Summary Doctoral dissertation business Administration: A study of tourist destination competitiveness in Thua Thien Hue, Viet Nam

On the basic of theoretical and methodolody study of tourist destination competitiveness to build, accredit and propose theoretical model to evaluate competitiveness of tourist destination, and to use in the analysis and evaluation of competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue tourism.

HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS LE THI NGOC ANH A STUDY OF TOURIST DESTINATION COMPETITIVENESS IN THUA THIEN HUE, VIET NAM SUMMARY DOCTORAL DISSERTATION BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Code: 9340101 Supervisor 1: ASSOC PROF DR BUI THI TAM Supervisor 2: ASSOC PROF DR NGUYEN DANG HAO HUE - 2019 This study was completed at: Hue College of Economics, Hue University Suppervisor 1: Associate Professor Dr Bui Thi Tam Suppervisor 2: Associate Professor Dr Nguyen Dang Hao Reviewer 1: Reviewer 2: Reviewer 3: This dissertation will be defended in the Thesis Examination Council of Hue University in: At………….am/pm on ………/…………/…… 2019 This dissertation can be found in: The National Library and The library of College of Economics, Hue University, 99 Ho Dac Di, Hue City, Thua Thien Hue province I PART 1: INTRODUCTION Reaons for selecting this topic In the last few decades, there has been rapid development of tourism as the biggest industry of the world’s economy This contributes to foreign exchange, employment and income, boosting other industries to enhance…According to the travel and tourism competitiveness report 2015 of World Economic Forum, “…although the world is facing geopolitical tensions from Middle East, Ukraine to South East Asia, terrorism is spreading worldwide, the impact of these incidents on travel has not been clear” While some nation destinations suffer from decreasing international visitors, some others don’t In recent years, the international tourism and travel are still developing Total international tourists reach the record of 1.19 billion in 2015, increase by 52 million compared to 2014 (UNWTO, 2016) As for World Travel and Tourism Council, current travel and tourism add to 10.2% GDP in the world with revenue of 7,613.3 billionUSD, accounting for 6.6% turnover, adding to 9.6% global employment This number can reach 12.1% in 2027 (WTTC, 2017) When international tourism market improves, destination competitiveness is considered the crucial issue to impact on tourism business Pearce (1997:25) states that “When the world’s tourism becomes competitive…, all the awareness of development, strength, and weakness in the destination’s competitiveness would be extremely important” Also under this view, Crouch Ritchie (2000:6) emphasizes “competitiveness of the destination can impact on industry’s internal categorization, then, it (competitiveness) is the matter of interest for enterprises and policy makers” As for tourist destinations, competitive capability is regarded as motivation and development objective of the destination, because competitiveness will increase opportunities to attract tourist market, to boost tourism, as well as other supplementary industries, to increase socio-economic development of the destination, for the sake of poverty alleviation The building and maintenance of competitive capability is a strategic task on the daily basis of the destination Prior to the deployment of strategy and solution to develop destination and enhance competitive capability, some core issues need to be resolved such as: which factor constitutes competitive capability of the destination? Method to measure these factors? Can the inventory of variable be applied to analyse competitive capability of a specific destination? These questions attract attention from researchers and practictioners, but there has not been any answer Even when the tourist destination succeeds in market share, it is still difficult to apply the variable inventory to evaluate competitive capability of a specific destination As for tourism, competitive capability is the scale to measure activities of the industry in the interanational tourism The sector’s contribution into the local and national development depends a great deal on its competitiveness As for enterprises, competitive capability is the vital factor to define the existence and growth of enterprises Each tourism enterprise needs to locate factors contributing to competitive advantage and competitive capability of the destination, to assess and exploit competitive advantage in the most beneficial way to enhance its competitiveness on the market Therefore, destination’s competitive capability is the interest of various stakeholders such as development and management policy makers, researchers and enterprises In terms of study, althouth late, researches of destination’s competitive capability attract lots of attention from experts and other practitioners such as Crouch & Ritchie, 1993, 1999; Dwyer, Forsyth, & Rao, 2000; Vengesayi, 2003; EkinandAkbulut, 2015 Especially, the study of Crouch & Richie (1999) is one of the efforts in generalizing variables to study competitiveness in tourism and industry competitiveness to research competitive capability of the destination (Enright & Newton, 2005) Previously, some studies focused on competitive advantage of some resources or price such as Poon, 1993; Chon &Mayer, 1995 Studies on destination’s competitive capability in recent time have focused on solving the definition, approach and operationalize variables to measure tourist destination’s competitive capability of the nation, territory or a specific local area Accordingly, evaluation model of competitive capability includes: 1) business factors; 2) factors of management, destination planning and development; 3) factors of tourism resources and destination attraction However, international studies emphasized that there has not been any complete model of tourist destination competitive capability because there was not any synthesic evaluation framework towards various aspects related to destination’s competitiveness This sets a demand towards tourist destination competitive capability to improve theoretical model as well as recommendations and policies to develop competitive capability in various scales As for Vietnam tourism, although there has been active transformation and growth, Vietnam tourism in general and ThuaThien Hue tourism (Hue tourism) has not developed in line with its potential Tourism products are not attractive and not characterized The attraction and image of Hue tourist destination are still unclear to tourirts (BùiThịTám, 2010, TrầnThịNgọcLiên, 