Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Shopping in Hong Kong and Modern
Goods of Desire
to go to be desirable to mainlander tourists who
are fi xated on luxury Western brands. The chief
executive and co-founder of the fi rm, Douglas
Young Chi-chiu, has tried to use Western-derived
expertise in marketing and design to rework
Chinese traditional craft designs for household
furnishings. In this, his approach is not dissimilar
to certain brands in Japan mentioned in case
studies by Tobin (1992). Young's view is that his
G.O.D. brand signifi es goods that 'have a unique
design of their own that will incorporate Eastern
philosophy, practicality, aesthetics and value for
money' (
SCMP
, 3 March 2007). However, at
present his goods are more popular with Hong
Kong Chinese and Westerners, who are more
open to appreciating their ingenuity than with
mainland Chinese tourists.
Tourists from the People's Republic of China
(referred to here as mainland Chinese tourists)
are increasingly experiencing more travel freedom
as groups and individuals than ever before.
Since trips to Hong Kong and Macao were offi -
cially allowed in 1983 and 1984, respectively,
outbound travel has bloomed. Leisure tourism
has also become sanctioned and easier as a
growing number of destinations have been
added to the Approved Destination Scheme
(ADS) with Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia
attracting the most groups (Zhang
et al
., 2003).
In addition to this programme, the Individual
Visitor Scheme (IVS) was initiated after SARS to
boost tourism to Hong Kong and Macao for lei-
sure tourists with individual visas and the oppor-
tunity for more freedom of movement.
However, no other destinations beside Hong
Kong and Macao have been approved for IVS at
this stage by the national government. It is also
inevitable that mainland tourists will develop their
own way of experiencing Western culture that
goes beyond what was sanctioned by tightly con-
trolled tour itineraries to other destinations. Shop-
ping (which will include walking and gazing in the
malls) has emerged as a key activity and motiva-
tion for trips outside of China.
Initially, when fi nances are still tight most
people will purchase the locally available copies
and fakes in China, but as incomes rise there is a
certain status attached to travelling outside China
to purchase the real thing: a visual manifestation
of wealth. Sometimes this acquisition will occur
with some kind of proof taken, even if it is a pho-
tograph of the store in which it was purchased.
Wong and Law's (2003) survey of tourists' shop-
ping satisfaction levels in Hong Kong found that
mainland tourists stood out from the rest as a
group that was signifi cantly concerned about
quality of goods with higher expectations than
any other group (Wong and Law, 2003).
However, some Hong Kong Chinese design-
ers are trying to change the nature of shopping
in Hong Kong away from just being a hub for
Western derived brands at overblown prices in
many cases. One such case is that of G.O.D
(which stands for Goods of Desire). Its eye-
catching brand name and attention to detail in
the goods at a reasonable price have still a way
Western Exoticism and Tourism Research
Urry (1990) mentioned Orientalism in his work
on
The Tourist Gaze
. However, he said very little
about Occidentalism or Western exoticism. The
latter term is a more recent concept than Occi-
dentalism and occurs more in tourism studies
(du Cros, 2002, 2005). The concept also appears
in some studies of Chinese outbound tourism
(Arlt, 2008). Western exoticism for the mainland
Chinese tourist will not be generated by the
'Suzie Wong' orientalist fl avour (that some West-
ern tourists still see as exotic), but more from
observing/participating in an experience, such
as the Hong Kong leisure, shopping, gazing and
arts district in Lan Kwai Fong. Indeed, the latter
has been the subject of another study by anthro-
pologist Cheng (2001) who found that even
local Chinese fi nd this district exotic and beyond
their normal experience. Efforts to replicate Lan
Kwai Fong across the border (du Cros, 2006) are
not quite as successful as they lack the Western
cultural underpinnings that have allowed the
former to fl ourish freely as an 'icon of cosmo-
politan consumption in Hong Kong since the
1980s' (Cheng, 2001, p. 237).
Arlt (2008) also emphasizes the role that
popular culture and consumer goods from the
West play in the expectations and perceptions
of outbound Chinese tourists. He notes that
because of this, Europe is likely to be viewed 'as
a big open-air ethnological museum with shops
attached'. This view is not the mirror image of
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