Chinese tourists’ motivations of visiting a highly volatile destination: a means-end approach

This study examines Chinese outbound tourists’ motivations of visiting Israel, as a highly volatile destination. Employing means-end theory and its associated laddering technique, the study identified 6 means-end patterns (including 14 dominant means-end chains) to illustrate tourists’ motivations at three levels of attributes, consequences, and values. Prominent destination attributes that motivated Chinese tourists to visit Israel include the local people (Jews), local culture, history, well-known places, religions, and geographical location, which converge on three end values of life enrichment, self-esteem and achievement. The study contributes to the motivation literature by clarifying Chinese tourist motivations of visiting a highly volatile destination in a means-end value chain structure. Destination marketing implications are provided based on the findings.