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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HCM CITY
INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
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Thesis Proposal
Factors affecting tourist destination satisfaction and
return intention – A study in Ho Chi Minh City
Advisor
Mai Ng c Kh ng, Ph.D.o ươ
Ph m Anh NguyênaBABAIU12083
Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam
2016
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Table of Contents
I. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................4
1.1. BACKGROUND................................................................................................................4
1.2. PROBLEM STATEMENT...................................................................................................5
1.3. OBJECTIVES...................................................................................................................6
1.4. RESEARCH QUESTION....................................................................................................6
1.5. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS...............................................................................................6
II. LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................................7
2.1. TOURIST DESTINATION SATISFACTION..........................................................................7
2.2. TOURIST RETURN INTENTION........................................................................................8
2.3 THE FACTORS AFFECT TO TOURIST SATISFACTION AND RETURN INTENTION...........10
2.3.1. Cultural and historical attractions........................................................................10
2.3.2. Local cuisine..........................................................................................................11
2.3.3. Perceived cost........................................................................................................11
2.3.4. Safety and security.................................................................................................12
2.3.5. Infrastructure.........................................................................................................12
2.3.6. Natural environment..............................................................................................13
2.3.7. Entertainment and recreation activities................................................................13
2.3.8. Negative attributes................................................................................................14
2.3.9. Destination image..................................................................................................14
2.4. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES..........................................................15
2.5. OPERATIONALIZATION.................................................................................................17
III. METHODOLOGY..........................................................................................................20
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3.1. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.........................................................................................20
3.2. RESEARCH DESIGN.......................................................................................................20
3.3. RESEARCH SAMPLE......................................................................................................21
3.4. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT.............................................................................................21
3.5 DATA COLLECTION.......................................................................................................21
3.6. DATA ANALYSIS............................................................................................................22
REFERENCE.........................................................................................................................23
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I. Introduction
1.1. Background
According to recent research, tourism is now known as a business that developed into
one of the biggest wage generators worldwide. Managing tourism as a vehicle for monetary
advancement in any destination relies on upon keeping up destination competitiveness (Jones
and Haven-Tang, 2005). By Economic Impact Report of World Travel and Tourism Council
(WTTC), the aggregate commitment from Travel and Tourism to the world GDP developed
by 3.0% in 2012. This was quicker than development of the world economy as entire (2.3%),
furthermore speedier than development of various expansive businesses such as fabricating,
financial and business service and retail. In which, tourism's immediate commitment to the
world GDP was US$2.1 trillion and the business straightforwardly upheld 101 million
employments. In 2014, international tourism (travel and passenger transport) accounted for
30% of the world’s exports of services and 6% of overall exports of goods and services. As a
worldwide export category, tourism ranks fourth after fuels, chemicals and food. For many
countries tourism is a vital source of foreign currency earnings and an important contributor
to the economy, creating much needed employment and opportunities for development.
Vietnam is a country with a population of more than 90 million, a Gross Domestic
Product of VND 3.93 trillion. Vietnam geographical area of 332,000 square kilometers
spread along a coast line of 3,440 kilometers from north to south. For those reasons, tourism
has become an important industry for Vietnam and as a consequence the government of
Vietnam has accorded it a priority status for future tourism development.
In the first six months of 2014, the total revenue contributed by Vietnam’s tourism
sector reached approximately VND 125,000 billion (USD 5.8 billion), increasing by 22.5%
compared to the same period in 2013, and contributing to 50% of the total budgeted amount
for 2014. The total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP was VND 311,117 billion
(USD 14.6 billion) in 2013 (9.6% of GDP) and is expected to grow by 8.9% to VND 338,660
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billion (USD 15.8 billion) in 2014 (9.9% of GDP). It is forecast to rise by 6.0% per annum to
VND 607,858 billion by 2024 (USD 28.5 billion) (9.6% of GDP).
In the same year the sector directly supported 1,900,000 jobs and has attracted an
estimated VND 81,987 billion (USD 3.9 billion) of capital investment. In short term,
Vietnam has targeted 2015 will become 7 to 7.5 million international arrivals with domestic
travel reaching 36 to 37 million, earning USD 10 to USD 11 billion and creating as many as
2.2 million jobs.
