How special is special interest tourism–and how special are special interest tourists? A perspective article in a Chinese context

Abstract

Special interest tourism has emerged as a valuable niche market for tourism destinations in the past decade. However, tourism scholars have generally struggled to answer McKercher and Chan’s [2005. How special is special interest tourism? Journal of Travel Research, 44(1), 21–31] question, ‘How special is special interest tourism?’ Such ambiguity extends to the related enquiry, ‘How special are special interest tourists?’, in attempting to define special interest tourists. This perspective research letter discusses these questions in terms of Chinese outbound tourism. Based upon the reflection of previous research, the authors’ thoughts and ongoing research in this area, knowledge gaps are identified and research directions for scholars who are also interested special interest tourism are offered.