Vol 11 Issue 2, September 2011 - School of Hotel & Tourism ...

Research Horizons Volume 6. Issue 2. Sep 2011Bargaining an Under-Appreciated Adventure inOpen-Air MarketsValue for money is the key factor in attracting tourists toHong Kong’s open-air markets, according to the SHTM’sNelson Tsang, Henry Tsai and Fiona Leung in a recentlypublished research article. Examining “tourists’ enjoymentof their bargaining adventure”, the researchers also findthat bargaining intensity and psychological well-being arecrucial elements of the attitudes and behaviour on displayin these markets. Yet the benefit of marketing strategiesdesigned to tap this enthusiasm for a good deal is littlerecognised, with the researchers suggesting that the HongKong Tourism Board (HKTB) should pay more attentionto it in vigorously promoting open-air markets.Open-Air Markets as Tourist AttractionsShopping has long been acknowledged as an indispensabletourist activity around the world, but nowhere is thatmore apparent than in Hong Kong. Attracting around30 million tourists a year, the city offers its visitors aplethora of shopping experiences in upscale malls linedwith internationally renowned designer outlets. Yet theresearchers also note that Hong Kong’s open-air marketsare important tourist attractions in their own right, offeringdynamic environments in which tourists can observe “theunique local capitalism”.Tourist visits to Hong Kong’s three main markets – Ladies’Market, Temple Street Market and Stanley Market – haveincreased significantly every year for the past five years. Theresearchers cite HKTB statistics to the effect that visitorsfrom Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the SouthPacific visit the three markets most frequently during theirstays, followed by those from South, Southeast and NorthAsia. Southern hemisphere tourists also rate the value-formoneyexperience they gain at the markets most highly.The researchers go as far as to suggest that bargainingshould be considered a feature of these markets becauseit enhances the shopping experience. Drawing on researchin sociology and psychology, they argue that shopping ingeneral and bargaining in particular generate “intrinsicenjoyment”. Obtaining discounts through hagglingcould even “generate a sense of pride, intelligence, andachievement”.This should have obvious implications for the promotionof bargaining as a tourist activity, but little effort has beenmade in Hong Kong to highlight the attractiveness of itsopen-air markets. The researchers mention that the marketsare completely overlooked in the HKTB’s shopping tipsfor tourists, which instead emphasise the identificationof creditable retailers recognised by the Quality TourismServices scheme.In a broader sense there is also the unanswered question ofwhether tourist shoppers bargain “simply as a result of thesatisfaction they feel in acquiring a product” or due to a“sense of gratification generated on the basis of perceivedfairness” in the bargaining process. Understanding whichof these factors predominate would allow the HKTB todevise an appropriately tailored marketing campaign.Tourists at Hong Kong’s Open-Air MarketsThe researchers gathered information on touristbargaining behaviour by conducting a survey at Ladies’Market, Temple Street Market and Stanley Market.The questionnaire included five sections, with the firstdesigned to screen out non-tourists or tourists who didnot bargain. The second section focused on factors relatedto the intention to bargain, and the third on the extent ofbargaining behaviour and how that behaviour and touristattitudes affected satisfaction with the whole process.The fourth section obtained overall impressions of thebargaining context in the markets and the fifth was usedto construct a demographic profile of the respondents.Of the 203 tourists who completed questionnaires inthe three markets, just under half were from mainlandChina, Taiwan, other parts of North Asia, South Asia orSoutheast Asia. The remainder were from the Americas,Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealandor the rest of the South Pacific. Just under half were male,the largest group was aged 21-30 years old, around threeSchool of Hotel and Tourism Management 9