2013) Statistics of Department of Tourism showed that, staying days on average at Thua Thien Hue during 2013-2017 declined from 2.01 day/pax(2013) to1.8 day/ pax (2017), while nearby destinations like Da Nang and Hoi An had the growth This brings forward a big question of competitive capability ofThừaThiênHuếtourist destination As a prominent location of tourism resources and early developed in Vietnam and Central Vietnam (BùiThị Támvà Mai Lệ Quyên, 2012; Lê Thị Ngọc Anh, 2018), ThừaThiênHuế tourism has not seen any outstanding steps to define its pioneering destination in the area So far, some studies focused on the capability of attracting, destination image and competitive capability implemented in Central area such as stuties made byBùiThịTám, 2010; Thái Thanh Hà, 2010, NguyễnThịBíchThủy, 2013 However, these studies are conducted along with specific approaches with exploratory study over detailed aspects of competitive capability Therefore, recommendations for further research focus on systematical research in terms of content, methodology and real-life application towards evaluation model of destination’s competitive capability Theoretically, is it plausible to build a structural model to scientifically assess contributing factors of competitive capability of a tourist destination and their interaction? In terms of reality application, what is the level of Hue tourist destination’s competitive capability? Contributing factors of competitive capability of Hue tourist destination and their interactivity? Specific opportunities and solutions to improve competitive capability of Hue tourist destination? Decision no 1622/QĐ-UBND dated 26/8/2013 by Thue Thien Hue Provincial People’s Committee stated: “Develop Thua Thien Hue tourism in a fast, sustainable, quality assurance way with competitiveness, conservation and mobilization of cultural heritage” This shows the interest and urgency of the assessment of competitive capability of Hue tourism to achieve the target of “Focus on developing tourism into leading enonomy industry, by 2020, to improve Thua Thien Hue to become the leading destination in the region; by 2030, to build Thua Thien Hue into an equal destination with other international city of cultural heritage” From those facts, the study of competitive capability of Hue tourist destination to clarify the actual status of development and competitive capability, as well as factors impacting on competitive capability, to recommend policies and solutions to improve competitive capability of Hue tourist destination is essential Therefore, the dissertation of “A study of tourist destination competitiveness in Thua Thien Hue, Viet Nam”is scientifically meaningful to contribute to the development of competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue tourism, and the socio-economic development of the province, the tourism of the Central in the coming time Research objective 2.1 General objective On the basic of theoretical and methodolody study of tourist destination competitiveness to build, accredit and propose theoretical model to evaluate competitiveness of tourist destination, and to use in the analysis and evaluation of competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue tourism 2.2 Specific objective - Systemize, clarify theoretical and methodology issues of tourist destination competitiveness - Build theoretical framework and measured variable system to assess competitiveness of tourist destination - Analyze, evaluate contributing factors of Thua Thien Hue tourist destination competitiveness - Recommend directions, core solutions and policies to enhance competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue tourist destination 3 Research target and scope 3.1 Research target - Dissertation’s research target is theoretical, methodology issues and actual application in terms of competitiveness study of Hue tourist destination - To conduct study, survey target is stakeholders of business, research, management and tourism development Targets in the survey are experts of state-owned management bodies of tourism, related organization, enterprises and institutions 3.2 Research scope To solve these issues and reach the study’s target, the study scope includes: • Research content: The dissertation approaches the study of competitiveness of local tourist destination – which is a specific provinve/city, without any study of evaluating competitiveness of the destination in general at macro level (national, regional…) or at micro level (town, hamlet, tourism center…), or to compare among competitiveness of industry, nation or business level Then, main research content covers: - Clarify definitions of destination and levels of destinations, tourist destination competitiveness, theoretical and methodology issues of evaluating tourist destination competitiveness - Select, design model and operationalize systems of synthesic variables, detailed variables to evaluate competitiveness of tourist destination in accordance with conditions and context of local tourist destination - Introduce actual status of management, development of Thua Thien Hue tourist destination and build competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue tourist destination - Analyze and evaluate contributing factors of competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue tourist destination - Study directions, solutions and policies to improve competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue tourist destination - In terms of space: With above-mentioned target and scope, the dissertation focuses on Thua Thien Hue tourism (mentioned as Hue in this dissertation, also compatible with usual names used in advertising strategy of Thua Thien Hue tourist destination) The selection of Hue destination is based on following criteria: - Role, location and phase of development of Hue tourist destination in Central Vietnam tourism - Importance and compatibility with tourism development planning and strategy of the local in particular and of Thua Thien Hue tourism in general - Inheritability and comparison with previous studies of evaluating competitiveness of tourist destination This is an important factor in validation study of theoretical framework - In terms of definition, competitiveness of a destination is evaluated on contributing factors of competitive factors of that destination Therefore, in this study, the choice of two nearby destinations which are Da Nang and QuangNam (Hoi An) – are destinations to share market with Hue destination, also the cooperative destination in the effort to develop regional destination – is just to provide