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FACULTAD DE EMPRESA Y GESTIÓN PÚBLICA Máster en Dirección y Planificación de Turismo The Image of China as a Tourist Destination and its Market in Spain Hao Zhang Huesca, January, 18th, 2013 The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 2 Content I Abstract...........................................................................................5 1. INTRODUCTION..........................................................................6 1.1. OBJECTIVES...............................................................................................7 1.2. STRUCTURE...............................................................................................8 1.3. METHODOLOGY........................................................................................9 2. LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................10 2.1. TOURIST DESTINATION IMAGE.........................................................10 2.2. COGNITIVE IMAGE DIMENSIONS......................................................13 2.2.1. Dimensionality........................................................................................13 2.2.2. The Image of China as Tourist Destination……………………..…...17 2.2.2.1. General Introduction of China…………...…………………………..17 2.2.2.2. Natural Resources……...………………………………………………18 2.2.2.3. Infrastructures…………...……………………………………………20 2.2.2.4. Tourist leisure and recreation…………….…………..………………22 2.2.2.5. Culture and Historical Resources………………………...…………24 2.2.2.6. Political and economic factors…………………………...………….28 2.2.2.7. Social Enviroment…………...…………………………...……...........28 3. INFLUENCE OF THE COGNITIVE IMAGE ON THE POTENTIAL TRAVELERS’ BEHAVIOR…………………….30 The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 3 3.1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................30 3.2. DETERMINANTS OF THE COGNITIVE IMAGE……………..…..…32 3.2.1. The influence of the family members and friends…………….....…..32 3.2.2. The influence of the medias………………………...…………..……...33 3.2.3. The influence of the recommendations………………………….……35 3.2.4. The influence of the personal factors………...……………………….37 3.3. CONSEQUENCES OF THE COGNITIVE IMAGE…...…..……..……39 3.3.1. Influence on the intention to go……………………………….....…...39 3.3.2. Influence on the intention to recommend………………………..…..40 4. METHODOLOGY………………..……………………..…........44 4.1. POPULATION AND SAMPLE…………..…………………………………44 4.2. VARIABLES MEASUREMENT….………………………………………..45 4.3. ANALYSES……………………………………………………………….….49 5. CONCLUSIONS............................................................................50 6. REFERENCES...............................................................................53 7. APENNDIX....................................................................................63 The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 4 Content II Figure 1 – the map of China and the political distribution Figure 2 – the Pinus taiwanensis Figure 3 – the view of River Li (Guilin) Figure 4 - Pandas Figure 5 – the net of the express highway of China Figure 6 – the Happy Valley in Shanghai Figure 7 – the night view of the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong Figure 8 – the night view of the Bund in Shanghai Figure 9 – the Tibetans Figure 10 – the race of dragon boat on the day of Duanwu Festival Figure 11 – the traditional dance of the Dai people Figure 12 – the Great Wall Figure 13 – the Potala Palace Figure 14 – the gastronomies Figure 15 - Antecedents and consequences of the cognitive image Figure 16 - Relationship between cognitive image, its antecedent factors and its consequences. Figure 17 – Measurements of the Cognitive TDI Table 1 – Dimensionality of the Destination Image Table 2-Proposed scale to measure China’s TDI The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 5 ABSTRACT The aim of this work is to explore the potential of China as a tourist destination, study the formation of the destination image of the nation and investigate how China’s destination image can influence the behavior of Spanish potential tourists. First, the variety of resources in China is reviewed, then the factors which have an influence toward the image are investigated and later, the influence of the cognitive image toward the tourists’ intentions is explored. Based on the former theories and proposed hypotheses, implications of this work are widely discussed in the conclusion. Key Words Destination image; Cognitive image; Behavioral intentions; Recommendation The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 6 1. INTRODUCTION The importance of the Tourism Destination Image (TDI) is universally acknowledged, because it affects the individual’s subjective perception, consequent behavior and destination choice. The topic of the TDI has been researched continuously in tourism study (Chon 1990, 1992; Echtner and Ritchie 1991; Stabler 1988). Hunt (1975) was one of the first authors demonstrating its importance in increasing the number of tourists visiting destinations. Today there is a general consensus about the significance of the position of the image in the process of decision making, and choice (Baloglu and McCleary 1999a; Chen and Kerstetter 1999; Goodrich 1978; Hunt 1975; Milman and Pizan 1995; Woodside and Lysonsky 1989). These most recent studies try to consider image as a concept formed by the potential tourists’ interpretation of two closely interrelated components: cognitive evaluations referring to the individual’s own knowledge and beliefs about the object (an evaluation of the perceived attributes of the object), and affective appraisals relating to an individual’s feelings towards the object (Beerli and Martin, 2004). From a theoretical point of view, it is generally agreed that the cognitive component is an antecedent of the affective component and those evaluative responses of the potential tourists stem from their knowledge of the objects (Russel and Pratt, 1980). In addition, the combination of these two factors produces an overall image relating to the positive, or negative, evaluation of the certain product. In the aspect of tourism, some authors (Baloglu and McCleary, 1999) showed that these cognitive and affective evaluations have a direct influence on the overall image. Since this work aims to analyze the perceptions of the group of people who have not visited China yet, this work will be focused on the cognitive image because this is the image which forms firstly in the mind of the potential tourists. Therefore, before a tourist visits a destination, he or she may hold a preliminary cognitive image towards such destination. And this cognitive dimension of the TDI may have an influence on a The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 7 potential tourist’s behaviors and attitudes. Thus the cognitive TDI will be the focus of this study. Although there already exist numerous researches about the TDI, its antecedent factors, and its influence on potential travelers’ decisions, these researches usually focus on a certain tourist destination (a specific zone, district or city). The aim of this work is more ambitious and it will try to understand TDI’s formation and TDI’s influences among the Spanish travelers who focus on a whole nation, China, as a tourist destination. This contributes to previous literature because: (1) very few studies has analyzed the TDI concentrating on the country level (specifically in such a big country as China), and (2) to the best of my knowledge, no study has analyzed the TDI of China in the Spanish market. General and specific objectives of this work are detailed below. 1.1. OBJECTIVES Generally speaking, the purpose of this work is to identify the formation of the TDI of China and propose a theoretical model with the most important determinants and the consequences of the cognitive image of the nation. Specifically, we can divide this general objective in several sub-objectives: 1. The first goal of this work is to identify all the dimensions that can form the TDI of China in the mind of the potential tourists. 