have a relatively high level of education. About 31.2% of the respondent possessed an Undergraduate degree, 22.2% had college diploma degree and 85.2% owned a high school diploma level. Therefore, we assumed that the higher the education level, the stronger the demand for cultural tourism. The occupation analysis showed that high school students were the largest group of visitors to visit the Olympic Park, which make up to 19.8%, but businessmen, managerial groups, academician and government servants, made up to 70.6% from the total tourist surveyed. Therefore, we might conclude that these four groups of people were the main source market for the Olympic park, whom had strong demand power. Besides, the needs of country folks, service workers and retirees should also be catered as well. From income aspect, most of the respondent had monthly income less that 1500 yean, which made up to 33.1% of the total respondent. The result of low income level corresponded directly with the occupation data collected above, as most of the respondent was student. Students are economically dependent and rely on the parent in term of expenses, but in term of travel time, they had more flexible visiting hour. Therefore, the student groups are still considered as important source market for the Park. Second largest group was the tourists with a monthly income between 1500 and 3000 Yuan, account to 37.4%, which showed the ability to travel was closely related to their economical consumption strength. So, it is very important that the entrance fees chargeable to the Park should be reasonable, to attract lower income potential group. Furthermore, hotels nearby to the park should also be more diverse to cater for different level income tourist. Tourists Demand Characteristics. The geographical distributions of tourist. Due to the different regions in the space, tourist from different areas have different perception, impression, attitudes and lifestyle, which led to different tourism motivations and consumption behaviors. From the 500 respondents surveyed, 77.6% came from other provinces of the mainland of China, 18.6% were Beijinger, 2% were foreign tourist and 1.8% was tourist from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. The data revealed that there was high volume of inter-province immigrant to Beijing city, as it is the capital of the country. The survey also showed the visiting time for Olympic Park tourist is comparatively flexible. Most of the tourists could visit anytime(56.4%), on weekend(19.4%)or during golden holiday week(7.4%). The result reflected that most of the visitor who lived nearby to the Park would choose to visit on daily leisure time to avoid golden holiday week. Therefore, there is important for the authority to provide activities for daily visitor instead of activities during the golden holiday week alone. The main purpose to visit the Olympic Park was for sightseeing(54.3%), followed by entertainment (20.8%), vacation (10.5%) and commercial meetings (1.8%). It showed that most of the tourists would like to have a glance on bird nest, the water cube and other featuring landscapes in the park. The survey showed that the respondents who visit the Olympic Park preferred night leisure activities(17.1%), sports event(15.7%), exercise in the park (14.9%) and art performance(14.1%). However, they were less interested in exhibition(6.1%). Most of the tourist came to the Olympic Park to have a look at two famous landmarks; the Bird nest and the Water Cube. The result of the surveyed showed that tourist had less interested on the archery ground and the Chinese cultural theme park which is situated within the Park as well. The location of the latter two sites were farther from the main touristic area as well as less promotion on the latter two sites caused the sites to be unpopular to the tourists. Since the 2008 Olympic Games,Beijing gained an additional identity, as the new sport cultural heritage tourist city in the world. From the survey, 93.8% of the respondent who visited the Olympic Park replied that they had interested or deeply interested to the sport cultural while 6.2% showed no interest in sport culture.

