This study mainly used SPSS software to analyze the collected data, with analysis methods, including the independent sample t-test and exploratory factor analysis. This paper adopted the independent sample t-test to analyze the differences in the mean values of DCI items between the pre- and post-trip tourist samples. Next, exploratory factor analysis was applied to figure out the DCI factors. Finally, this paper adopted the independent sample t-test to analyze the differences in the mean value of DCI factors between the pre- and post-trip tourist samples.
4.1. Change in the Mean Values of Macro DCI Items
The changes in the macro DCI items (see
Table 4) showed that the mean value of each item was above 3.40. Considerable differences between the pre- and post-trip tourists were observed. Compared with the pre-trip tourists, post-trip tourists’ perceptions of all measurement items were significantly improved, which demonstrated that Chinese tourists’ actual tourism experiences in Korea were better than their pre-trip expectations. The post-trip tourists offered a comparatively positive evaluation of Korea’s macro DCI. On the measurement item “Korea is a country that respects the environment,” especially, both the pre- and post-trip tourists gave the highest score. Meanwhile, both tourist samples gave the lowest score on the item “I enjoy being with Koreans.”
According to the perception changes in the macro DCI items, the change degree in the mean value of the item “Korea has made positive efforts to protect the environment” was the highest, increasing by 0.58 from the pre-trip’s 3.57 to the post-trip’s 4.15. In addition, compared with pre-trip tourists, the mean value of post-trip tourists’ perceptions of the items “Korea is a country that respects the environment” and “Korea has strict controls on environmental pollution” increased by more than 0.50. It can be concluded that the post-trip Chinese tourists’ perceptions of Korea’s environmental problems and management were significantly better compared with those of pre-trip tourists, and they positively perceived the achievements that Korea has made in this respect. However, the change degree in the mean value of the item “Bilateral relations between China and Korea are friendly” was the lowest, increasing by only by 0.15 from the pre-trip’s 3.69 to the post-trip’s 3.84.
4.2. Change in the Mean Values of Micro DCI Items
The perception differences in the micro DCI between pre- and post-trip tourists were determined with the independent samples t-test (see
Table 5). Significant differences were observed in the perception of most items, namely: “Personal security is not a problem in Korea,” “The climate is good in Korea,” “Hygiene and cleanliness standards in Korea are good,” “Korea has suitable accommodation,” “The natural scenery in Korea is beautiful,” “The environment in Korea is not polluted and destroyed,” “Travel in Korea is good value for money,” “Travel in Korea makes me relaxed,” and “Travel in Korea makes me excited.” No significant differences in perception were observed for the following six items: “It is easy access tourism information about Korea,” “Korea is a good place for shopping,” “Korea has good recreational facilities,” “Korea has interesting historical and cultural attractions,” “Korea is an exotic destination,” and “Travel in Korea makes me very happy.” According to the changes in micro DCI items, there were improvements but also reductions in measurement items between the pre- and post-trip tourists. Post-trip tourists’ evaluations of most items improved compared with pre-trip tourists’. However, post-trip tourists’ evaluation of “Korea has good recreational facilities,” “Korea has interesting historical and cultural attractions,” and “Travel in Korea makes me excited” were lower compared with pre-trip tourists. It can be concluded from the mean values of the micro DCI items that “Korea is a good place for shopping” scored the highest (mean = 3.90) and “Korea has interesting historical and cultural attractions” scored the lowest (mean = 3.49) among pre-trip tourists, whereas “Hygiene and cleanliness standards in Korea are good” scored the highest (mean = 4.23) and “Travel in Korea makes me excited” scored the lowest (mean = 3.28) among post-trip tourists. As for the change degree in the micro DCI items, the mean value of “Personal security is not a problem in Korea” was the highest, increasing by 0.54 from the pre-trip’s 3.63 to the post-trip’s 4.17. The change degree in the mean value of “Travel in Korea makes me very happy” was the lowest, increasing by only 0.01 from the pre-trip’s 3.79 to the post-trip’s 3.80.
4.3. Change in the Mean Values of DCI Factors
This study combined the DCI measurement items in both the pre-trip and post-trip tourists’ sample data (total number of samples = 543), and then applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to determine the DCI factors. The change characteristics of the DCI at the factor level were determined by comparing the mean values of the factors.
SPSS Statistics 23.0 was used to conduct EFA of the macro cognitive DCI, macro affective DCI, micro cognitive DCI, and micro affective DCI. The factors and items in the EFA of the macro cognitive DCI measurement scale showed that KMO was 0.897, Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant (p = 0.000), and the hypothesis of the independent variable was invalid. These outcomes met the basic requirement of factor analysis, and as such, the adoption of factor analysis was applicable. The study applied varimax rotation to run EFA and regarded Eigenvalues > 1, factor loading > 0.50, and communality > 0.50 as prerequisites. The items that did not meet the requirements were deleted. EFA was again run with the remaining factors and finally identified four factors: “Country’s competence” (Alpha = 0.80), “National relationship” (Alpha = 0.71), “People’s character” (Alpha = 0.89), and “Environmental management” (Alpha = 0.84), the total variance was 71.29%.
The EFA of the micro cognitive DCI measurement scale showed a KMO of 0.855 and significant results for Bartlett’s test of sphericity (p = 0.000), indicating that the micro cognitive DCI measurement items had multi-related dimensions and that the adoption of EFA was applicable. After the EFA, three factors were obtained: “Destination’s environment” (Alpha = 0.65), “Service infrastructure” (Alpha = 0.71), and “Tourism attraction” (Alpha = 0.77), the total variance was 59.79%.
Using an independent samples t-test for the DCI factors (see
Table 6), the study found significant differences in country’s competence, national relationship, people’s character, environmental management, macro affective DCI, and destination’s environment between the pre-trip and post-trip tourists. However, no significant differences were seen in the service infrastructure, tourism attractions, and micro affective DCI between the samples.
According to the changes in the mean value of the DCI factors, the post-tourists’ evaluations of Korea’s DCI were comparatively positive (the mean value of all factors was above 0.35). Except for the decline in the micro affective DCI perception, post-trip tourists’ perceptions of the other DCI factors all improved compared with those of the pre-trip tourists. The comparison of the mean values of the DCI factors showed that the macro affective DCI scored the lowest, both among pre-trip and post-trip tourists. Service infrastructure ranked highest (mean = 3.81) in the pre-trip tourists’ evaluations, whereas environmental management ranked the highest (mean = 4.30) in the post-trip tourists’ evaluations. As for the change degree in the mean values of the DCI factors, the mean value of “Environmental management” was the highest, increasing by 0.54 from the pre-trip’s 3.76 to the post-trip’s 4.30. The change degree in the mean values of the “Micro affective DCI” was the lowest, decreasing by 0.04 from the pre-trip’s 3.71 to the post-trip’s 3.67.