2. The second goal is to determine the main factors that affect the formation of the TDI. Practically speaking, these antecedents can be divided in information sources (such as the influence of the family members and friends, the influence of the medias, the influence of Internet recommendations, etc.), former experience, and socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, income, education, etc.). Former experience in the destination helps to develop more precise perceptions about it. But with the absence of previous experience, the tourist can even develop an image of a given destination base on the information he or she obtains from different sources. Finally, people might also differ in their perceptions due The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 8 to their personal factors and socio-demographic characteristics. 3. The third goal is to identify how the TDI influences travelers' choices and behaviors. After the formation of the TDI, as the behaviors of the customers might be changed by it, the most important consequences should be studied. Specifically, based on the in-depth literature review undertaken, the intentions to go and the intentions to recommend a given destination are selected as potential outcomes of the TDI. Finally, it is important to know that the aim of this work is to analyze all these objectives in the Spanish market. And these objectives will be translated into several hypotheses through the revision of the literature. As China is barely known to Spain, the results of this research might help the Chinese government and tourist firms develop some specific actions to improve the TDI of China in Spain. 1.2. STRUCTURE The work will be divided into four additional sections to the introduction. In the following section, there will have a review of the literature related to the TDI. The literature has identified several dimensions that conform to the TDI. Specifically, since this work focuses on a new destination, this section helps identify the most relevant dimensions to measure the TDI and define them in the case of China. After reviewing and defining the concept of the TDI, the main determinants and consequences of the TDI of China will be proposed in the next section. To be precise, some hypotheses will be put forward based on sound reasoning from both consumers’ behavior and tourism literature. Afterwards, a methodology section will develop the measurement of the TDI of China, and explain the process that would be needed to collect data and conduct the empirical research to contrast the proposed hypotheses. Finally, the main conclusions, implications and limitations of this theoretical work will be discussed. The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 9 1.3. METHODOLOGY The methodology employed in this work has based on the review of relevant literature on the TDI and travelers’ behavior. After identifying the most important works on these topics and with the grand help of these references, it’s possible for the writer to review the concept of the TDI, depict the main elements that compose China as a destination, and propose the main determinants and the consequences of the TDI. In order to develop the work, many different references have been consulted. Specifically, these references can be structure in three blocks related to the following aspects: - The TDI (for example: A Model of Destination Image Formation (Baloglu and McCleary, 1999a/b)) - The tourism (for example: The role of destination image in tourism: A review and discussion (Chon, 1990)) - The customers’ behaviors (for example: Consumer behavior in tourism (Moutinho, 1987)) Finally, for the sake of completeness, some institutional (Law of the People's Republic of China on Control of the Entry and exit of Aliens) and general (Official web page of the CNTA) sources are used to better illustrate the situation of China. The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 16 be better. Furthermore, it’s a work before the reception, and it can be easily changed. In order to make the image of the destination better, this factor will play an important role. Besides, there is a factor so-called the Atmosphere of the Place which could be affected by the Social Environment. It includes the place with fame and reputation, the exotic place, the mystic place, the relaxing place, the attractive or interesting place and etc. Such authors as Litvin and Ling (1999) mentioned it in their work. There are many tourists, especially the youth, like the new things, such as adventures, mysteries, may attracted by those kinds of objectives. In order to enrich the content of the image, the atmosphere is indispensible. Because China is a nation which the Europeans do not know well but are interested in, as to offer a clear image of the destination, it is interesting to explore how potential tourist’s formed-image on China determine its interest in this country and, eventually, its intention to visit it and to make favorable comments about it. In order to properly conceptualize and capture China’s image, in the following section, this country will be described according to the relevant dimensions that compose the cognitive TDI and that have been mentioned above. The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 17 2.2.2. The Image of China as Tourist Destination 2.2.2.1. General Introduction of China 2 China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, is located in the East Asia, to the north of the Pacific. The terrain of western China is elevated, with the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separating China from South and Central Asia. The world's apex, Mount Everest (8,848 m), lies on the China–Nepal border, and the world's second-highest point, K2 (8,611 m), is also situated in China, on its border with Pakistan. The country's has a lowest point and also is the world's third-lowest point, Lake Ayding (−154 m), is located in the Turpan Depression. The Yangtze River, the third-longest and Yellow River, the sixth-longest in the world, have their sources in the Tibetan Plateau and continue to the eastern seaboard. It has about 18 thousand kilometers of coast, with almost 7,600 islands. It contains 4 municipalities directly under the central government, 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions and 2 Special Administrative Region. It’s a country with 56 ethnic groups. Picture from: image1.baidu.com China's climate is mainly dominated by dry seasons and wet monsoons, which lead to a pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer. And it has three characteristics: an obvious representation of the monsoon, an obvious representation of the Continental climate and the multiple type of the climate. It has 6 different types. 2 http://baike.baidu.com/view/1256.htm Figure 1 – the map of China and the political distribution The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 18 And as is mentioned in the Chapter 2.1, the image of a destination is very important. It includes many different aspects. Now I will introduce those resources that China obtains by the following aspects. 2.2.2.2. Natural Resources China has a great amount of the natural resources. It’s a very important factor which attracts a great amount of tourists. I’m presenting this factor for its great content. First of all, China has many kinds of landforms, including mountainous regions, plateaus, basins, plains, deserts and etc. There is the Five Sacred Mountains which is very famous: the Mount Tai, the Mount Heng, the Mount Hua, the Mount Heng and the Mount Song. These five mountains attract a lot of tourists to pay their visit every year. Especially the Mount Hua, the last year, its quantity of the tourists had almost breakthrough 2 million 3 . In addition, the Mount Huang is very famous, for its Pinus taiwanensis and Cloud Sea, either. Picture from: image2.baidu.com The most famous mountain in China is the Mount Everest. It’s the earth's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 meters above sea level 4 . It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The highest mountain on the earth attracts many well-experienced mountaineers as well as capable climbers. 