FACTORS INFLUENCING CHINESE MILLENNIALS’ TRAVEL INTENTION TO SHANGHAI POST COVID-19

Abstract

Domestic tourism is the major portion of China's tourism business, around 88% of total China travel and tourism spending stemmed from domestic travellers. It contributes significantly to supporting regional economic growth, developing local economic structures, fostering the expansion of associated sectors, boosting employment, and stimulating domestic demand. But, during the COVID-19 outbreak, the arrival of domestic tourists in China has decreased significantly which also affect the expenses of domestic tourist and by 2022 is not recovered yet from 2019, before COVID-19. This study aims to investigates the influence of travel motivation and role of social media towards the destination image for Chinese millennials traveling to Shanghai post-COVID-19. Valid samples are 242 Chinese Millennial, who had never visited Shanghai before. All data was processed using PLS-SEM (Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling) with SmartPLS 3.2.9. The results of this study demonstrate that all the independent variables (Travel Motivation and Role of Social Media) have a positive influence towards Chinese Millennials’ travel intention to Shanghai. Furthermore, destination Image as the mediating variable is proven to have a positive influence towards travel intention to Shanghai.