Exploring the <i>Tongzhi</i> Holiday Experience with Zaltman’s Metaphor Elicitation Technique: An Embodied Social Representational Perspective

With increased attention to equality and diversity, discussions on sexuality and gender have risen to prominence in the discipline of tourism management. However, most existing literature adopts a Western-centric perspective, thus overlooking the travel experiences of the broader gay population from other socio-cultural contexts. To address that knowledge gap, this exploratory study investigates the holiday experiences of Chinese gay tourists from a social representational perspective, grounded in embodiment theory, using Zaltman’s Metaphor Elicitation Technique interview approach. The study reveals that the tongzhi holiday experience is characterized primarily by representations of intimacy and companionship, social interaction and networking, multi-sensory embodied practice, sexual behavior inclusion, identity exploration and elicitation, and emotional engagement. This study extends the embodied experience framework in tourism research by contextualizing the dimensions of environmental stimuli, mind, and body within the tongzhi holiday experience. Additionally, it provides insights for destination marketers in designing products tailored to China’s gay population.