Tourists’ Awareness and Liking of Outdoor Advertising

Tourism has become one of the largest and fastest growing businesses in the world over the recent decades. Total international tourist arrivals increased from 674 million in 2000 to 1,035 million in 2012 (World Tourism Organization, 2013). International tourism receipts in 2012 reached US$1,075 billion worldwide, documenting a 20% increase over 2009 (World Tourism Organization, 2013). World tourism is expected to continue growing in both number of arrivals and receipts. Comparatively speaking, tourists are relatively ready to spend as they seek food and beverages, amusement, attraction visits, and cultural experiences on each day of their stay at a destination. Their readiness to spend can make tourists an important target of advertisers (Chan & Cheng, 2012). However, due to language barrier, tourists are often uninterested in local TV and print media such as newspapers and magazines (Chan & Wong, 2012). Instead, they are more likely to be exposed to out-of-home (OOH) media. Indeed, OOH media is commonly used in locations where tourists cluster (Wilson & Till, 2008), as they try to reach mobile consumers who spend time travelling rather than staying indoors (Francese, 2003). With the fast growing development in tourism industry and the expansion of tourist’s market, there is a need to investigate the response of tourists to outdoor advertising. This study was therefore designed to compare local residents’ and tourists’ awareness, liking for and general perceptions of outdoor advertising.