“Winning the hearts of Chinese millennial tourists is a critical focus of integrated resort businesses,” according to a Macau study
Macau Business | October 2022 | Special Report | Chinese Millenials
Annual reports from the UN World Tourism Organization and the Global Tourism Economy Research Centre headquartered in Macau tell us that today China has over 130 million outbound travellers and that it took the lead in international tourism expenditures in 2017.
Facts like these are cited in the recent paper Build It and They Will Come? The Impact of Servicescape on Chinese Millennials’ Satisfaction and Behavioral Intentions toward Integrated Resorts, where the Macau-based authors reveal that “In particular, Chinese millennials have been targeted by numerous service industries and marketers because of their significant proportion in outbound travel and growing consumption power.”
They reference a 2018 report issued by the World Tourism Cities Federation, where we learn that Chinese millennials view traveling as an essential part of their lifestyle, and they have made an average of 4.86 overseas trips in their lives; moreover, Chinese millennials are freer spenders than the older generations.
They also differ from older generations in travelling preference and style. Authentic experiences, high-tech facilities, staff service quality, hygiene and being made to feel welcome (e.g., language assistance, understandable signage and accessibility) are important considerations for Chinese millennial travellers, according to other studies cited by the paper’s authors. In addition to inter-generational differences between millennials and other cohorts, there are also cultural differences within the millennial group that affect perception of service.
“The size of the Chinese millennial market and the unique characteristics of Chinese millennials have made it an attractive market to integrated resorts” – study
According to the paper’s research team, led by Erin Yirun of the Department of Integrated Resort and Tourism Management, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau, this means that “both generational and cultural characteristics should be considered to attract Chinese millennials. In fact, the size of the Chinese millennial market and the unique characteristics of Chinese millennials have made it an attractive market to integrated resorts. Many resort marketers have endeavoured to improve their Chinese millennials’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions such as their intention to revisit and the willingness to spread word-of-mouth.”
The three researchers we follow in this story interviewed more than 400 young Chinese tourists in Macau and concluded that “interior décor, ambience, equipment, signage and symbols and facility variety are positively associated with customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions, while cleanliness and layout do not have any significant effect.”
These results reinforce conclusions obtained in previous studies.
In conclusion, Yangxi Peng, Erin Yirun Wang and Desmond Lam assert that “winning the hearts of Chinese millennial tourists is a critical focus of integrated resort businesses. Unlike older generations, Chinese millennial travellers see more value in quality, uniqueness and overall experience. Besides, a high level of satisfaction contributes to Chinese millennials’ greater intentions to revisit integrated resorts. Therefore, improving the service environment can satisfy targeted consumers and benefit the sustainable competitiveness of integrated resorts.”
Another study carried out in Macau on the same target audience, but divided between Generation X (born 1997–2012) [no!, should be 1965–1979 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276207278_LuXurY_Hotel_Loyalty_-_A_Comparison_of_Chinese_Gen_X_and_Y_Tourists_to_Macau] and Generation Y (i.e. “Millennials”, born 1981–1996), showed that “top quality rooms and services are high on the agenda of both generations, while Gen X places more weight on convenience and food and Gen Y on security.”
According to authors Fiona Yang and Virginia Lau, both from Macau Institute for Tourism Studies, “Satisfaction does not induce loyalty, whereas value fully or partially mediates the quality-loyalty relationship; and Gen X is value-centred in building loyalty, yet Gen Y exhibits both value consciousness and stronger demands for upscale quality features.”
Macao Grand Prix Museum, preferred by young people
The Macao Tourism Industry Development Master Plan Review Report, released last year, identified “young couples, white-collars, middle- and high-class families, young people of the Z generation” as the high-value target segments to be focused on and prioritized.
“In order to attract high-value target segments, the Master Plan Review Report advocated phased and long-term action plans to be pushed forward in the areas of tourism products and facilities, precision marketing, smart technology, etc.,” the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) tells Macau Business.
“In view of their characteristics and behaviour, we believe our positioning as a tourism destination is very well suited to this group, since they are adventurous, independent and interested in unique experiences, making them significantly different than earlier generations of Chinese tourists. Unlike top destinations around the world that are well known for their historic landmarks and strong cultural identity, Macau still relies on visitors to help generate word-of-mouth marketing,” adds the official bureau.
MGTO gives some examples: “We realized it is imperative to strengthen our online presence to reach out to the Mainland China audience, in addition to the official MGTO social media platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, Douyin and Xiaohongshu that are already regularly updated with the latest tourism offerings and creative content.” One of Macau’s major attractions visited by Millennials is the Macao Grand Prix (MGP) Museum. “Under MGTO’s management, the MGP museum is newly equipped with multimedia interactive game facilities and a racing scenario display to take visitors’ experience to a new level of educational fun.”
On the other hand, “Over the past two years, we have been actively collaborating with KOLs [key opinion leaders, i.e. influencers] and e-commerce platforms from the mainland to support those traditional, large-scale, in-person promotions in major cities. For instance, Food Promotion during the ‘Macao Week’ events was live broadcasted by KOLs to reach a wider audience to help attract visitors from the mainland to visit Macau.”
One more: in 2021 MGTO undertook the brand-new venture “Light up Macao Drone Gala”. “The show gained popularity,” was repeated during the Labour Day Holidays as “Light up Macao Drone Gala 2022”, and “not only garnered positive feedback from the public and visitors but also resulted in a greater flow of people and boosted the community economy.” MGTO promoted the drone show through various offline and online channels such as WeChat, Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Douyin, travel KOLs’ platforms and Mainland news websites, and it was broadcast live on MGTO’s official WeChat channel and Weibo account and on its Facebook pages “Stopover Macao” and “Experience Macao”, for audiences unable to enjoy the shows on site. “Close to 950,000 spectators viewed the shows on MGTO’s social platforms. The broadcasts garnered many positive comments and likes.”
According to data published by the DSEC, between 2019 and June of 2022 visitors aged 25–44 comprised over 40% of Macao’s total visitor arrivals. The group’s size has seen an increasing trend over the past 3 years.
According to 2021 Travel Behaviour Survey Results, almost 85 per cent of interviewees aged 25–44 expressed willingness to visit Macau once the pandemic is under control. Among those with plans for Macau, nearly 65 per cent expressed their willingness to visit Macau within 3 months (one fifth of the group intends to visit immediately).
This segment of interviewees (aged 25–44) with plans to visit Macao shows longer intended length of stay (6.5 days) and higher average daily spend (RMB4,915.10) compared with the other age segments.