3 http://www.weinan.gov.cn/structure/xwzx/bdyw/content_337957_1.htm 4 http://baike.baidu.com/view/2322.htm Figure 2 – the Pinus taiwanensis The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 19 Besides those mountains, China has many resources of water, rivers and lakes. And with the difference of the altitude, there are falls. With the branches, the tourist companies offer rafting, hydro speed and many kinds of activities. And there has a saying “the mountain and the water in Guilin top the world”, which describes the beautiful scenery in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. And China has a great territory of sea as well. The Bo Sea, the South Sea, the East Sea and etc. The Hainan Province has already developed a series of activities in the sea taking the advantage of surrounding by the South Sea. Picture from: image3.baidu.com Furthermore, Tibet with its Tibetan Plateau is known to all. The landscape of this part of China is totally different from the others. Because it’s more open and wide, there are much more wild animals in this zone. When we talk about the weather, as China covers a great surface, it changes from place to place. Some are dry and have sufficient hours of sunshine, such as Lhasa, San Ya; some places are wet, like the south-east part of China; some are cold, such as the northern part of China and etc. And also depends on the season, so there’s not much to say. Another great advantage of China is its flora and fauna. China has more than hundred thousand of flora and fauna and more than 400 kinds of rare species or endangered species thanks to the variety climate and great surface, which attracts a lot of people who are interested in biology to pay Figure 3 – the view of River Li (Guilin) Figure 4 - Pandas The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 20 their visit 5 . Picture from: image4.baidu.com 2.2.2.3. Infrastructure - General Infrastructure During a tour, the transportation could have a great affect on its quality. It’s one of the most important factors of the satisfactory of a trip. So this point has been selected as an introduction. China has 34 provinces, direct-controlled municipality or autonomous region. In order to facilitate the transportation between them, the government has planned a great blueprint of the net of the highways. And until the end of the year 2010, China already had a total of 74,000 kilometers of the express highway, and the total length of the highway had reached 39,840,000 kilometers. With this achievement, China occupies the world’s 2 nd place, just after the United States of America. According to the blueprint, there will be a net called “7918” connecting the whole nation with a less-than-2-hours’-distence to reach an express highway. 6 Picture from: image5.baidu.com 5 http://wenda.tianya.cn/wenda/thread?tid=23b19ccc24326f2a 6 http://baike.baidu.com/view/309173.htm Figure 5 – the net of the express highway of China The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 21 Until the end of the year 2011, the number of the airport has reached 180 (exclude those in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). And in the year of 2011, they have transported more than 6 hundred million tourists. 7 In the recent years, China is developing its tourist over the sea and the river. In order to bring more tourists to travel to China, some famous ships which in the aim to spend a vacation on it begin to establish its cooperation with some big ports of China. - Tourist Infrastructure With the development of the economy, China has arrived at a high level of the hotels, except Taiwan, China has 660 five-star hotels and distributed in all provincial administrative area. 8 Other types of stays also exist all over the country. As the gastronomy is an advantage in the TDI of China, restaurants can be seen everywhere in the cities, towns, points of views, etc. When we go to the tourists’ destinations, normally there are information centers in the scenery zones. It mignt be hard to find them in some cities, but tourists can look for the police or civil guards all around the city instead. 7 http://www.caac.gov.cn/I1/K3/201203/t20120321_47038.html 8 http://forum.home.news.cn/thread/99397611/1.html The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 22 2.2.2.4. Tourist leisure and recreation Besides the planned itinerary, the portentous tourists are always interested in other entertainments, such as the theme parks, the water parks in summer, the adventure activities, the places that they can play in the nights, the casinos and the shopping. And as a country with a great volume of commercials, it’s an advantage of the image of the nation. With the increase of the volume of the foreign tourists, China is becoming more and more concerned about its development. A lot of cities in China had built or begin to build theme parks and water parks with bigger facilities and greater surface. And it’s said that the world’s biggest Disneyland will be constructed in Shanghai. Until now, China has already had more than 10 world-classed amusement grounds. Picture from: image6.baidu.com Then, when we come to the night life, China has a lot of activities, either. Though China doesn’t have a culture of the bars as the foreign countries, there are still things one can do during the nights. Firstly, the most famous sight point in the night in China is in Hong Kong. The tourists can travel over the sea to have a view of the Victoria Harbor on a ferryboat in a city with its lights turned on all night. Or they can have a great tour of the local gastronomy in those narrow streets. Figure 6 – the Happy Valley in Shanghai Figure 7 – the night view of the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 23 Not only in Hong Kong, but also in Shanghai, the tourists can have a nice trip over the Huangpu River in the ferryboat, to see the night view of the Bund. To the west of this stretch of the road stand some 52 buildings of various Western classical and modern styles which are the main feature of the Bund, to the east, stand a lot of skyscrapers, such as the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the Jin Mao Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Center and etc. 9 Picture from: image7.baidu.com image8.baidu.com Besides the night tours, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province and Yangshuo, Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have two shows based on the resources of the West Lake and the Li River. The performance of the West Lake named “Impression West Lake”. And the one of the Li River named “Impression Liu Sanjie”. What’s more, in Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province), there has several famous bars. And in Shanghai, there are more popular bars for the reason of the fame of the city. As there are much more foreigners, the bars in Shanghai are also better than them in any other city. 9 http://baike.baidu.com/view/5181.htm Figure 8 – the night view of the Bund in Shanghai The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 24 2.2.2.5. Culture and Historical Resources Once again, it is obvious that the 5000-year-long history had left China a great volume of historical resources. Beijing and Xi’an are the two most important cities according to their time being a capital city of a dynasty. As a result, many historic buildings are located in these cities. In Beijing, there are the Great Wall (built in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty), the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Palace Museum and etc. It’s easy to say, no one could miss these places for their being magnificent. Picture from: http://pic18.nipic.com/20120115/8121700_020310230000_2.jpg In Xi’an, there are the Ancient Chang’An County City, the so-called “the Eighth Wonder of the World”—the Qin Shi Huang’s Buried Sculpture Legion, 72 emperors’ mausoleum, the Wall of the Xi’an city and etc. What’s more, the Baima Temple, the Lingyin Temple, the Shaolin Temple, the Tashilhunpo Monastery, are the most famous temples of China. And the Potala Palace, which is located in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, is also very famous to the world. And the Mogao Caves, also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, along with the Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, are the three famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. 