ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the new trends related to Chinese general consumers' as well as tourists' internet and social media usage. It presents significant implications for marketing tourism to Chinese consumers. Descriptions of free and independent travels (FITs) are often focused on backpackers who prefer budget accommodation, itinerary flexibility, meeting other travellers and involvement in participatory activities. Different cultural, social-demographic and motivational factors diversify Chinese outbound FIT tourists. Government statistics and industry reports provide some insights but theoretical conceptualizations and comprehensive empirical work to better grasp the new cultural revolution is still lacking. Chinese outbound tourists' travel planning is dominated by the pre-trip stage, and they call the information-collection pattern "doing homework". The chapter suggests that there are three issues resulting from and at the same time fuelling Chinese culture in the Web 2.0 era: the massive adoption of online shopping and online social networks, the distinctive online behaviors and the unique characteristics of Chinese online consumers.
