The Perceptual Differences among Stakeholders in the Tourism Supply of Xi’an City, China

• Main Authors: Junsheng Liu, Yaofeng Ma
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-02-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: stakeholders; tourist supply; supply structure; perceptual differences; Xi’an City
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/2/214

The stakeholders’ perceptual evaluations of the supply structure of destination tourism play an important role in promoting the sustainable development of regional tourism. However, the research on the structural perceptions of destination tourism supply is relatively insufficient in current research on the perceptions of tourism stakeholders. This paper analyzes the perceptual differences among inbound tourists, community residents and tourism practitioners from the core and auxiliary tourism supply dimensions. After having applied the structural equation model in this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of the tourism supply of Xi’an, a famous tourist city in China, were identified. In addition, the findings of this paper are: the inbound tourists have high perceptual sensitivity over the factors of the urban core tourism supply; the community residents have high perceptual sensitivity over the auxiliary tourist supply factors; the tourism practitioners have similar perceptual sensitivity over the factors of urban core and auxiliary tourism supply. The advantageous factors involve tourist attractions, tourist shopping, tourist entertainment, hospitality environment and tourist information. Furthermore, the moderately stable supply factors of Xi’an include tourist transportation, tourist catering, tourist accommodation, marketing as well as safety and security, while the natural environment is the limiting factor. The results support sustainable development and the coordination of different stakeholders in the destinations.