10 Picture from: image13.baidu.com 10 http://baike.baidu.com/view/1663.htm Figure 12 – the Great Wall Figure 13 – the Potala Palace The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 25 At the end of the year 2011, China already had more than 25 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Except the Great Wall and some most famous ones, there also have the Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples (Chengde), the Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains, the Ancient city of Pingyao, the Classical Gardens of Suzhou and etc. 11 Furthermore, China has its own religion. The most famous ones are the Buddhism and the Taoism. Buddhism 12 is a religion and philosophy indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as the Buddha. Taoism 13 is a philosophy and religious tradition that emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao. And the theories of yin-yang and the Five Phases are becoming more and more popular to the public. Within the cultural factors, two outstanding aspects should be highlighted in the following paragraphs since they are related to specific and prominent features of China’s cultural resources. These have to do with ethical (i.e. local festivals and tribal traditions) and gastronomic (i.e. diverse and ancient cooking traditions) resources. - Ethical Resources With the 5000-year-long history and 56 races, China has a great quantity of different kind of culture. Almost every race has its own culture. As a result, there have appeared many kinds of local festivals, local customs and local forms of performances. First of all, it has more than 360 kinds of traditional Chinese theatre. The most famous one is the Peking Opera. It combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. There also exist the Yue Opera, the Shangdong Kuaishu, the Huai Opera 11 http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/2990508.html 12 http://baike.baidu.com/view/4696.htm 13 http://baike.baidu.com/view/6683.htm The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 32 The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 33 3.2 DETERMINANTS OF THE COGNITIVE IMAGE 3.2.1 The influence of family members and friends As we lived in a world with a complex relationship, the most of the tourist destinations which we knew were said by our own ways, such as the family members, the friends, the colleagues, even sometimes by the passers-by ( Gartner, 1993) . When there’s a get-together, the members may talk about the trips they have made. Then they may have an effect on the potential tourists. And some families may have a custom of having a travel every year; they might have more influence to their family and their friends. This is almost the same in the case of the friends. Friends’ words may have a great influence on the potential tourist. According to Gartner (1993), family members and the friends are one of the nine secondary sources of information that exist, they thus may give information about the destination either after request or voluntarily. So, the decision to go or not could be influenced greatly by these kind of individuals. When the potential tourist heard that the certain destination was very well, they will produce a strong motion to have a tour in that certain place. And he/she might encourage the people around to go together. In this way, they are improving the image of the certain destination. But obviously, if the tourist which has been to the certain destination brings out a negative impression of the certain place, by the reason of the bad service, uncomforted room, unreasonable price or any other reason, although the potential ones have decided to go, there will be a negative emotion during the trip (Gartner, 1993). And as a result, he/she can’t enjoy the tour, and also bring a negative evaluation back. And this will turn into a vicious circle. In Gunn’s work (Gunn, 1972), he has already noticed the importance of the family members and the friends. That’s the so-called “organic component”. The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 34 In brief, this factor is a very important one due to its great effect on the image of the tourist destination. And that bring forward the first hypothesis. H1: The recommendations from family members and friends will determine the cognitive image of the tourist destination. 3.2.2 The influence of the medias As we all know, the Internet is becoming more and more popular and more and more important, either, in human’s life. Moreover, news coverage and media can provide substantial information about a place and are likely to have high credibility and market penetration without the perceived bias of promotional material (Murphy, 1999; Schneider and Sonmez, 1999). Gartner (1993) also argues that ‘induced images’ such as brochures, are the least credible image formation agents. As we have mentioned before, these evaluations and comments in the medias can have a great effect in the tourist memory, and even can affect the quality of the whole trip. In the same way, when the potential tourists have read something about his ideal destination, it makes sense. For example, the viewpoints mentioned in the tourist guides, even those restaurants, will receive a bigger volume of tourists than those are not. Or when there is a heavy accident in the certain destination, such as earthquakes, car accident, accidents of security, could greatly affect the decision of a certain individual negatively. 20 Thus, when a destination becomes more and more popular, the Medias will look for the reason that makes the destination famous. In this way, the Medias will do a research favoring the destination. And after its report, the destination may benefit from it, and receive a bigger number of tourists. 20 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42154541/ns/travel-news/t/japans-earthquake-radiation-t hreats-take-toll-tourism/ The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 35 A potential tourist also can know about a destination through the movies. A great amount of researches have been done over the affection of the films toward the tourist destination (Beeton, 2001; Chan, 2007; Connell, 2005a, 2005b; Hudson and Ritchie, 2006a, 2006b; Iwashita, 2006; Kim, Agrusa, Lee, and Chon, 2007; OlsbergjSPI, 2007; O’Neill, Butts, and Busby, 2005; Riley, Baker, and Van Doren, 1998; Tooke and Baker, 1996). According to them, the film tourism is an influence very important to the potential tourist. They estimate the tourists to travel to the cities or nations in the films. Such as the movie “Mission Impossible”, in which some scenery was taken in Shanghai. The beautiful scenery gave the audience a great impression, which did lead the potential tourists to look for the real view, which has brought them to Shanghai, and then China. According to the works of Beeton and Mintel (Beeton, 2005; Mintel, 2003), the screens do effect on visitor numbers and to film-related destinations. Besides, through the Medias, the potential travelers can know the actions or tendencies of the destination’s government, which also may influence the image of the destination. For example, many Chinese cities are developing the direct-flight projects 21 , or they are facilitating the entry of the aliens based on the new policies of the Chinese government. So there exists an increase of the volume of foreign tourists in the recent years according to some statistic reports. 22 Besides the ways through the Internet and the newspapers or magazines, the advertisements of the agencies are also affective (Dolores, Miguel and J. Alberto, 2008). Tour operators and travel agents have been treated as formal sources (Goodall, 1988), formal interpersonal sources (Hsiesh and O'Leary, 1993), external formal sources (Gitelson and Crompton, 1983), commercial sources (Mill and Morrison, 1985) and professional sources (Baloglu, 1997a). Travel intermediaries such as tour operators and travel agents can be considered as a formal as well as social (personal) information source due to their promotional and consultative efforts. In that respect, they contribute to formation of induced images of the travelers in the active information search process (Gartner, 1993; Gartner and Bachri, 1994). Particularly, when we’re talking about the 21 http://zj.sina.com.cn/finance/news/consumer/31/2012/0328/15125.html 22 http://wenku.baidu.com/view/02b369d85022aaea998f0f02.html The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 36 international destinations, the role of travel intermediaries in promoting and creating images of the tourist destinations raises because the international travelers are more willing to use travel intermediaries during their destination decision. Therefore, the images held by travel intermediaries about a destination are equally important as those held by the travelers. “As noted by McLellan and Foushee (1983), TDIs influence travel intermediaries such as tour operators as well as their clients. Tourist destinations aim their partial marketing efforts at travel intermediaries which, in turn, project an image to the general population and their clients (Bitner and Booms, 1982)” (Seyhmus Baloglu, Mehmet Mangaloglu(1999)). Thus, the following hypotheses are progressed: H2: The evaluation of the Medias (television, radio, newspapers, books (travel guides), magazines) will determine the image of the destination. H3: The news or notices given out by the Chinese government will determine the image of the destination. H4: The programs or movies about the certain destination will determine the image of the destination. H5: The tour operators will determine the image of the destination. 