Abstract
It was originally thought that the newly revised tariff policy that was enacted in China would greatly reduce shopping-oriented tours and impact on tourists' choices of purchasing and spending behavior. The findings of this study indicate that this is not necessarily the case. It was
discovered that for this group of Chinese outbound tourists the act of retail shopping was an integral part of their travel activities. This group of outbound travelers shopped for themselves, family, relatives, friends, and coworkers; sought to experience mutually rewarding shopping occasions;
desired to build and maintain harmonious relationships; were driven by a strong desire to enhance social status (e.g., mianzi); sought to improve enjoyment of travel experiences; and displayed strong interests in destination cultural activities that entailed immersion in cultural events
and local-centric shopping. The implications of this focused study are twofold: first, outbound travel patterns resulting from China's revised tariff policy are discussed from the perspective of destination marketers; and second, attractors and benefits of outbound travel are discussed from
the resident and governmental perspectives.