reference information, comparable and to propose policies of destination management The analysis of these two destinations are out of the target and scope of this research • In terms of time: - Secondary data of tourist destination development is accumulated for the period of 2012-2017 - Directions and solutions to improve competitive capability ofHuếtourist destination are analyzed and proposed for the period up to 2020 Dissertation’s findings In the last two decades, tourist destination competitiveness is the matter of interest of policy makers of tourist destination management and development, travel and tourism business, and other related researchers There have been various related studies to build theoretical framework and to apply in competitive capability of tourist destination at different destination levels However, due to multidimension and complexit of the definition of competitiveness, most of studies limits at some evaluating aspects of competitiveness, except for some studies of national destination competitiveness This asserts scientific and factual significance of studies of local destination’s competitiveness evaluation Therefore, when conducting defined targets, this study has following findings: • In terms of theory: Firstly, the dissertation proposes theoretical framework to evaluate competitiveness of local destination with the system of specific measured variables in line with conditions of resources, management and development characters of destination at each level To emphasize the necessity and suitability of further research to complete theoretical framework to evaluate competitiveness of tourist destination in various levels Secondly, unlike other previous studies which focused on subjective selection and analysis of the researchers to define evaluating framework of tourist destination’s competitiveness, this is one of the first few studies to apply Delphi to search for consensus in building the framework and elaborate measured variables of destination competitiveness Therefore, proposed model in this study serves the objectiveness in science This is significant contribution in terms of theory, the result of proposed model is the useful reference for related researchers Thirdly, previous studies used Exloratory Factor Analysis (EFA) so the results are of exploratory level, there has not been any study to define and validate the suitability of the model in actual application Especially, with big number of variables and their complexity, it is necessary to have a study to validate contributing factors of tourist destination competitiveness In this study, with big sample, the combination of Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, that limitation is solved On that basis, the evaluation fo competitiveness does not limit at analyzing each individual factor, but also to analyze and show the interactivity impact among factors and to advise related management solutions • In terms of practice: Firstly, related to institution and management, provincial level is the highest level to authorize the planning and organizing stategy, plans of local tourism development Therefore, the study of competitiveness of local destination (in detail, the provincial level, centrally-governed cities) will provide suitable and useful scientific database to build and realize strategies and plans of tourist destination development Secondly, this is the first speacialized study into evaluating competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue destination accessed from the provider (expert, managers and enterprises), the usage of evaluation model of competitiveness is built on objective scientific ground, this study provides viable information of contributing factors of competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue destination, strengths, weakness compared to competitors Then, it helps policy makers of management and development strategy of Thua Thien Hue tourism destination with suitable policies to enhance competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue destination Thirdly, solutions and management policies based on objective research results would help managers and enterprises with directions and specific solutions in developing products and advertising in line with competitive advantage and comparative advantage of Hue destination, responding better to market demand, increasing toursist satisfaction, developing Thua Thien Hue tourism in a sustainable manne PART II RESEARCH CONTENT CHAPTER RESEARCH OVERVIEW Tourist destination competitiveness is matter of interest in recent decades when global tourism leaps rapidly and tourism market competition is accelerating Therefore, studies of evaluating competitiveness of tourist destination is one of important research areas to complete theoretical framework, operationalize research variables and to validate proposed models With defined objectives, the dissertation focuses to clarify basic definitions in the study of evaluating destination competitiveness as well as destination’s attraction ability, image, competitive advantage, competitive capability and their connection Competitiveness of a tourist destination is a complex and multidimensional definition due to tourism’s diversification A competitive tourist destination is defined to have the ability to create and provide products and services with outstanding quality over other destinations in order to increase tourism market share and to preserve and maintain tourism resources The review of studies evaluating competitive capability of tourist destination, combined with Report of competitive capability of tourist destination by WEF shows that popular contributing factors of competitive capability of tourist destination include: • Core tourism resources and attractive tourism spots • Policies and plans to manage and develop destinations • Factors of quality and exaggeration Besides, attraction ability of the destination and destination image are definitions related to the evaluation of competitive capability of tourist destination One of the important factors which create competitive capability of the destination is the attraction ability of the destination However, in fact, many people are confused between attraction ability and competitive capability of the destination Attraction ability of tourist destination is “reflection of perception, faith, and idea each individual possesses in the ability to satisfy customers of the destination connected with their specific travel demand”, and the attraction ability is assessed by the demand side, while competitive capability is assessed by the provider side As