Image of Finland as a Destination for the Mainland Chinese Tourist

Abstract

China is one of the biggest countries in the world which has a population of nearly 1.4 million people. With help of a steady growth economy, the outbound tourism of China has dramatically increased. Finland as gateway for Chinese tourists to Europe has become a unique destination for them. However, Finland is still relatively unknown and mysterious for most of the Chinese tourists. The aims of this study were to examing how the destination image affects the decision making of mainland Chinese tourists and what the current image of Finland is when it comes to appealing to the mainland Chinese tourists. A quantitative approach was conducted to collecting data from Chinese tourists. The survey questionnaires were sent to three different Chinese travel agencies and 100 answers to the questionnaires were analyzed, in which Chinese tourists describe the current image of Finland and how it will appeal to their desire to visit Finland. The image of Finland for most of outbound Chinese tourists is a nice, happy, trendy, and refreshing crisp country which has a beautiful landscape. To affect the destination making of mainland Chinese tourists, Finland can depend on the current image of Finland, as well as to offering shopping, Finnish design, fashion, high-tech products, souvenirs and a tax refund service and its beautiful landscape. In the end, some suggestions were offered based on the research results to support future studies.