A Cross-Cultural analysis of International Tourist Flows within China’s Three International Gateway Cities – Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou

This cross-cultural study of international tourist flows (ITF) within China reinforces the literature in two respects. First, a factual ‘cultural distance’ variable, formed from cultural constructs, has been used to underpin the comparative framework in addition to commonly applied cultural proxies. This was enhanced by the use of the discrete choice approach by which the operational challenges faced when incorporating behavioural elements were satisfactorily resolved. The research findings suggest that the international gateway positions of Beijing and Shanghai have been confirmed, but that of Guangzhou is questioned. All the cultural related variables are significant, but cultural distance is more sensitive at expressing the differences in the ITF than cultural proxies. But geographical distance and demographic characteristics show no significance in the cross-cultural ITF within a destination country.