A Study on the Travel Motivations and Constraints of the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo: Focusing on Korean and Chinese Tourists

The 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo will be the first World Expo held since the COVID-19 pandemic. For the success of the Expo in Japan, it is crucial to attract a significant number of tourists from neighboring countries, Korea and China. Considering the complex historical and political relationships among the three countries, this study aims to understand how potential tourists from Korea and China perceive the Expo and host destination. This study adopted a qualitative approach to identify and compare the travel motivations and constraints between Korean and Chinese tourists. The results provide a comprehensive and rich information, which contributes to the literature on international tourism and mega-event and the establishment of overseas promotional strategies of the Osaka-Kansai Expo.