3.2.3 The influence of the Internet recommendations Once a tourist has had a trip to a certain destination, he or she will certainly make a comment about his/her experience to the people around him. That means, as aforementioned, the certain tourist’s family members and friends will receive messages from a relative or a friend and will hold a new image of such certain destination. Similarly, he/she may also write his trip in his/her blog, in his/her Facebook or in those tour webs. Some works have confirmed that the Internet has recently become another important source of tourism destination information (Guttentag, 2010; Pan and Fesenmaier, 2006; Steen Jacobsen and Munar, 2012). With this, we come to our focus—the recommendation. In Frias’ work (2006), the Internet was compared to the The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 37 travel agencies in order to evaluate their influence. And at the end, it was proved the influence is moderated by the degree of the tourist’s message involvement and Internet experience, so Internet recommendations may also affect tourists’ perceptions and behaviors. In other words, the Internet has drastically transformed the distribution and marketing of tourism products (Buhalis and Spada, 2000), and information consumption patterns have been reshaped. If the tourist had received a great experience of the trip, he might recommend the place to other people he knows or not, in this way, the image of the destination becomes better, as been commented positively. And for sure, it will attract more people. In turn, unfortunately, if the tourist gives out a negative evaluation, the image of this certain destination becomes worse. This may cause a loss of tourists. (Vermeulen and Seegers, 2009) As some tourists are recommending the destination in every means, by mouth, through the Internet, which is becoming a prominent medium in tourism marketing (O’Connor and Murphy, 2004; Oh, Kim, and Shin, 2004) and so on, the people who notice these evaluations will receive a message through these words, positive or negative. This will change the existed image of the certain destination, to a better or worse one correspondingly. For example, the number of tourists in the Great Wall is always very big and according to the evaluations on the Internet, the Great Wall has always had a positive rate. Therefore, some of these tourists may have been attracted by the positive online rating. . 23 Furthermore, not only the recommendation will affect the TDI, but also the latter will affect on the former, this effect will be introduced in chapter 3.3. Now, a new hypothesis can be put forward: H6: The recommendations from internet will determine the image of the destination. 23 http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g294212-d325811-Reviews-Great_Wa ll_at_Mutianyu-Beijing.html The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 38 3.2.4 The influence of the personal factors Besides the factors of family, Medias, an individual’s personal factors also affect the formation of an image, “as Um and Crompton (1990) state, beliefs about the attributes of a destination are formed by individuals being exposed to external stimuli, but the nature of those beliefs will vary depending on the internal factors of the individuals.” (Beerli, 2004) Men may like the adventures and the exciting things more than women; they might have a better impression on those destinations with more activities. Women may like doing shopping, so the quantity of commercial centers a destination has may totally change the point of view of those tourists. The elders like culture more than activities, the factor of culture and history may attract them to have a tour. And the income of a family also determined the distance and the length of a trip (Xie and Bao, 2006). Everything that relates to a given tourist may affect the image of a certain destination. Most of the process of the decision-making for choosing the destination (Stabler, 1988; Um and Crompton, 1990; and Woodside and Lysonsky, 1989) show that the personal characteristics, such as gender, age, incoming, and education, even social class, are internal factors that affects perceptions of places. And several authors (Baloglu, 1997; Baloglu and McCleary, 1999a; Calantone, Di Benetton, Hakam and Bojanic, 1989; Chen and Kerstetter, 1999; Stern and Krakover, 1993; and Walmsley and Jenkins, 1993) have found some differences in the image depending on gender, age, level of education, occupation, income and etc. Furthermore, the former experience can affect the image of the destination as well. As Schreyer, Lime and Williams (1984) suggested, present situations are usually taken for comparison with the past experiences, because of the connection between information coming from past experiences and the subjective interpretation of a leisure tour. From the tourist’s point of view, the past experience may be more important than information obtained from external sources (Mazursky 1989). The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 39 For example, results from a previous survey about a touristic route in Huesca 24 (Aragon, Spain) with culture, sports and gastronomy, show that elder people like cultural tours more than sport tours. As well, with more annual income, people are concerned more in the quality of the stay during the trip. With less annual income, people are more sensible to the prices and many other differences between consumers depending on personal characteristics were obtained. To sum up, tourist destination image might change depending on the characteristic of the potential tourist. As a result, the following hypotheses are proposed: H7: The gender of the potential tourist will determine the image of the destination. H8: The age of the potential tourist will determine the image of the destination. H9: The income of the potential tourist will determine the image of the destination. H10: The level of education of the potential tourist will determine the image of the destination. H11: the former experience of the potential tourist will determine the image of the destination. 