for destination image, it is an important factor in heighten attraction ability and competitive capability of the destination Destination image is understook to be the combination of notions, faith, impression and awareness of each individual of the tourism spot, which is one of basic factors to impact on decision making of tourist over destination selection On the basic of synthesize definitions of competitive capability of the destination, this chapter generalize systematically evaluation models of competitive capability of destinations at national level, to propose to local destinations, together with approach method and evaluation of competitive capability of tourist destination Review of outstanding international researches of tourist destination competitiveness shows that: In terms of definition, studies discuss definition issues of tourism competitive capability and tourist destination’s competitive capability In terms of conceptual framework, there is uniform in systemization and seletion of constructs reflecting competitive capability (1- resource; – supporting resource; 3destination management; 4- micro environment; 5- macro environment; – other broadening factors) In terms of approach, studies have differencies in approach such as: - Approach based on competitive advantage, industry structure, environment commitment such as Hassan 2000 - Approach based on destination’s success: tourism impact on destination, environment commitment such as Yoon, 2000; Poon, 1993 - Price competition such as Dwyer et al., 2000, 2002 In terms of evaluation and analysis method, survey target in studies is survey conducted from provider side, with Likert’s scale; EFA method; statistics-descriptive method, comparative method As for national related studies, the review shows that studies use index in the system of evaluation index over competitive capability by WEF to analyze and evaluate competitive capability of tourist destination, or to use evaluation criteria of competitive capability at national level and provincial level, to combine with index system of evaluating travel and tourism competitive capability by WEF, or to apply the model of Crouch and Richie to assess competitive capability of the destination Approach from the demand side in some studies into tourists by Thai Thanh Ha, 2010; Nguyen Thi Le Huong, 2014 As for evaluation and analysis method: to use Likert’s scale; analysis method: statistics-descriptive method (Nguyen Anh Tuan, 2010); Exploratory Factor Analysis National and international studies may be different in approaches but they all emphasize factors: resource and resource management and uniform in systemization, selection constructs reflecting competitive capability (1- resource; –supporting resource; 3- destination management; 4- micro environment; 5- macro environment; 6- other broadening factors) In empirical study, there are groups: First group: case studies to analyze strengths and weaknesses of destinations based on Porter model Second group: studies to use a survey tool to measure competitive capability of the destination and apply in national destination, territory while there are only a few studies of evaluation at local/regional destination Third group: studies to focus on specific aspects of competitive capability such as price competition Theoretical framework of competitive capability of national and local destinations Although there are lots of approaches, there are only a few studies to propose theoretical framework to measure competitive capability of a destination outstanding models to evaluate competitive capability of tourism destination are as follows: The first one is the model by Crouch and Richie (1993, 1999, 2003), this is regarded as the complete model to evaluate competitive capability of the destination and is referred to the most because it shows core factors of tourism Ritchie and Crouch’s model is different from and more advanced than other models When other models focus mostly on specific product or destination image (Schroeder, 1996; Formica, 2001), Ritchie and Crouch’s model, though developed on the basic of competitive theoretical framework by Porter, it considers all specific factors and related factors According to the two authors, competitiveness of the destination is defined by main factors: (i) core resources and attracting factors; (ii) supporting factors and resource; (iii) destination management; (iv) destination development, planning and policy; (v) broadening factors The second one is the model by Dwyer and Kim (2003), it basically shows core factors like the model by Crouch and Richie but factors are modelized more neatly The decisive factor of competitive capability includes inheritance resource, recreate resource, supporting factor, destination management, actual conditions and needs According to authors, socioi-economic prosperity is the final result of tourism competitive capability The third one is the model by Vengesayi (2003), core factors of the model are similar with the model by Crouch and Richie but it is modelized in a simpler way In the model of TDCA - Tourist Destination Competitiveness and Attractiveness, competitive capability is assessed based on main factors: (i) resources and activities, (ii) experimental environment, (iii) supporting services, and (iv) communication/ advertisement Those are study models as the ground to propose evaluation model of competitiveness of Hue destination CHAPTER CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH LOCATION AND METHOD 2.1 Characteristics of research location Hue is renowned for one of localities of diversified tourism resource with world heritages In the last two decades, Hue tourism keeps steady pace in total number of tourist and revenue, where is one of the must-travel-to destinations for national and international tourists However, compared to nearly localities like Đa Nang and Hoi An, Hue tourism still has slower pace, the average staying day is much lower and is still not improved 2.2 Research methodology This part displays research procedure and method used in this study, including quantitative and qualitative method Qualitative research result proposed preliminary model to evaluate competitive capability of Hue destination with core factor groups with 15 criteria with specific index of each criterium groups cover: Resource and core resource; destination management; basic tourism service This result is used to implement Delphi method to ensure objectivity in science in building evaluation model of competitive capability of Huế destination Methods of accumulation and data analysis used in the study of competitive capability