4 24 Sustainable Cities Development and Environment Protection Tourists Behavior Characteristics. Normally, tourists used to collect various kinds of information in related to the destinations before go for a trip. The decision to visit a destination usually influence by their perception and knowledge about a destination. The survey result showed that tourists got information about the Olympic park through television publicity (44.1%), followed by the internet (19.1%) and world of mouth of family and friends (7.0%), which means most of tourists gained information about the Park through mass media. Therefore, the Olympic Park authority should take initiative to keep tourist update on necessary information needed. Tourist decision-making behavior was built on the perception on the destination. Due to appropriate publicity of the Olympic Games, majority of visitors got to know about the Olympic Park (92.6%) from mass media before visited the Park, but still 7.4% of the visitors did not get any information about the Olympic Park which revealed the lacking in publicity by the authority to attach potential visitor. The survey showed that most of the visitor spent 2 to 4 hours (44.4%) in the park. The proportion of tourists who stayed for one day or longer were very low, 9.0% and 5.0% respectively; while for tourists who stayed for shorter time that less than two hours accounted to 41.6%. Time factor is always an uncontrollable factor in a tourist destination [9]. Therefore, the Park authority can only improve on the quality of services and activities offered to prolong the duration of tourist stay in the Park. According to the survey, tourists who spent yuan in the Olympic Park accounted to 30.6%, followed by yuan(29.8%) and more than 500 yuan, 4.4%. This shows that tourist expenses were very little within the Park, because almost all the services provided in the Park were free of charge except for sport event. In general, the tourists consumption behavior for the Olympic Park is not obvious. The duration of stay had direct impact on the consumption behavior of the tourists [10]. The result of the survey showed positive correlation coefficient r = 0.819, which the longer the duration of stay, the more consumption will be made. Therefore, the Parks should create more activities to prolong the duration of stay of the tourist to generate more consumption. The evaluations of tourists were done with 5-point scale which for overall, they rated 4.1 points for tourism resource and facilities provided in the Park. Tourists gave high point to element such as cleanliness and tidiness, transportation, tourism logo, rest equipment etc. It shows the Olympic Park had achieved significant results in the construction and management of various infrastructures. Tourists gave lower point to the F&B and accommodation provided in the Park which means there was still more rooms for improvement for the managerial team to upgrade the facilities offered. The Park also needed to strengthen the element of entertainment to attach more consumption. Tourists gave very good (31.0%) comment to show their satisfaction on the overall presentation of the Olympic Park; 46.6% gave good comment, 21.8% though the Park was average and 0.6% said it was bad. As the result, we can concluded that in general, respondent had good impression for Beijing Olympic Park. 44.8% of the respondent came to the Park for the first time while 55.2% had visited the Park for more than two times and 28.8% had visited four times or more. From the survey, we realized the revisit rate for the Park is relatively high. There were 89.8% of the respondents expressed their willingness to recommend the Park to their family and friends. Result for Hypothesis Testing. The survey showed that the tourists visited the Park were concentrated to a significant group with characteristics as; young, age group of years old, have high school or above educational level and middle or low income group. Hypothesis H1 was supported. The tourists showed strong cultural motivation and very interested in sports cultural heritage. Hypothesis H2 was supported. Most of the visitors visit the Park for sightseeing to have a glance on the magnificent man made creation which included the Bird Nest, Water Cube and other landmark buildings and only few visitors visited the Park for other purposes such as entertainment, business meetings and etc. Therefore, hypothesis H3 was supported. The survey result showed that most of the Park visitors were low-income group which had low consumption level as well. The visitors attempt to avoid fees charging activities zone and concentrated on non-fees charging zone. Hypothesis H4 was not supported. The survey result showed that the tourist had high revisit rate and willing to recommend the Park to relatives and friends. Hypothesis H5 was supported. In addition, from the survey we identified that: there was more male tourists compared to women; the travel

5 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols motivation was high for the Park visitor in spite of their low income level; low satisfaction level for accommodations, catering and shopping facilities which provided within the Parks; the main channel to gather the information regarding the Park was through television information, therefore, other channels such as internet should be strengthened from time to time; the duration of stay for visitor to the Park was 2 to 4 hours, etc. Conclusion Attracting More Potential Source Market While Enhancing the Existing Source Market. First, design for more tourism activities. The Park authority can explore more on tourism activities for young and middle-aged tourists, such as entertainment based, participatory orientated, experiential tourism activities to meet their needs. Besides, to promote more educational tour from schools or educational institution to encourage more youngster and make the Park as the physical training ground for the students. Secondly, open up new domestic and international potential source market. For the domestic market, the integration of tourism products and sport culture are important elements to attract more local tourist while for