24 The survey was done by Ramon, Carlos, Wei and Hao for a class of “Creation of a tourist product” of the Master in direction of planning and management of tourism. It’s called “RUTA POR LOS CASTILLOS DE LOS MALLOS--Senderismo, BTT, Cultura y Gastronomía”. The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 40 3.3 CONSECUENCES OF THE COGNITIVE IMAGE 3.3.1 Toward the intention to go The image of a tourist destination is important because it can affect in an individual’s attitude and intention whether to go or not to go to a certain place. The intention here also means the degree of the interest in the certain destination of the potential tourist. Travelers’ intentions may be the result of their perceptions from previous travel experiences (Horng, Liu, Chou and Tsai, 2012). However, tourists’ behavior is also conditioned by their image of the destination (Beerli and Martin, 2004a). When the potential tourist gets a positive image of the destination by every means, such as by family, by friends, through the Internet and etc., he may have an intention to go. On the contrary, of course, he/she will reduce his/her interest and wish. That means, the TDI among the potential tourists is considered as a basic and principal role (Horng, Liu, Chou and Tsai, 2012). In their work, Horng, Liu, Chou and Tsai have hypothesized that the relationship between TDI and travel intentions is positive, and better TDI will positively associate with tourist travel intentions. And Yoon and Uysal (2005) hypothesized that tourists may feel loyalty toward a particular destination and may express an intention to visit the destination, either. Nevertheless, more authors proved that destinations with stronger positive TDIs have a higher probability of being included in the tourist’s selection process, or being chosen in their plan (Alhemoud and Armstrong, 1996; Echtner and Ritchie, 1991; Johnson and Thomas, 1992; Telisman- Kosuta, 1989). Obviously, the intention occupies an important part in the individual’s decision, the more intention one has, the more possible he would go for a trip. As Lee et al. (2005) said, individuals having a favorable TDI would perceive their on-site experiences (i.e. trip quality) positively, which in turn would lead to greater satisfaction levels and The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 41 behavioral intention (intention to go). At the same time, the study of Nicoletta and Servidio (2012) confirmed that the tourist image affects the intention to go to the destination of the potential tourist. Some studies showed that the influence of the TDI begins at the stage of choosing the tourism destination (Baloglu and McCleary, 1999a, 1999b; Johnson and Thomas, 1992). Not only the aforementioned researches, but also other authors have observed the influence of the existed TDI on the choice of the destination in decision-making models (Baloglu, 1999; Crompton and Ankomah, 1993; Gartner, 1989; Goodall, 1988; Kent, 1990; Mathieson and Wall, 1982; Moutinho, 1987; Schmoll, 1977; Stabler, 1990). Based on all these comments, the following hypothesis will be related with the image of the destination and its effect toward the intention to go to the destination. H12: The better/worse the image of the destination is, the more/less intention to go to the destination the tourist has. 3.3.2 Toward the intention to recommend After knowing about China, the potential tourists may form a more complete image in their mind. After that, he/she forms an intention to recommend the destination. In this work, that means when they are talking about the potential destination for the next tour, they may recommend China to others (Choong-Ki Lee, Yong-Ki Lee and BongKoo Lee, 2005). There is a general agreement that the image affects the future behavior of consumers among researchers (Bigne et al., 2001; de Ruyter et al., 1996; Chen and Gursoy, 2001; Osman, 1993; Prendergast and Man, 2002). In the very beginning, the variable ‘intention to recommend it’ has been used as indicator of consumer behavior (Boulding, Kalra, Staelin and Zeithaml, 1993; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml, 1991), then some other studies focus on the intention to recommend or positive word of mouth communication (de Ruyter, Wetzels and Bloemer, 1996; Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman, 1996), and others have argued that the TDI can The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 48 Table 2-Proposed scale to measure China’s TDI Dimensions Items Source Natural Resources 1. China has beautiful scenery and natural attractions. 2. China is unpolluted and has an unspoiled environment. 3. China has attractive cities and towns. 4. China has plenty beaches and sun. 5. China has a good climate. Litvin and Ling (2001) Baloglu and Mangaloglu (1999); etc. Infrastructure 1. China has commercial infrastructures. 2. Roads, airports and ports have a great quality in China. 3. Several parking is available downtown in China. 4. It’s easy to access to the destination in China. 5. China has plenty of hotels and self-catering accommodations. 6. China has sufficient Tourist centers. 7. China has sufficient Restaurants. Chia and Qub (2006) Martin Oppermann (1996) Luque, del Barrio, Ibáñez and Rodríguez (2011); etc. Leisure and Recreation 1. China has good nightlife and entertainment. 2. China has sufficient theme parks. 3. China has plenty sports activities. 4. China has sufficient shopping and malls. Litvin and Ling (1999) Prebensen (2005); etc. The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 49 Dimensions Items Source Culture, History and Art 1. China has a different culture. 2. China is a nation with cultural attractiveness. 3. China has monumental diversity. 4. China has its own folklore. 5. China has great amount of ethnic resources. 6. China is a place where good quality local gastronomy can be tasted. Royo (2009) Alhemoud and Armstrong (1996); etc. Politics and Economies 1. China has economic development. 2. China has political stability. 3. China has high living standards. 4. China is a place without terrorist attacks. 5. China has a low price level. Nina K. P.(2006) Beerli and Martin (2004); etc. Social Environment 1. China offers a good quality of Service. 2. China is a restful/relaxing place. 3. China has interesting and friendly people. 4. China offers sufficient personal safety. 5. Chinese people are friendly toward the tourists. 6. China has a great develop in the foreign-language management. Royo (2009) Beerli and Martin (2004); etc. Note: The italic represents an ad-hoc item (own elaboration) Part 2 will be focused on the factors which affect the TDI. For example, according to the potential tourists, which will be the most important factors? The Family? The Internet? The movies? The level of education? Etc. Part 3 will be focused on the consequences of TDI: intention to go and intention to recommend. Items included in part 2 and part 3 would be evaluated with 7 point Likert scales adapted from previous The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 50 works. Part 4 will focus on the personal information such as age, gender, level of education, annual income, the potential tourists’ origin and etc. 4.3 ANALYSES After doing the survey, all the questionnaires would be collected. The program SPSS would be used to analyze the collected data. Taking into account the variables used in the investigation, data would be analyzed with correlations (when analyzing two interval scales), mean differences (when analyzing a dichotomous variable and an interval scale) ANOVAs (when analyzing an ordinal or nominal variable and an interval scale), etc. When analyzing the data with correlation, the relationship between two scales can be known. Such as the relationship between the total tourist TDI (score from 1 to 7) and the intention to go (score from 1 to 7), or the one between the quality of the view of the destination (score from 1 to 7) and the intention to recommend (score from 1 to 7), etc. When analyzing the data with mean differences, the relationship between a nominal question with two answers only and a scale can be know. Such as the relationship between gender and the quality of the gastronomy resources (score from 1 to 7), and etc. When analyzing the data with ANOVAs, the relationship between an ordinal question with more than two answers and a scale can be know. Such as the relationship between the age (18-35, 36-50, 51-65 and more than 66) and the interest in the cultural tour (score from 1 to 7), or the one between the annual income of the interviewee (less than 2000, 2001-5000, 5001-10000 and more than 10000) and the intention to go (score from 1 to 7), etc. The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 51 5. Conclusions As it is mentioned before, China, as a developing country which is more open every time and owned a very great amount of touristic resources, attracts thousands of tourists with different aims. For this reason, understanding the cognitive image of China is especially relevant. It’s the first-hand information the tourists can obtain and can leave an impression to the tourists. Specifically, this study presented three specific objectives: to explore China’s cognitive TDI dimensionality; to identify the main factors that affect the formation of the TDI; and to study how the TDI influences travelers' choices and behaviors. As regards to the first objective, when we come to an image of a touristic destination, the