Faculty of Organisation and Management BSc (Honours) Tourism Management Title File-induced tourism in Asia: A case study of Taiwanese television drama and Hong Kong adult’s viewers’ motivation to visit Taiwan Name Chan Po Kei Student No 91203295 Month Year April 2009 Sheffield Hallam University Faculty of Organisation and Management Title File-induced tourism in Asia: A case study of Taiwanese television drama and Hong Kong adult’s viewers’ motivation to visit Taiwan FULL NAME Chan Po Kei STUDENT No 91203295 Supervisor: Dr. Connie Mok In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management. Month Year April 2009 Acknowledgments I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my dissertation supervisor, Dr. Connie Mok for her guidance, patience and valuable advice given during the whole process of completing this study. I become relaxed and confident of my dissertation after she shared her self-experience and expression to me. I am pleased with the support and encouragement of my family and friends. I would like to thank Pako, Nick, Yan, Redness, Karen, William, Mayumi, Tracy and Gary. I would also like to thank every participant of the focus groups. They provided useful and valuable information and ideas for the primary research. Abstract It is believed that films or television dramas might have an impact on tourism by encouraging tourists to visit the places or attractions which were screened (Riley and Van Doren 1992, Busby and Klug 2001). Although there has been an increasing trend of tourism research about film-induced tourism, its focus was mostly on specific sites in western countries. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of Taiwanese TV drama on Hong Kong young adult viewers’ motivation to visit Taiwan. This article examines how emotion and experiences in watching Taiwanese TV dramas/series motivate viewers to visit Taiwan, and explores the influence of Taiwanese TV dramas on destination image of Taiwan as well as destination choices of tourists through the focus group interviews with viewers raging from 20 to 29 years old. A total of 16 participants were divided into two focus groups based on their experiences in visiting Taiwan. The results demonstrate that the primary pull factor of beautiful scenery portrayed in the TV dramas is usually combined with the push factor of desire to confirm the landscapes and attractions that one watched in the TV dramas. This paper concludes that Taiwanese TV dramas can be one of the sources to influence the image of Taiwan and increase the familiarity and interests of Hong Kong young adults in visiting Taiwan. Table of Contents Page Acknowledgments vi Abstract vii Table of Contents viii List of Tables x List of Abbreviations Used xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Focus of the Study 1 1.2 Background Information of Tourism Promotion in Taiwan 2 1.3 Aim and Objectives 4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Destination Image 6 2.2 Motivations for Travel to Screened Locations 6 2.3 Film-induced Tourism 8 2.4 Film-induced Tourism in Western Countries 12 2.5 Film-induced Tourism in Asian Countries 15 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design 17 3.2 Information Collection 20 3.3 Strengths and Weaknesses of the Research 21 3.4 Limitations of the Research 21 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Results 24 4.2 Discussion 45 4.2.1 Effects of Taiwanese TV Dramas on Travel Motivation.................................................. 45 4.2.2 Influence of Taiwanese TV dramas on Destination Image and Travel Decision ................................................................................................................................... 48 4.2.3 Tour Experiences and Viewing of Taiwanese TV Dramas ............................................. 49 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 50 References 53 Last Page 63 List of Tables Page Table 1 Characteristics of focus Groups 18 List of Abbreviations Used KTO Korea Tourism Organization TTB Taiwan Tourism Bureau UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Focus of the Study Film-induced tourism (which was also known as movie-induced tourism) was a growing worldwide phenomenon in recent years. It received an increased attention in the academic literature and also from the tourism operators since it could provide benefits to screened locations (Riley & Van Doren 1992). The influence of the power of film and television on consumer’s choice and preference of a travel destination was recognized by researchers through this phenomenon (Busby and Klug 2001, Iwashita 2003). New Zealand was one of the examples of film-induced tourism as the filming locations like The Lord of the Rings and The Last Samurai were promoted as the features on the Tourism New Zealand tourist website (Croy 2004). Although there was an increasing tourism research about film-induced tourism, it was mostly focused on specific sites in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand (Riley and Van Doren 1992, Riley, Baker and Van Doren 1998, Busby and Klug 2001, Beeton 2005). There was little research about the phenomenon and the filming locations in Asia. Thus, the present study hopes to observe the film-induced tourism in Asian region through a case study of Taiwanese television drama and its influence on Hong Kong young adult viewers to travel Taiwan. 