1. ЗДРАВСТВУЙТ, RUSSIA:
A STUDY ON PERCEPTIONS AND
AWARENESS OF HONG KONG
TRAVELERS ON RUSSIA AS A
TOURIST DESTINATION
COMM 507
Communication Research Design and Analysis

2. Introduction
Здравствуйт
ZDRAST-vwee-tye
Hello in Russian

3. Introduction
 Russia began to develop the tourism industry only with the
arrival of private entrepreneurship in the 1990s
 inbound tourism is growing slowly and for the several years has
been suffering from political instability associated with terrorist
activity in Russia; therefore, income from international tourism is
a small share of Russia‟s overall economy
 Federal Tourism Agency was established in late 2005 to oversee
the quality of services provided by the tourist agencies and to set
common standards and rules for the market
 Russia is expected to record strong growth in both inbound and
outbound tourism over the next five years
 hosting of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games and the 2018FIFA
World Cup also offer immense opportunities for the Russian
travel and tourism business

4. Introduction
 Hong Kong is one of the largest outbound tourist
generators in the Asia- Pacific region
 the total number of Hong Kong
outbound travelers in 2004 was 68,902,207,
almost ten trips a year per inhabitant
 For European countries, 215,499 Hong Kong
travelers went to the United Kingdom. France
ranked second followed by Germany and
Switzerland

5. Introduction
 Russia remained an unexplored territory for Hong Kong
outbound travelers, according to then head of the Russian
Federal Agency for Tourism Vladimir Strzhalkovskiy
 In July 2009, a mutual visa-free access agreement
between Hong Kong and Russia was implemented, for a
stay of up to 14 days
 there are a total of 13 direct flights per week between
Moscow and Hong Kong as of February 2012
 Hong Kong Security Bureau issued an Amber travel
warning to its residents, effective 25 January 2011,
asking them to monitor situations and exercise caution

6. Review – HK travelers
 Wong and Lau (2001) found out that social integration,
Confucian work dynamism, personal well-being, and moral
discipline are relevant behaviors exemplified by the research
respondents when traveling; preferred to travel in groups, be
safe, and join all self-paid activities
 Zhang, Qu and Tang (2003) indicated that safety is the most
important aspect for Hong Kong residents to select a travel
destination, and that all-inclusive package tours are the most
popular choice for the residents
 Law, Cheung and Lo (2004) found out that local foods, city land
marks and scenic sites as the main interests that Hong Kong
travelers look for when they go to their travel destination. Their
findings also revealed that outdoor sports events should not be
used for promotion to entice Hong Kong outbound pleasure
travelers.

7. Review – Russia image
 Stepchenkova and Morrison (2008) found that
American travelers‟ perceptions of Russia were often
negative and there is a lack of awareness about
Russia‟s destination features. The “Soviet era” still
lingered as a concept for the respondents, and words
such as “poor”, “underdeveloped”, “hostile towards
Americans”, “ruthless”, “depressing”, and “unsafe”
emerged
 Stepchenkova and Eales (2011) found that news
about Russia‟s past as part of the Soviet Union adds
to the negative perception of the country. Positive
articles about Russian culture (ballet, music, art) did
not have any significant effect.

8. Research Objectives
 to determine Hong Kong pleasure travelers'
perceptions of Russia as a tourist destination
 to assess the extent of the Hong Kong travelers‟
awareness of Russia‟s tourism attributes

9. Methodology
 Focus Group (8 participants)
 4 female and 4 male
 Age between 26 and 45
 7 participants were living in Hong Kong for over
10 years
 All participants are BA degree educated or above
 All participants were full-time employed

10. Findings
 Top-of-the mind responses to Russia
 “Cold” was the word emphasized by two
participants
 “Cold, very cold. Uncivilized people.”
 “…I would think of Siberia covered by snow. A desolate place, and
very cold.”
 “cold” here refers to a negative attribute
 Safety concern was mentioned
 Mentioned by one participants, shared by quite a few
other participants in the course of the whole
discussion
 Demonstrated to be an overriding concept associate
with Russia

11. Findings
 Two participants related Russia to Communism
 “…I don‟t see there‟s anything special
in it [Russia]. Just a communist country.”
 “communism” here mentioned generate
negative image of Russia
 Three female participants perceived Russians are uncivilized
and impolite and Russia is a conservative but laggard country

12. Findings
 Other associations to Russia
 Moscow
 Saint-Petersburg
 Siberia, a barren and conservative place
 A huge country
 Soviet Union
 The President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev.

13. Findings
 Participants awareness on Russia
 Western Russia (Moscow and St. Petersburg)
 Infrastructure during Soviet Era
 Missile launching site
 Aviation centre
 Food and beverage
 Russian like drinking Vodka
 Caviar made in Russia are in better taste
 Orthodox churches with their special architecture styles

14. Findings
 Concerns on deciding the destination
 Timing and budget are the most important
 Theme or purpose of the travel
 Whether have been to the countries before
 Seek for promotions in travel magazine that
received weekly by email
 Method to gather information
 Internet (main source)
 from friends or relatives
 travel agencies
 travel magazines

15. Limitations
 No prior studies regarding Hong Kong residents‟
perceptions on Russia has been conducted
 Additional information seemed to be unavailable
 Statistics on number of Hong Kong residents going to
Russia in the recent years is necessary
 Time limit
 Participants were not screened and selected thoroughly
based demographic background of target segment
 Due to small number of sampling, findings cannot
represent the larger segment of the population

16. Limitations
 Represent part of the qualitative research only, no
quantitative research was involved
 Detailed questionnaire with larger sample size is
recommended to validate or contradict findings from
focus group discussion
 Questions included in focus group may not cover all
information we would like to get from the
participants
 Random sampling error
 Sample selection error
 Data processing error

17. Conclusions
 Negative perceptions
 Cold
 Unsafe
 Uncivilized people
 Impolite locals
 Socialist history as part of Soviet Union
The lack of awareness, or limit of awareness
has resulted to some of these negative perceptions.

18. Conclusions
 Insufficient advertising resulted to limit of awareness
 News and online information about Russia highlighting
only political and economic conditions in the country.
 Positive tourism attributes such as the richness of its
natural attractions, history and culture were not being
made familiar to Hong Kong travelers.
 Awareness campaign should focus on positive images of
Russia, as well as educating the traveler market with
scenic places and historical landmarks that will entice the
desire to visit the country.

19. Conclusions
 Findings tie in the secondary data
 A study conducted by Law, Cheung and Lo (2004)
 Destinations should concentrate efforts in the
promotion of local foods, city landmarks and scenic
sites.

20. Recommendations
 The knowledge gap has to be filled in
 Adequate advertising on Hong Kong market
 Organize advertising campaign staged in Hong Kong
 A strong branding approach is needed
 Careful branding of the Russian nation as a tourist-
friendly destination with people who are cordial to
guests and open to friends
 Help the country get rid of the old „„Soviet era‟‟
image of poor and ruthless people

21. Recommendations
 Build positive expectation among potential
tourists
 Initiate extensive human resources training programs
to empower professional knowledge and enhance
hospitality service level
 Up-to-date information on safety, travel
conditions, infrastructure levels, should be
effectively communicated
 Set up designated channel for disseminating
information to Hong Kong news media
 Develop specific travel media in Hong Kong

22. Presented by
Leo Concepcion (Project Leader)
Grace Li
Janus Yu
Hermia Chan
Natalie Yip
Virginia Lau
Thank you!