Dimensioning and Revealing Perceived Travel Experiences of International Residents in Korea by Using Semi-Structured Interviews

Abstract

This study presents the empirical findings of exploratory qualitative study which was undertaken to investigate the perceived holiday experiences international residents in Korea. Data were collected by conducting in-depth interviews with international residents who live in Korea for a long time and analyzed using CAQDAS NVivo 2. This study revealed that the people and places play an important part in shaping the travel experiences. In other words, the complex nature of travel experiences can be explained by their proximity to people: the human interactive dimension (festival & event and social experiences) and places: the spatial dimension (environment, adventure, heritage, and romantic experiences). Also there are some kinds of experiences that are more or less equally inclined to people and places- the cultural experience (urban, religious, knowledge experiences). This article, therefore, contributes to tourism market in Korea for international residents by classifying the travel experience typologies. It could extend in developing marketing strategies of creating and promoting Korean travel products not only for international residents, but also for tourists in general who visit Korea in details.