of Huế destination are clarified 2.2.1 Design research procedure Competitive capability of tourist destination is a complex definition, especially when it is applied in each condition of management and development of each locality and each nation The design of scientific research procedure is one of the first conditions to ensure the objectivity of research activity In terms of the nature, the evaluation of competitive capability of toursit destination demands the multidisciplinary approach and on the systematical approach Therefore, the combination of research methodologies is one of the important factors to ensure pre-defined research activities 2.2.2 Data accumulation and analysis method 2.2.2.1 Data source To realize defined objectives, primary and secondary data are collected by combining qualitative and quantitative methods 2.2.2.2Qualitative research method To collect information and ideas from experts in terms of constructs and the way to operationalize them into variables, as well as the connection between them, some qualitative research is combined to apply in this study, including: in-depth interview, focus group and Delphi method This is an important step to build and complete conceptual framework to ensure scientifically plausibility 10 Literature review List general and specific indicators of destination competitiveness Qualitative research Focus group Preliminary scale with the general and specific indicators Quantitative research scale selection (Delphi method) - Identify factors of Hue destination competitiveness - Evaluate the relationship among factors of Hue destination competitiveness Frequency, Mean, CVs, ANOVA - Compare with other local competitors - Propose solutions to improve Selected scale Quantitative research scale purification (1st data) Frequency, Mean, ANOVA Cronbach’s alpha EFA - Evaluate the competitiveness of Hue destination Purified scale Quantitative research scale evaluation (2nd data) Compare destinations Cronbach’s alpha with Destination competitiveness scale is confirmed CFA Figure 2.1 Main steps of research procedure • Step Discuss to define target, content and scope of the research • Step Focus group and Delphi method: In this study, focus group is used as supervisor group in the process of Delphi Through focus group of 6-8 persons who are research members of HAT Marketing Group – School of Hospitality and Tourism, Hue University, and some experts At the same time, discuss with some tourism experts to form a proposed research framework with index to evaluate 11 other competitive capability of tourist local destination On the basic of focus group result, the author synthesize and propose groups of factor with 15 contributing factors of competitive capability to gain feedback from experts • Step Design questionnaire, pilot survey and complete the questionnaire 2.2.2.3 Quantitative research method • Survey target In this study, the target works in tourism business, managers, experts of tourism with at least 3-5 years of experience in tourism or related area, categorized in groups: Managers in businesses of tourism-hotel-restaurant-travel Manager expert in state-owned tourism departments Tourism lecturers of universities, colleges at provinces Consultation expert of tourism development • Sample size and samle selecting method In this study, the direct interview with structured questionnaire is conducted with 720 related targets in the business of tourism, management and destination management, lecturers of traning units of related area at localities: Thua Thien Hue (Hue), Da Nang and Quang Nam (Hoi An) Sample allocation is directed in the way that at least ½ sample must be conducted in Hue because research location is Hue The other sample is allocated at two comparative localities where is Da Nang Hoi An based on development scale and scope of these two areas The selection of sample at each locality is implemented with random sampling Accordingly, levels are divided into groups, factors in each group are selected randomly In detail, with 720 questionnaire delivered in areas from 4/2016 to 4/2017 including: 450 at Hue; 150 at Da Nang and 120 at Hoi An The collected sample which can be used is 444 samples at Hue (accounting for 63,79% of total collected questionnaires), 139 at Da Nang (19,97%) and113 at Hoi An (16,24%) Characteristics of the sample is synthesized at Table 2.3 • Data analysis method Due to the compexity and multidimension of the research issue, the combination of analysis method is necessary to solve pre-defined objectives In detail: o Sequential data analysis method: is used to analyze variation tendency of index over time o Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA): Part of the sample (348 samples) is used for exploratory factor analysis to define contributing factors of competitiveness of Hue destination o Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): on the basic of defined factors at the step of EFA, part of sample (348 leftover sample) is used to analyze the CFA to validate the evaluation model of Hue destination competitiveness 12 Table 2.3 Sample characteristics Index Quantity % 1, Working years Index Quantity % 2,Working years in tourism Under years 272 39.1 Under years 322 46.3 - years 199 28.6 - years 187 26.9 10 - 15 years 150 21.6 10 - 15 years 130 18.7 16 - 20 years 43 6.2 16 - 20 years 39 5.6 Over 20 years 32 4.6 Over 20 years 18 2.6 Total 696 100 Total 696 100 3, Working area 4, Age Bodies, departments 52 7.5 Under 31 316 45.4 Lecturers of University, college of tourism 69 9.9 31 - 40 261 37.5 Enterprises of travel and hotel 567 81.5 41 - 50 85 12.2 51 - 60 32 4.6 0.3 696 100 Development consultation expert Total 1.1 Over 60 696 100 Total Source: Data analysis by author 4/2016- 4/2017 13 CHAPTER ANALYZE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS OF COMPETITIVE CAPABILITY OF HUẾ DESTINATION 3.1 To propose theoretical framework to evaluate competitive capability of Huế destination In this study, on the basic of the result of focus group, structured questionnaire is desgined to proceed with Delphi method Getting feedback from experts is done through two methods which is to send questionnaires directly to experts and collect online information (Google Docs) Collected answered questionnaires are 105 (feedback rate is 91.4%), after filtering, there are 85 useable questionnaires, including 18 experts from Vietnam National Administration of Tourism; 31 experts from enterprises; 33 lecturer experts and researchers in tourism from universities, tourism institutions, and development consultation experts (Appendix 3) Study result shows that experts highly value