Determinants of Chinese households' tourism consumption: Evidence from China Family Panel Studies

Abstract

Using survey data from the China Family Panel Studies project, this study explores factors influencing Chinese households' tourism consumption. The Heckman model is employed to decompose households' travel decision-making process into two stages: first deciding whether to engage in travel and tourism and then determining the level of tourism consumption. We find that sociodemographic, economic, and psychological factors shape Chinese households' tourism consumption. Our results paint a vivid picture of Chinese households as travel consumers and offer valuable insight for governmental policymaking, tourism marketing strategy design, and business organizations' development planning.