An exploratory study of Chinese tourists on Kenya Safari tours

Abstract

In 2012, over 40,000 Chinese tourists visited Kenya. Owing to the close cooperative relationship between Kenya and China and the improvement of accessibility, the total number of Chinese visitors is expected to exceed 100,000 by 2016. This paper investigates the profile of Chinese tourists participating in safari tours in Kenya in order to understand who they are, their motivations for going on safaris, their perceptions of the safari experience, and their perception towards wildlife and conservation. The research examines whether the safari experience affects these tourists’ attitudes towards wildlife conservation, and whether such changes in perceptions can raise concern for conservation issues among tourists from China. The findings show contradictions between Chinese safari tourists’ perceptions of themselves as ecologically friendly tourists and their opinions on conservation issues and tourism behavior. This may be in part between differing conceptions of the human–wildlife relationship in (Western) ideas of sustainability and Chinese culture’s conception of the place of humans in nature. 在2012年，超过4万名中国旅客前往肯尼亚。由于肯尼亚与中国的紧密合作关系及航空交通的改善，前往肯尼亚的中国旅客总数预计到2016年将超过10万人。本文旨在研究曾前往肯尼亚参与考察野生动物旅程的中国游客，以便了解他们的背景、旅游动机、对此体验的看法以及对野生动物保育的观念。本研究亦探讨了考察野生动物的旅游体验会否影响中国旅客对野生动物保育的态度，并在这种观念的变化下能否引起中国旅客对保育的关注。研究结果表明，这些中国旅客对自己作为生态友好的旅客及他们对保育和旅游行为的意见存在矛盾。这可能就是西方对野外生态的可持续性的思想及中国文化中人类地位的概念之不同。