China's long-haul travel experiences

Over the past decade, China has become the top spender in international tourism. Among Chinese tourists’ preferences, Italy represented the favorite long-haul destination before COVID-19. Major motives behind this travel choice include the Italian cultural heritage, authenticity seeking, and luxury travel experience. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted such a situation and, more in general, tourism at global level. The objective of this chapter is to develop a conceptual framework of the China’s long-haul tourism focusing on Italy as a main destination. By reviewing the recent relevant literature and data on tourism flows from China to Italy before the COVID-19 period, this study analyzes the main characteristics of the Chinese long-haul travelers’ experience. It also discusses possible strategies to implement targeting Chinese tourists, which should be strengthened once international tourism will resume. This study contributes to the tourism literature and provides managerial implications for international companies operating in such sector.