An Exploratory Study of Chinese Tourists on Kenya Safari Tours

In 2012, over 40,000 Chinese tourists visited Kenya. Owing to the close cooperative relationship between Kenya and China and the improvement of accessibility, the total number of Chinese visitors is expected to exceed 100,000 by 2016. This paper investigates the profile of Chinese tourists participating in safari tours in Kenya in order to understand who they are, their motivations for going on safaris, their perceptions of the safari experience, and their perception towards wildlife and conservation. The research examines whether the safari experience affects these tourists’ attitudes towards wildlife conservation, and whether such changes in perceptions can raise concern for conservation issues among tourists from China. The findings show contradictions between Chinese safari tourists’ perceptions of themselves as ecologically friendly tourists and their opinions on conservation issues and tourism behavior. This may be in part between differing conceptions of the human–wildlife relationship in (Western) ideas of sustainability and Chinese culture’s conception of the place of humans in nature.