Ideal and Tourism Affect among Mainland Chinese Tourists in Hokkaido, Japan: A Comparison between Tourists with and without Ski Experience

The purpose of this case study was to investigate, separately for Mainland Chinese tourists with and without ski experience, differences between four types of ideal and overall tourism affect (i.e., high-arousal positive [HAP], low-arousal positive [LAP], low-arousal negative [LAN], high-arousal negative [HAN]). A questionnaire survey was conducted in Japan for Mainland Chinese tourists, and 80 tourists participated in the survey. The results of dependent t-tests indicated that: (a) among tourists with ski experience, no significant differences were identified in HAP, LAP, and LAN, whereas ideal HAN was significantly greater than overall tourism HAN; and (b) among tourists without ski experience, ideal HAP and LAP were significantly lesser than overall tourism HAP and LAP, respectively, whereas ideal LAN and HAN were significantly greater than overall tourism LAN and HAN, respectively. Overall, outdoor sport activities appear to play a prominent role in understanding the discrepancy between Chinese tourists’ ideal and actual affect.