Spatial planning, mobilities and culture—Chinese and New Zealand student preferences for Californian travel

Itineraries are under‐researched within tourism, which is arguably strange given their potential importance as determinants of visitor expenditure distribution, and how itinerary planning may become a tool of destination management in determining which areas are most affected by visitor flows, whether positively or negatively. This exploratory study required students in New Zealand and the Peoples' Republic of China to draw maps of potential trips to the south‐west of the USA in order to assess to what degree differences might exist as to (i) preferred places to visit; (ii) durations of stay; (iii) speeds of dispersion and concentration at the points of embarkation and disembarkation (in this instance Los Angeles); and (iv) total distances travelled. Differences were indeed found, and ethnicity appeared to be the main explanatory variable for the differences. Chinese students were found to travel slightly less, not to become so dispersed overall, but were also found to have higher rates of dispersion and slower rates of concentration at the commencement and at the end of the trip. The itineraries also suggest a further triangular pattern of travel that can be added to the categories identified by Oppermann.