An Empirical Study of Anticipated and Perceived Discrimination of Mainland Chinese Tourists in Hong Kong: The Role of Intercultural Competence

Mainland Chinese tourists constitute the largest portion of tourists in Hong Kong. As such, they are crucial to the tourist industry in Hong Kong. However, some of their dissatisfactory travel experiences do not receive adequate attention from either tourism practitioners or tourism scholars. The current study hopes to fill this research gap through an examination of the factors contributing to both anticipated and perceived discrimination of Mainland Chinese tourists. A questionnaire was distributed to 248 Mainland Chinese tourists in Hong Kong. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was performed to examine the factors causing variance in anticipated and perceived discrimination. The findings reveal that, when past discriminatory experiences of either self or friends/relatives and the number of visits were controlled for, the intercultural competence of tourists had a significant effect on anticipated and perceived discrimination. Tourists who are more interculturally competent are less likely to anticipate and perceive discrimination. Practical implications are discussed in relation to how to reduce tourists' anticipated and perceived discrimination.