The Perception and Attitude of Tea Tourism from Tourists’ perspective : A case study of Longjing Tea

Abstract: Tea has a long history in China. The combination of the tea industry and tourism industry is conducive to promoting and disseminating tea culture. It can also bring more economic and cultural benefits to the tourism industry. Tea tourism focuses on participation, which brings tourists a personalized, experiential, and leisurely experience. Therefore, the development of tea tourism has a positive significance for the sustainable development of both tourism and the tea industry. For now, tea tourism research is primarily qualitative in concept definition, meaning exploration, and planning research. However, the tourists’ attitude and perception of tourism are the driving factors for its development. Therefore, this study explores tourists’ attitude and influencing factors toward Longjing tea tourism from the perspective of tea tourism tourists and potential tourists by a mixed method. Firstly, combined with the existing scholars' discussion around tea tourism, consumer attitudes and influence factors of tea tourism consumer perception, and on this basis to establish the conceptual model of this study. Then, based on the comprehensive existing results, the research hypothesis of this paper is proposed. Next, the questionnaire of this study was designed according to the questions that need to be verified. Then, distribute the questionnaire and receive 330 valid samples. SPSS software was used to analyze the recovered data and confirm the research hypothesis. Also, use N VI VO to analyze the data from open-ended questions. The findings show that: 1. people's evaluation of Longjing tea tourism is positive; 2. Tea perception, Longjing brand perception, social media marketing, and previous tea tourism experiences positively affect tourists' attitude toward Longjing tea tourism; 3. Demographic characteristics do not significantly impact the attitude toward Longjing tea tourism; 4. People with different tea drinking frequencies and different levels of tea culture knowledge perceive tea differently; 5. People’s perception of Longjing tea tourism destination is relaxing, natural, and cultural.