TDI, there are a lot of conditions which can influent it. In the case of China, six dimensions have been identified as prominent dimensions of the cognitive TDI. These are natural resources; infrastructures (generally and those for the tourists); leisure and recreation; culture, history and art (highlighting the ethnic resources and the gastronomy); politics and economy and social environment. Between them, based on a wide literature review, the family members, the friends, the Medias, the politics, the TV programs and movies, the recommendations from the Internet, and the personal factors (such as age, gender, level of incomes, level of educations and former experience) have been identified as key determinants affecting TDI’s formations. Combining with their own characteristics, the potential tourists firstly form a TDI in their mind. After the certain TDI is formed, it will bring to some consequences, which can be explicated to the intention to go to the destination and the intention to recommend the destinations to others. Therefore, the three objectives have been confirmed from a theoretical perspective. Unfortunately, with the limit of time, the proposed hypotheses cannot be confirmed empirically. But if I did the work practically, results may arise several implications for practice. First, it would be possible to evaluate which dimension of cognitive TDI is the The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 52 most relevant one in consumers mind. This would help the Chinese government and tourist firms to highlight the aspects related to relevant dimensions and to catch the signal of the tourism and follow the tendency, make it a key point to develop, to popularize. For example, if the cultural dimension appears to be the most important one, it would be a good idea to design a touristic route including the most historic cities such as Beijing or Xi’an and develop a promotional campaign to popularize these places, so we can give tourists a product that meets their needs and demands. Secondly, results may help determine which are the most relevant information sources affecting the TDI. This would help managers in the promotional campaign of China. In other words, if Internet recommendations affect a lot the TDI of China, it would be a good idea to manage the brand of China in the social media. We might take the advantage of using the gradually mature resources of the Internet. As well, if travel intermediaries appear to be very relevant, it would be useful to give them the proper information about China so that they could be able to transmit this information to the potential tourist later. These are just two examples of how results may help the development of promotional campaigns about China. Moreover, results from a practical study would help us to know which kind of tourist is the most interested in China: as an example, they could be the ones between 36 and 50 with a medium-high level education and a medium annual incoming. In other words, it could be possible to conduct market segmentation, see what part of the image is more important for each segment of tourists, and offer them touristic products adapted to their specific requirements. Finally, and most important, results from the empirical study would serve to confirm the effect of cognitive TDI on tourist behavioral intentions. This is the most important part, because if TDI has an effect on behavior, the previous actions proposed would be very effective. At the end, I am strongly looking forward to put the research into action because I would have the chance to confirm all the hypotheses in this work with the data collected and propose interesting managerial implications. However, this work would be still open as it is possible to widen the scope of the investigation with future research lines. The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 53 For example, it would be interesting to analyze the cognitive image of the tourists after visiting China, the affective image after their visit, or how the Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) affect the TDI. The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 54 6. References Alhemoud, A.M. and Armstrong, E.G. (1996). “Image of tourism attractions in Kuwait”. Journal of Travel Research, Spring, 76–80 Anand, P, Holbrook, M and Stephens, D (1988). “The Formation of Affective Judgments: The Cognitive–Affective Model versus the Independence Hypothesis”. Journal of Consumer Research, 15 (1988), pp. 386–391 Ashworth, G. and Goodall, B. (1988). “Tourist images: Marketing considerations”. In B. Goodall, G. and Ashworth (Eds.), Marketing in the tourism industry. The promotion of destination regions, Croom Helm, London (1988), pp. 213–238. 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Apenndix APENNDIX I Law of the People's Republic of China on Control of the Entry and exit of Aliens Contents Chapter I General Provisions Chapter II Entry into the Country Chapter III Residence Chapter IV Travel Chapter V Exit from the Country Chapter VI Administrative Organs Chapter VII Penalties Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 This Law is formulated with a view to safeguarding the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China, maintaining its security and public order and facilitating international exchange. This Law is applicable to aliens entering, leaving and transiting the territory of the People's Republic of China and to those residing and travelling in China. Article 2 Aliens must obtain the permission of the competent authorities of the Chinese Government in order to enter, transit or reside in China. Article 3 The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 65 For entry, exit and transit, aliens must pass through ports open to aliens or other designated ports and must be subject to inspection by the frontier inspection offices. For entry, exit and transit, foreign-owned means of transport must pass through ports open to aliens or other designated ports and must be subject to inspection and supervision by the frontier inspection offices. Article 4 The Chinese Government shall protect the lawful rights and interests of aliens on Chinese territory. Freedom of the person of aliens is inviolable. No alien may be arrested except with the approval or by decision of a people's procuratorate or by decision of a people's court, and arrest must be made by a public security organ or state security organ. Article 5 Aliens in China must abide by Chinese laws and may not endanger the state security of China, harm public interests or disrupt public order. Chapter II Entry into the Country Article 6 For entry into China, aliens shall apply for visas from Chinese diplomatic missions, consular offices or other resident agencies abroad authorized byhe Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In specific situations aliens may, in compliance with the provisions of the State Council, apply for visas to visa-granting offices at ports designated by the competent authorities of the Chinese Government. The entry of nationals from countries having visa agreements with the Chinese Government shall be handled in accordance with those agreements. In cases where another country has special provisions for Chinese citizens entering and transiting that country, the competent authorities of the Chinese Government may adopt reciprocal measures contingent on the circumstances. Visas are not required for aliens in immediate transit on connected international flights who hold passenger tickets and stay for no more than 24 hours in China entirely within airport boundaries. Anyone desiring to leave the airport temporarily must obtain permission from the frontier inspection office. The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 66 Article 7 When applying for various kinds of visas, aliens shall present valid passports and, if necessary, provide pertinent evidence. Article 8 Aliens who have been invited or hired to work in China shall, when applying for visas, produce evidence of the invitation or employment. Article 9 Aliens desiring to reside permanently in China shall, when applying for visas, present status-of-residence identification forms. Applicants may obtain such forms from public security organs at the place where they intend to reside. Article 10 The competent