all factor groups with 15 constructs, and most of variables to evaluate destination competitive capability that supervisor group proposes, according to which the conceptual framework to evaluate competitive capability is established (Figure 3.1) 3.2 Analyze exploratory factors of contributing factors of Huế destination With total sample from 696 experts including managers of travel and tourism business, managers, lecturers, researchers and consultation experts in tourism at Thừa Thiên Huế, Đà Nẵng and Quảng Nam, the dissertation proceed with exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and necessary validation to define contributing factors of competitive capability of Huế destination The result of confirmatory factor analysis defined factors, then, evaluation model of competitive capability of Hue destination covers factors: 1) Management acitivities; 2) Tourism humanitarian resource; 3) Toursim natural resource; 4) Basic tourism service; 5) Shopping service; 6) Safety and security; 7) Tourism service price (Figure 3.2) In terms of methodology, the validation shows that proposed evaluation model of competitive capability of Huế destination is compatible with factual number The model is generally compatible with and valued structurally with reliable and divergent scale Similarities and differencies with previous models are also discussed and elaborately assessed (Figure 3.3) 14 Natural tourism resource Cultural tourism resource RESOURCE AND CORE RESOURCES Events/Festivals Recreational activities Shopping Infrastructure Human resource development Safety and environmental hygiene Marketing and communication DESTINATION MANAGEMENT Industry connection and competition Development and management policy Stay service Food & beverage service Travel service Transportation service BASIC TOURISM SERVICE Figure 3.1 Proposed model of destination competitiveness 15 DESTINATION COMPETITIVENESS Management activities Tourism humanitarian resource Tourism natural resource DESTINATION COMPETITIVEN ESS Basic tourism service Safety and security Shopping service Figure 3.2 Revised evaluation Tourism service price model of competitiveness of Hue tourist destination Figure 3.3 Analysis result of CFA, evaluation model of competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue tourist destination 16 Above-mentioned research result shows further typical case study to confirm the compatibility, convergent and divergent value of evaluation model of competitiveness of local tourist destination In other words, in evaluation model of competitiveness of each local destination, apart from (universal attributes, it is necessary to come up with attributes suitably studied and validated with development conditions and fact of each local destination Through the model, the analysis shows clearly contributing factors of Hue destination competitiveness, and also to show strenghs and weaknesses compared to nearby destinations of Da Nang and Hoi An which is shown in detail in Table 3.1 and Table 3.2 Thesse are scientific grounds to propose solutions and policies to enhance competitiveness of Hue destination in the coming time Table 3.1 Comparison of evaluation made by experts of contributing factors of competitiveness of Hue destination Independent variables (P value)2 Factor Management activities Basic tourism service Tourism humanitarian resource Tourism natural resource Shopping service Safety and security Tourism service price General evaluation of destination competitiveness 0.071 0.115 0.493 Working years 0.011 0.081 0.006 Working years 0.038 0.580 0.155 0.207 0.508 0.147 0.525 0.145 0.462 0.863 0.060 0.002 0.065 0.952 0.267 0.044 0.003 0.985 0.679 3.45 0.231 0.413 0.184 0.115 Mean Age 3.54 0.543 3.67 0.307 4.22 0.445 3.94 3.53 3.86 3.83 Occupation Source: Survey result by the author, 4/2016-4/2017 Note: Mean according to Likert scale: 1-Very low; 2-Low; 3-Average; 4-High; 5-Very high Statistically meaningful P: P ≤ 0.1: at low level; P ≤ 0.05: meaningful; P ≤0.01 at high level; P>0.1 meaningless Date at Table 3.1shows that Hue is highly valued with most of contributors of competitiveness, in which highest valued factors are tourism natural and cultural resource, safety and security and tourism service price Result at Table 3.2 shows that, in comparison with nearby destinations, Hue outnumbers in terms of factors of natural and cultural tourism resource, similarities of destination safety and security and tourism service price with the other destinations, but Hue is weaker in factors of destination management, shopping service and even basic tourism service 17 Table 3.2 Comparison of competitiveness factors of destinations Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An Factor Management acitivities Basic tourism service Tourism humanitarian resource Natural tourism resource Shopping service Safety and security Tourism service price General evaluation of destination competitive capability Hue 3.54 3.67 4.22 3.94 3.53 3.86 3.83 Mean Da nang 4.02 4.12 3.53 3.43 3.76 4.25 3.91 Hoi An 3.72 3.75 3.83 3.26 3.61 4.04 3.66 3.45 4.14 3.53 P value 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 Source: Survey result by the author, 4/2016-4/2017 Note: * Mean according to Likert scale: 1-Very low; 2-Low; 3-Average; 4-High; 5-Very high Therefore, general evaluation of competitiveness of Hue tourist destination is lower than that of Hoi An, and much lower than that of Da nang This is also in line with research result of attraction ability of these destinations which are conducted by Bui Thi Tam and Mai Le Quyen (2012) With collecting feedback from targets (enterprise, experts and tourists) of 17 attributes of the destination, the authors show that Hue is more outstanding than Danang destination in attributes of resource, but with more drawbacks in tourism infrastructure and supporting infrastructure, products and supplementary services Then, general evaluation in terms of attraction ability of Hue destination is much lower than Da Nang destination Factual figures also show that, Da Nang and Hoi An have higher growth rate than that of Hue in total tourist number, revenue and average stay day In empirical study, specific research result confirms professional ideas by experts and managers Although Hue has advantages of tourism resource, drawbacks of destination management, product development and especially supplementary service adversely impact on competitiveness of Hue tourist destination 18 CHAPTER SOME SOLUTIONS AND POLICIES TO ENHANCE COMPETITIVENESS OF THUA THIEN HUE TOURIST DESTINATION 4.1 Strategic solutions to enhance competitive capability ofHuế destination Firstly, to