international market, greater overseas publicities on China s Olympic heritage together with promotion of unique Beijing culture will be able to attract more international tourist. Thirdly, have an exclusive marketing plan for Olympic heritage tourism. The Park marketing and promotion department should develop an integrated plan for the promotion of the Olympic culture heritage; fully make use of the creative in advertising field and mass media; carry out all-around promotional activities regarding the Beijing Olympic heritage resources; strengthen the branding and image of Beijing Olympic heritage; extend the impact of the Olympic heritage tourism, in order to promote steady growth of tourism market. Utilizing the Olympic Element to Establish New Sports Culture Tourism Brand. First, develop exhibition and event related activities to popularize the Park and sport culture to the public. Fully utilizing the educational function in the Park compound, held exhibitions which displays information such as the history of the Olympic Games, the development of the Olympic Games, the general information on the previous Olympic Games etc, to improve visitors understanding about Olympic. Use celebrities, events, anecdotes, to create lively activities in relax and pleasant Park environment to attract more tourists. Secondly, enhance Olympic experience to increase tourist consumption. The central boulevard of the Park should be used as Olympic Sport Star Avenue, imitating the model from Hollywood Walk of Fame, to inject more Sport culture element into the Park. Besides, the Park authority should take full advantage on the beautiful ambiance of the Olympic Park to develop an ecology recreation tour. Pavement can be provided on the pedestrian walk for exercise purpose as well as beautifying the overall landscape. Development of more outdoor sport activities, such as camping, rock climbing and other extreme outdoor sports make the Park more dynamic all day long. Encouraging Integrated Sport and Culture Tourism Development. First, the Olympic Park should hook up with the function of Beijing as the capital city of China, the technology, educational and business centre for Asia region and its National Convention Centre and adjacent tourist destinations, to create an attractive package business tours for business traveler. The combination of MICE with element of vacation, entertainment, fitness and other supporting services could make the Olympic Park a high-end meeting center. Secondly, the central boulevard of the Olympic Park is a venue for varies kind of concerts, get-togethers and opera performances as well as sports venues for soft or extreme sport activities. The Olympic Park owns the ability for large-scale cultural and recreational activities as the site was once of the site for the glorious Olympic event. Thirdly, the ability of Beijing to host major sport competitions and events had been proven with the success of 2008 Olympic Games. Therefore, the Park should be fully utilized to held any international sport competitions or events to stimulate new sports events.

6 26 Sustainable Cities Development and Environment Protection Improving the Tourism Support System for Sustainable Culture Heritage Tourism Development. First, establish and improve the tourism information system in supplying accurate, comprehensive and timely information to tourists. To build an unobstructed tourism information system to provide useful information, such as festival, celebration or sport activities etc at all time. Secondly, continuous improvement on tourism infrastructure and service facilities. Affiliated facilities and services such as postage services, telecommunication system, bank institution and accommodation etc., need to strengthen it management system, improving it service levels to support and consolidate a good foundation for the tourism development within the Park. Thirdly, legalize the Park as international Olympic cultural heritage tourism. Expedite the process of laws and regulations procedures in related to the Olympic heritage protection and development, considering the documents of the International Olympic Committee on Olympic heritage, referring to the UNESCO identified of cultural heritage site doctrine and the provisions of the IOC on Olympic heritage etc, to development the Park with sustainable concepts is essential. Acknowledgements This work was financially supported by the Beijing Social Science Planning Project(09BaJG266). References [1] Chu-Mei Liu, The multidimensional and hierarchical structure of perceived quality and customer satisfaction. International Journal of Management, 22(3), pp , [2] Swanson, K. K. and Horridge, P. E., A structural model for souvenir consumption, travel activities, and tourist demographics. Journal of Travel Research, 42(5), pp , [3] Wong J. and Law R., Difference in shopping satisfaction levels: A study of tourists in Hong Kong. Tourism Management, 24(4), pp , [4] George R., Tourists perceptions of safety and security while visiting Cape Town. Tourism Management, 24(5), pp , [5] Murphy P, Pritchard M P and Smith B, The destination product and its impact on traveler perceptions. Tourism Management. 21(1), pp , [6] Huang Yanling and Huang Zhenfang, A study on the structural equation model and its application to tourist perception for agro-tourism destination. Geography research, 27 (6), pp , (In Chinese) [7] Peng Yanchun, Development strategy of the Beijing Olympic heritage tourism in the post-olympic era. Sports and Science. 32(1), pp , (In Chinese) [8] John Ap., Residents perceptions on tourism impacts. Annals of Tourism Research, 19(3), pp , [9] Zhang Weimei, Analysis of the Characteristics of Domestic Tourists Behavior in Wuling Mountain Forest Park. Journal of Hunan Institute of Engineering. 16(2), pp , (In Chinese) [10] Che Zili, Analysis of Tourists Structure and Their Behavior Characteristics of Yan an National Forest Park. Journal of Ningxia University, 29(2), pp , (In Chinese)

7 Sustainable Cities Development and Environment Protection / Research on Cultural Heritage Tourism Development Based on Tourist Perception: Taking Beijing Olympic Park of China as an Example /