Chinese Tourists in Denmark

Tourism is entwined in economics, politics, culture, and social life. Despite Denmark’s attempt to re-brand itself as a modern, trendy and vibrant destination, the Danish tourism authorities is still selling the country’s historical sights and Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales to attract a growing number of Chinese tourists. While tourism authorities want to please the Chinese, other Danish authorities are concerned with overstaying tourists who may end up as illegal immigrants. On the Chinese side, the Chinese government is concerned with the image of China and its travelling citizens; they are trying to socially engineer the Chinese into better behaved tourists. The growing China outbound tourism market offers avenues for researchers to re-evaluate some aspects of tourism studies. Earlier studies have concentrated on the domination of tourist-receiving Third World countries by tourist-supplying First World countries. Other studies have focused on tourism impacts on host societies, ignoring how tourists themselves are being socialized and managed. This article, in the case of China, shows that a class of tourists from the developing world is capable of shaping destinations but they themselves are being shaped for the global tourism market. branding Denmark, place branding, tourism impact, tourism strategy, tourism politic