An eye-tracking study of exoticism in intra-national destinations in the Greater Bay area of China

Tourists have a tendency to seek novelty, meaning that they are attracted by the foreign atmosphere or culture that they barely experience in daily-life. It thus opens tourism opportunities for countries rich in colonial background or exotic resources. While international tourists’ novelty-seeking behaviours have been well-investigated, far less attention has been paid to domestic exotic travelling experience. Hence, this paper examines how young tourists from Macau and Mainland China process the exotic/non-exotic Greater-Bay-Area landmarks by means of eye-tracking technology. Visual data, supplemented by a survey, was obtained to understand how differing exoticness affects tourists’ visit intentions. Results suggest an overwhelming attention and preference towards exotic landmarks; yet, the exotic appeal in intra-national destinations is only present in the absence of place familiarity. In practice, the findings provided important implications and directions to several stakeholders such as the Chinese government and destination marketing organizations with its help to marketing promotion.