Does Tourist–Host Social Contact Reduce Perceived Cultural Distance?
研究开发了旅游情境下社会接触和感知文化距离的测量工具，发现接触质量和社会导向接触数量会减少感知文化距离，而服务导向接触数量则增加感知文化距离，对旅游管理者和政策制定者有参考价值。
Tourist–host social contact significantly influences the perceptions of tourists and deserves more attention from scholars in the field of tourism research. However, studies on the relationship between these two constructs are limited. To address this research gap, the present study develops and validates instruments for measuring social contact and perceived cultural distance in the context of tourism, explores the effects of social contact on perceived cultural distance, and provides implications for tourism stakeholders, including governments, tourism operators, and local communities. A survey was conducted among Hong Kong tourists traveling to Mainland China. The study had two significant findings: (1) the quality of contact negatively influences tourists’ perceived cultural distance and (2) in terms of the quantity of contact, social-oriented contacts negatively influence perceived cultural distance, whereas service-oriented contacts positively affect perceived cultural distance. Implications were provided to contribute to theoretical and empirical realms, and to guide policy formulation.