complete and deploy the planning of tourism development of Thua Thien Hue province Secondly, to strenghthen the attraction of investment funds to develop tourism in socialized manner Thirdly, to invest building the infrastructure of electricity-road-transportation-communications to create favorable conditions for tourism activities Fourthly, to improve the quality of tourism human resource Fifthly, to maintain and develop cooperative relationship on regional, national and international level 4.2 Specific solutions to enhance competitiveness of Huế destination Solution cluster to develop destination management activities - Establish cooperative mechanism among related partners - Establish Destination Management Organization (DMO) to create sychronization and breakthrough in tourist destination management - Strenghen to invest in destination product quality - Complete destination management tools professionally in line with regional and international criteria - Enhance the role of association, especially Hue Tourism Association in managing tourism business in Hue and tourism service enterprises altogether - Build and locate the brand for Huế tourist destination, with defined slogan which is - ‘Huế, a hometown of happiness’, - Improve governmental management and monitoring towards tourism Solution cluster to develop and complete basic tourism service - As for stay service: To establish the mechanism of monitoring and evaluating to boost and support enterprises to renovate infrastructure to develop serving ability To offer prioritized policies to encourage enterprises to invest in Hue characterized staying products at nearby locations (such as Ecological Village of Lap An, Floating Hotel of Vinh Thanh…), to diversify products and staying forms, to enhance Hue destination competitiveness - As for food and beverage service: to have clear mechanism to support the establishment of culinary centers with unique characteristics, with quality, as well as combination in building and developing strong brandname to widespreadly advertise to markets, such as Huế Bun bo, Hue veggie rice, Huế salty cakes… - As for tourism program and experiential tourism: to define that the competition through price and products is no longer an advantage, it is more directly, the experiential tourism that tourism business offer to tourists The design and supply tourist tour need to be implemented in line with schedule, not only at tourism spots with disconnected services To pay attention on factors of experiential tourism and selling experiences, not only to provide services, typical products like now To strengthen linking and cooperating with business partners in the supply chain to diversify products, services, to create value chain to sell experiential choices to tourists, alleviate trouble, cost and get rid of inactive experiences of the tour - As for recreational activities at night: localites can learn from night market model at SiemReap to 19 mobilize 88 traditional villages at the location This night market can take place at Walking Street of Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, to combine with detailed planning project at Huong River Bank sponsored by KOICA To encourage enterprises to build route, tours along Huong river (enjoy culinary products, Hue folk music in dragon boat, or to learn from rubbish cleaning for more beautiful view at Hội An) - As for transportation service: overland system ensures the connection between Hue city and hamlets, towns in the province and nearby provinces Solution cluster to improve shopping service - To create local signature products and to organize the selling and display of these signature products - To strengthen management and quality assurance of products - To diversify local signature products in line with various needs on the market Solution cluster to manage and mobilize tourism resource value Manage, deploy resources in a sustainable manner - Digitize Global Positioning System and Global Information System as the ground fo the management and suitable deployment of tourism resource on the track of forming ”smart tourist destination” - Localities need to have appropriate exploitation plan of natural and cultural tourism resource - To boost cooperation activities of culture, education, training, to enhance diplomatic activities through asscociations and social organizations, towards multifaceted cooperation in economy, culture, social activity, research program of cultural resource, relationship and impact of cultural heritage Conservate and mobilize resource value - To offer policy, clear strategy, plan with specific schedule as for conservation activities - To invest in infrastructure and supporting means to exploit tourism-served resource without advese impact on resources, especially natural tourism resource - To emphasize on developing information system and interpretation activities to ensure converting the true value of provincial resource, to enhance experiential value and satisfaction for tourists - To strengthen mechanism and management solutions, to effectively monitor tourist activities at resource spots to minimize adverse impact on natural and social environment at resource spot - To enhance communication and propaghanda widespread in terms of resource value, institutional issues, legalizations and stipulations of conservation of resource value to attract the participation of stakeholders in exploitation, usage and conservation of resources Solution cluster to improve tourism environment, destination safety and security - To develop management and environment protection, to pay attention on environment hygience, collect rubbish at tourist spot and nearby areas, to strengthen the combination among related governmental departments with enterprises and local people at the destination - To plan and invest in public hygiene spots of tourism standards To equip with clear signals and instructions at tourist spots, as well as other service convennience for tourists - To intertwine environmental issues in general economic development of localities in the whole province and to create mechanism to ensure the implementation of strategies and plans in a sustainable way - To ensure safety and security for tourists, to get rid of beggars, stalking, especially at historical momuments and festivals 20 - To control and monitor the service price to be made public and to ensure committed quality - To propaghande widespread and to have mechanism of encouragement and punishment towards the alignment with Code of Conduct of tourism in the province To ensure food safety, to prevent fire To improve the supervision towards enterprises