Outbound groups : an analysis of business training visitors from China to Australia

Increasing number of outbound visitors from China has attracted significant research interest globally. However, very little research has concentrated on business travellers from China visiting Australia for a combination of training and sightseeing purposes. They are group travellers with unique characteristics but have not been analysed to reasonable depth. This paper presents a case study of Chinese business travellers attending training or professional development programs in Australia. The research attempts to understand the motivation factors and expectation of these travellers on the base of qualitative data collected from 2007 to 2012 in Sydney. Problems related to poor quality of tourist experience, excessive shopping time but limited choice for shops or products, insufficient knowledge of the tour guide, and limited access to experts with knowledge on both Australia and China, are explored. The paper also discusses strategies to improve the experience of business study tourists in Australian.