1.2 Background Information of Tourism Promotion in Taiwan In Asia, Taiwan is one of the popular short-haul tourist destinations today. According to the monthly statistics over the year 2008 by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau (TTB) (2009a), there was a total of 3,845,187 visitors travelling to Taiwan from January to December. Compared with the 3,716,063 visitors for the same period in 2007, the number of visitor arrivals was increased by 129,124 or 3.47%. Japan was the first largest source market to Taiwan tourism followed by Hong Kong and Macau with 1,086,691 of the total visitor arrivals. However, the number of tourists from Japan was decreased by 6.83% against the period in 2007 while that of Hong Kong and Macau was increased by 25.89 %, which was the highest growth rate of visitor arrivals. The TTB has begun to invite the celebrities as the spokesperson/ambassador for promoting Taiwan tourism since 2004 (Taiwan Visitors Association 2009). The popular singer A-mei Chang Hui-mei was the first spokesperson to promote the country throughout the Southeast Asia region for three years. The number of visitor arrivals from the Southeast Asia was then increased from 630,000 to 760,000 from 2003 to 2006. Subsequently, another popular singer Jolin Tsai Yi-lin and a film director Nien-Jen Wu took over the position from A-mei to promote the “2008-2009 Tour Taiwan Years” campaign in the region in 2007. The number of visitor arrivals from the region was also increased by 100,000 (Taiwan Visitors Association 2009). On the other hand, the members of famous Taiwanese boy band F4 (newly known as JVKV) were appointed as the ambassadors under the “Wish to See You in Taiwan” campaign in 2007 to promote Taiwan tourism in Japan and Korea, since their first television drama Meteor Garden was very popular in those countries. During the promotion, two F4 international fans meetings were held by the TTB at the National Taiwan University Gymnasium. 5000 Japanese and Korean fans were attracted to Taiwan by each meeting and brought in over NT$ 100 million in tourist revenue. There were a total of 1,166,380 and 225,814 visitors arriving Taiwan from Japan and Korea in 2007 respectively. The number of visitor arrivals from Korea was increased by 15.06% (Taiwan Visitors Association 2009). In addition, two members of F4, Ken Chu and Vic Chou participated in a Taiwanese TV drama Wish to See You Again which was first sponsored by the TTB in order to promote eight famous tourist attractions in Taiwan. A “Wish to See You Again” Taiwan sightseeing passport has been created by the TTB (2009b) to combine the places screened in the TV drama as the travel routes. In 2008, another boy band Fahrenheit was chosen as the new ambassador to promote Taiwan tourism in Japan and Korea continuously since the TV drama Hanazakarino Kimitachihe starring Chun Wu and Jiro Wang was famous in those countries. Fahrenheit was formed by Jiro Wang, Arron Yan, Calvin Chen and Chun Wu, who made their debut also in a TV series like F4 in 2005. They were appointed to attract the Japanese and Korean tourists of different age groups to Taiwan (Taiwan Visitors Association 2009). Apart from using the tourism ambassadors, the TTB has begun to promote tourism and develop the image of Taiwan by movies or TV dramas because of the success of other countries like the United Kingdom and Korea. The latest example was the film Cape No.7 which attracted a larger number of visitors to the filming site, Hengchun (Taiwan Visitors Association 2009). 1.3 Aim and Objectives This study aims to investigate the effects of Taiwanese TV drama on Hong Kong young adult viewers’ motivation to visit Taiwan. The focus of this study is young adults in Hong Kong because the main market segment from Hong Kong and Macau to Taiwan was the travellers who aged between 20 and 29. According to the statistics by the TTB (2009a), the visitors aged 20 to 29 from Hong Kong and Macau represented 151,915 or 24.56% of the total of 618,667 in 2008, followed by the visitors aged 30-39, which was 132,877 or 21.48%. More specifically, this study aims to achieve the following objectives: 1. To examine how the Hong Kong young adult viewers are motivated to visit Taiwan by their emotion and experiences in watching Taiwanese TV drama; 2.