of abiding by these stipulations - To create favorable legal environment for tourism business in fair competititon - To develop quality of business environment and improve linkage among stakeholders of the sector including managing departments, hotels, tourist spots, tour agencies, tourist guides, and local community Solution cluster to implement destination marketing and communication -To emphasize on research, building market database as the basis to define target market, to build marketing and communication strategy for Hue destination -To mobilize the community participation (maybe through contests) to search for ideas to transfom resources into true tourism products, for selling experiences To build tourism story, make them into legend, epics of nature and human of Hue, to complete scripts and interpretation of outstanding tourism resource to convey in the best way the nature value of resources, to develop unforgetable experiences when tourists visit Huế - To build communication strategy for brand name and Hue destination image by exploiting suitable marketing tools To develop the system of brand identity for Huế tourism into topics and logos to strengthen advertisement on the mass media and online tools - To develop encouragement activities with internal market by mass media, fairs, tourism exhibitions, roadshows linked with localities in the region and nationwide As for international market, it is possible to attend fairs at important market in ASEAN (ITB – Singapore), Germany (IBT fair), Japan (JATA)…To organize programs of famtrip, presstrip from markets of France, Japan, Korea - To quickly upgrade and effectively operate electronic information gate of Hue tourism, connecting websites of the province, of the central and of travel companies, with applications on mobile phones to convey and advertise more abundantly with information and image of Huế tourism - On the basic of completing destination database, system of brand identity and feedback, to strengthen advertisement through online marketing pages (Tripadvisor, booking.com, agoda, traveloka), social network (Youtube, Fanpage, Twitter, Instagram…) - To improve web for periodical festivals of Huế and to ensure constant and speedy information to markets - To strenghthen communication for intertwined program of culture, connection activities, contests at national and international level organized at Hue 21 PART III CONCLUSION (1) The dissertation generalizes in a systematic manner theoretical and empirical issues of tourist destination, tourist destination levels, tourist destination’s competitiveness, contributing factors of destination competitiveness, as well as national and international studies to exploit and inherit related research results to use as the ground for theoretical and empirical foundation of the dissertation Especially, it shows spaces that the dissertation needs to study to have theoretical and empirical findings (2) By analyzing definitions, theoretical frameworks and application frameworks in previous studies, together with methods of measuring and analyzing destination competitiveness nationally and internationally, the author proposes a model to study competitiveness compatible with local tourist destination This model receives feedback and consensus from tourism experts at Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and various localities nationwide Accordingly, this model chooses to evaluate competitiveness of Hue tourist destination with main factor groups which are ”Resource and core resource”, ”Management activities” and ”Basic tourism services” together with specific index system for each factor (3) With the survey to 696 tourism experts, the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), the dissertation defines contributing factors of competitiveness of Hue tourist destination, including factors: 1) Management activities; 2) Tourism humanitarian resource; 3) Tourism natural resource; 4) Basic tourism services; 5) Shopping service; 6) Safety and security; 7) Tourism service price (4) The factor model is used to measure and analyze competitiveness of Huế destination in the comparison with nearby destinations of Da Nang and Hoi An The result shows that although Hue has outstanding advantage of tourism resource, the drawbacks of destination management, product development and especially supplementary services adversely impact on the competitiveness of Hue tourist destination (5) The result provides with more typical case studies of building evaluation model of competitiveness of local destination and of selecting suitable evaluation method The dissertation shows that apart from universal attributes, there must be attributes to be studied and appropriately validated with conditions and development fact of each local destination (6) On the basic of theoretical issues and by analyzing contributing factors of competitiveness of Hue tourist destination, the dissertation proposes strategic solutions and specific solutions to develop Hue tourism in the coming time 22 AUTHOR’S PUBLICATIONS Lê Thị Ngọc Anh (2017), Application of Delphi method in developing conceptual framework for assessment of tourism destination competitiveness, Journal of Science-Hue University, Vol 126, No 5A Lê Thị Ngọc Anh, Đinh Thị Khánh Hà, Hoàng Thị Huế (2017), Competitive and cooperative strategy in tourism at small and medium- sized hotels in tourism business in Hue city, Journal of Science-Hue Univeristy,Vol 126, No 5A Bùi Thị Tám, Lê Thị Ngọc Anh, Hoàng Thị Huế (2017), Using structural equation model for measuring competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue tourist destination, Journal of Science-Hue University, Vol 126, No 5D Lê Thị Ngọc Anh (2017), Tourism resource factor in competitive capability of tourist destination Thua Thien Hue, Journal of Science-Hue University, Vol126, No 5D Đinh Thị Khánh Hà, Hoàng Thị Huế, Lê Thị Ngọc Anh (2016), Building a model evaluating competitiveness of local tourist destinations, Journal of Science-Hue University, Vol 118, No 23 ... Introduce actual status of management, development of Thua Thien Hue tourist destination and build competitiveness of Thua Thien Hue tourist destination - Analyze and evaluate contributing factors... of evaluating competitiveness of tourist destination This is an important factor in validation study of theoretical framework - In terms of definition, competitiveness of a destination is evaluated... lower than Da Nang destination Factual figures also show that, Da Nang and Hoi An have higher growth rate than that of Hue in total tourist number, revenue and average stay day In empirical study,