With these statistical data, it can conclude that Vietnam’s tourism is having a
promising future. Notwithstanding, as tourism industry in Vietnam is still youthful, there are
numerous troubles and challenges stood up, adding with furious rivalry from different
nations in near area, particularly in the setting of globalization and regionalization becoming
the trend of world that Vietnam’s tourism is going to confront. Subsequently, finding the best
approach to draw in visitor is truly necessary to make competitive advantages and extend
tourism industry. Indeed, there are numerous looks into including to these focuses. Hence,
verifying the relationship between the tourist satisfaction and tourist return intention with
which attributes contribute to the relationship might offer government the best approach to
develop Vietnam tourism industry later on.
1.2. Problem statement
Ho Chi Minh is also known as one of the biggest city in Vietnam and well-known as
the Pearl of East. Despite the fact of being the most economical city in the country, Ho Chi
Minh has many places and historical buildings inherited from prior periods that are well
worth going to see. Those components have transformed Ho Chi Minh into a well-known
destination for tourist in the world. Following the country's advancement, Ho Chi Minh
tourism has become more essential and offers a wide range of different service packages. The
number of domestic and international guests to Ho Chi Minh increases every year. However,
in spite of the fact that the city tourism has enhanced throughout the years and transformed
into the quick paced tourism industry, it confronts numerous issues. Whilst there has been
significant growth in visitor arrivals in Vietnam, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, tourists’
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stay in Ho Chi Minh tends to be relatively short and the repeat rate of visitors is low as there
are limited entertainment and sightseeing options available at tourist destinations. Not only
that, other issues occurred such as poor transportation system, significant natural
contamination because of fast urbanization, food hygiene, low guest security and safety, etc.
These reasons make tourist never return to Vietnam for additional time. Thus, Ho Chi Minh
tourism needs to overcome these issues to improve its potential. Finding the way to attract
tourists and increase their repeat visitation is the most important one.
1.3. Objectives
Therefore, initially, the specific objective of this study is to measure the overall
tourist destination satisfaction at Ho Chi Minh City. Secondly, this study is conducted to find
out which factors directly and indirectly affect tourist destination satisfaction and the return
intention of tourists to Ho Chi Minh City. Besides that, this study measures direct and
indirect impacts of those attributes on the return intention of tourist through the tourist
destination satisfaction in Ho Chi Minh City.
Lastly, based on the research results and findings, this study will provide
improvement and development suggestions for tourist managers, focusing on factors that
make tourists repeat their visitation through destination satisfaction in Ho Chi Minh City.
1.4. Research question
From the background study and problem statement, this research raise the below
research question:
To what extent are tourists satisfied with Ho Chi Minh City image and attributes?
1.5. Scope and limitations
The research is conducted within Ho Chi Minh City and focused on the foreigner
tourists only in someplace crowding and famous. The sample for the study cannot be
generalized to the Vietnamese tourism industry as a whole since it was not randomly selected
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sample and a convenience sampling will be used in this study to collect data. Additionally,
non-sampling error could be caused by measurement or respondents. Model development
based on the literature review, so in practical model may by more complicated than theory.
Lastly, lacking of time and financial will result in disadvantage of choosing large
sample to achieve more precise results. Because of the limitation in knowledge, conducting
the research first time, hence the results of this research cannot avoid some mistakes.
II. Literature review
2.1. Tourist destination satisfaction
As a whole, customer satisfaction has been viewed as an essential business objective
because of that the more a client is fulfilled the more he is willing to purchase more.
Numerous companies, for that reason, have started to observe a high customer defection even
with high satisfaction levels (Oliver, 1999). Destination image, perceived quality, perceived
value and satisfaction (Bigne et al., 2001; Pike, 2002; Chen & Tsai, 2007; Chi & Qu, 2008;
Chen & Chen, 2010) are the most incessant variables used to clarify tourist motivation or
