On the afternoon of October 11st, Dr. Hou Yuansi, Associate Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of the Department of Integrated Resort and Tourism Management at the Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau, was invited to deliver a lecture titled“How Social Crowding Shapes Tourist Preferences: Exploring Overtourism”at the School of Management, Shandong University. The lecture was presided over by Professor He Zeya, Director of the Department of Culture and Tourism.
Associate Professor Hou Yuansi began by introducing the causes and application scenarios of crowding, highlighting that "social crowding" is a significant research topic in the fields of tourism and marketing. Centered on the theme of "The Impact of Social Crowding on Tourist Preferences," the presentation was structured around three key aspects: "What is social crowding, the effects of social crowding, and related research and experiments."
Drawing on extensive research experience and numerous case studies, Hou highlighted the research significance and focus areas of social crowding phenomena, detailing the challenges it poses to the tourism industry at both macro and micro levels. Besides, she defined crowding as it is commonly applied in her research and provided a comprehensive review of previous studies on overtourism. Hou pointed out that research on crowding in tourism typically focuses on three aspects: tourists, destinations, and local residents, with relatively limited attention given to tourists. In the field of marketing, the primary concern regarding crowding is its negative impacts. Hou examined the issue from a neutral (non-negative) perspective in the tourism context. She shared three high-impact studies, analyzing how crowding influences tourists’ service preferences, price sensitivity, and destination choices. Using extensive literature and own research experiences, Hou clearly demonstrated how to conduct reasonable experimental research methods. Hou concluded by affirming the importance of further research on overtourism, suggesting that infectious diseases such as pandemics and the development of social media platforms could impact over-tourism, which sparked resonance and reflection among attendees on the social crowding phenomena. Faculty and students engaged in deep exchanges on topics such as experimental design and the selection of research themes.
Dr. Hou Yuansi is an Associate Professor and Doctoral Supervisor Department of Integrated Resort and Tourism Management at the Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau. She previously taught at several leading business and hospitality schools in the UK, including serving as a Reader in Marketing at School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London, Assistant Professor at the Business School, Durham University, and Assistant Professor at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey. Hou’s research focuses on employing experimental methods to explore consumer psychology and service marketing in tourism and hospitality. Moreover, she has published dozens of papers in top-tier international journals in the fields of marketing and tourism management, with several recognized as ESI Highly Cited Papers. Hou also serves as the member of the editorial boards of leading journals such as Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, and Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research.