authorities of the Chinese Government shall issue appropriate visas to aliens according to the purposes stated in their entry applications. Article 11 When an aircraft or a vessel navigating international routes arrives at a Chinese port, the captain or his agent must submit a passenger name list to the frontier inspection office; a foreign aircraft or vessel must also provide a name list of its crew members. Article 12 Aliens who are considered a possible threat to China's state security and public order shall not be permitted to enter China. Chapter III Residence Article 13 For residence in China, aliens must possess identification papers or residence certificates issued by the competent authorizes of the Chinese Government. The term of validity of identification papers or residence certificates shall be determined according to the purposes of entry. Aliens residing in China shall submit their certificates to the local public security organs for examination within the prescribed period of time. Article 14 Aliens who, in compliance with Chinese laws, find it necessary to establish prolonged The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 67 residence in China for the purpose of investing in China or engaging in cooperative projects with Chinese enterprises or institutions in the economic, scientific, technological and cultural fields, or for other purposes, are eligible for prolonged or permanent residence in China upon approval by the competent authorities of the Chinese Government. Article 15 Aliens who seek asylum for political reasons shall be permitted to reside in China upon approval by the competent authorities of the Chinese Government. Article 16 Aliens who fail to abide by Chinese laws may have their period of stay in China curtailed or their status of residence in China annulled by the competent authorities of the Chinese Government. Article 17 For a temporary overnight stay in China, aliens shall complete registration procedures pursuant to the relevant provisions. Article 18 Aliens holding residence certificates who wish to change their place of residence in China must complete removal formalities pursuant to the relevant provisions. Article 19 Aliens who have not acquired residence certificates or who are on a study program in China may not seek employment in China without permission of the competent authorities of the Chinese Government. Chapter IV Travel Article 20 Aliens who hold valid visas or residence certificates may travel to places open to aliens as designated by the Chinese Government. Article 21 Aliens desiring to travel to places closed to aliens must apply to local public security organs for travel permits. The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 68 Chapter V Exit from the Country Article 22 For exit from China, aliens shall present their valid passports or other valid certificates. Article 23 Aliens belonging to any of the following categories shall not be allowed to leave China: (1) defendants in criminal cases or criminal suspects confirmed by a public security organ, a people's procuratorate or a people's court; (2) persons who, as notified by a people's court, shall be denied exit owing to involvement in unresolved civil cases; and (3) persons who have committed other acts in violation of Chinese law who have not been dealt with and against whom the competent authorities consider it necessary to institute prosecution. Article 24 Frontier inspection offices shall have the power to stop aliens belonging to any of the following categories from leaving the country and to deal with them according to law: (1) Holders of invalid exit certificates; (2) Holders of exit certificates other than their own; and (3) Holders of forged or altered exit certificates. Chapter VI Administrative Organs Article 25 China's diplomatic missions, consular offices and other resident agencies abroad authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall be the Chinese Government's agencies abroad to handle aliens' applications for entry and transit. The Ministry of Public Security, its authorized local public security organs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its authorized local foreign affairs departments shall be the Chinese Government's agencies in China to handle aliens' applications for entry, transit, residence and travel. Article 26 The authorities handling aliens' applications for entry, transit, residence and travel shall The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 69 have the power to refuse to issue visas and certificates or to cancel visas and certificates already issued or declare them invalid. The Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may, when necessary, alter decisions made by their respectively authorized agencies. Article 27 An alien who enters or resides in China illegally may be detained for examination or be subjected to residential surveillance or deportation by a public security organ at or above the county level. Article 28 While performing their duties, foreign affairs police of the public security organs at or above the county level shall have the power to examine the passports and other certificates of aliens. When conducting such examinations, the foreign affairs police shall produce their own service certificates, and relevant organizations or individuals shall have the duty to offer them assistance. Chapter VII Penalties Article 29 If a person, in violation of the provisions of this Law, enters or leaves China illegally, establishes illegal residence or makes an illegal stopover in China, travels to places closed to aliens without a valid travel document, forges or alters an entry or exit certificate, uses another person's certificate as his own or transfers his certificate, he may be penalized by a public security organ at or above the county level with a warning, a fine or detention for not more than ten days. If the circumstances of the case are serious enough to constitute a crime, criminal responsibility shall be investigated in accordance with the law. If an alien subject to a fine or detention by a public security organ refuses to accept the penalty, he may, within 15 days of receiving notification, appeal to the public security organ at the next higher level, which shall make the final decision; he may also directly file suit in the local people's court. Article 30 In cases where a person commits any of the acts stated in Article 29 of this Law, if the The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 70 circumstances are serious, the Ministry of Public Security may impose a penalty by ordering him to leave the country within a certain time or may expel him from the country. Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions Article 31 For the purposes of this Law the term "alien" means any person not holding Chinese nationality according to the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China. Article 32 Transitory entry into and exit from China by aliens who are nationals of a country adjacent to China and who reside in areas bordering on China shall be handled according to any relevant agreements between the two countries or, in the absence of such agreements, according to the relevant provisions of the Chinese Government. Article 33 The Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall, pursuant to this Law, formulate rules for its implementation, which shall go into effect after being submitted to and approved by the State Council. Article 34 Affairs concerning members of foreign diplomatic missions and consular offices in the People's Republic of China and other aliens who enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities, after their entry into China, shall be administered in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State Council and its competent departments. Article 35 This Law shall go into effect on February 1, 1986 The Image of China as a Destination and Its Market in Spain 71 FACULTAD DE EMPRESA Y GESTIÓN PÚBLICA ANEXO II AUTORIZACIÓN: D. (nombre y apellidos del tutor) , tutor de D. (nombre y apellido del alumno) autoriza la presentación del Trabajo Fin de Grado titulado “TITULO DEL TRABAJO FIN DE GRADO/MÁSTER” Lugar, fecha Fdo.: Nombre y apellidos del tutor Director del Trabajo Fin de Grado Lugar, fecha Fdo.: Nombre y apellidos del estudiante