Tourists’ intention to visit a country: The impact of cultural distance

Culture has long been recognized as a possible reason why people in different countries make different decisions, but research into its impact in tourism contexts has been limited. This study addressed this gap by examining the influence of cultural distance on tourists’ destination choices. Five cultural distance measures were examined. Of the five measures, perceived cultural distance and Clark and Pugh's index were found to be most strongly related to Australian tourists’ intentions to visit a variety of holiday destinations. The perceived cultural distance measure appeared to be a better predictor and offers some advantages to researchers as it allows respondents to include relevant cultural information in tourism research. However, as Clark and Pugh's method provided similar information, cultural differences can be inferred when it is not possible to survey tourists directly.