Fundamentals of Research Article Critique
Analysis of Chinese Travellers' Attitudes Toward Holidaying in New Zealand:
The Impact of Socio-Demographic Variables
Rebecca Caldwell 100800271
Vy Bui 100737215
George Brown College

Fundamentals of Research Article Critique
Analysis of Chinese Travellers' Attitudes Toward Holidaying in New Zealand:
The Impact of Socio-Demographic Variables For the purpose of studying research methods used in the industry of hospitality, we have chosen to critique Asad Mohsin's (2007) study of mainland Chinese holidaymakers' attitude and interest in New Zealand activities and the effect of socio-demographics on their travel. Mohsin states in his report that there is an association between a destination and emotion, ranging from positive to negative (Mohsin, 2007, 22). It is the goal of this study to examine which emotions are evoked when considering New Zealand, from whom, and for which activities. The findings of this study were factors such as relaxation and intellectual/curiosity of discovering new ideas and place, especially through encountering different cultural backgrounds, were important to Chinese seeking to travel abroad. The least important factors being activities associated with challenge ratings, such as bungy jumping and water skiing. Also, contrary to popular belief gambling in casinos was given a low rating of importance (Mohsin, 2007, 35). The process by which this information was gathered was through surveys, distributed in dense population areas. The study’s purpose is clearly outlined as “to explore the attitude of the Mainland Chinese holidaymakers, their interest in the tourism and hospitality features on New Zealand and the impact of socio-demographic variables on their travel motivation." (Mohsin, 2007, 21) The reason for wanting to study these travellers is to improve and retain the current trends attracting Mainland Chinese holidaymakers to New Zealand to continue to meet the needs of Chinese travellers. One thing the study lacks is a proper hypothesis. There has been no prediction of what the study may reveal, only the results of previous study findings. In order to arrive at his conclusion, Asad Mohsin developed a likert scale in order to measure the attractiveness of certain activities using a numerical system, numbers one through seven, to represent whether the activity is of importance to the travel to experience. An option for zero was also included due to the cultural mannerisms of the Chinese to avoid giving offence to their hosts. The zero is a way for those individuals that had not ever experienced an activity could give a non-response. The survey was first created in English then translated into Mandarin. The survey was also used in a trial to determine whether anything was left out or if there were questions that were hard to understand. Those who participated in the trial surveys were interviewed after taking the survey. Once the survey was finalized, it was administered in randomly selected major shopping centres in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. These cities were selected on basis of having the largest concentration of outbound holiday makers in China. After all data was collected, reliability of all responses was analysed using a half-split model, Keaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and the Bartletts test in order to measure adequacy and sphericity. After testing, the data was analyzed through sorting the data using mean averages and dividing it into age categories. Using this strategy helped to determine what demographic to target for marketing and what activities these individuals are most interested in. The author indicates that approval was obtained from the appropriate review boards. The study focused on the impact of socio –demographic of Chinese to make travel decision in New Zealand, what motivates Chinese travel to New Zealand, and how activities in New Zealand attract Chinese travellers. Asad Mohsin used many ways