Building the loyalty of tourists to vietnam beach tourism

This is explained by the following facts: first, loyalty of visitors to a destination will contribute significantly to increase the profit of the tourism enteprises and the development o

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction

In recent years, the satisfaction and loyalty of visitors with a destination have drawn

the attention of many researchers in the world (Niininen et al., 2004; Valle et al., 2006)

This is explained by the following facts: first, loyalty of visitors to a destination will

contribute significantly to increase the profit of the tourism enteprises and the

development of tourism at the destination; second, the necessary to better understand the

role of each factor under different aspects such as destination quality, satisfaction of

tourists, destination of knowledge, involvement of tourists, variety - seeking as well as the

demographic characteristics of tourists in explaining their loyalty to beach tourist

destination This information is considered valuable for businesses, tourism managers in

making decisions related to building loyal tourists for beach tourism today

1.2 Necessity of the research

1.2.1 Practical perspective

Vietnam has the advantage of being a country with a long coastline of over 3,000

km, thousands of large and small islands, numerous beaches with white sand, and blue

water They are favorable conditions for developing beach tourism However, the tourism

industry including beach tourism is now faced with the issues related to the limitations of

the services quality at the destination including shopping services, entertainment, food,

transportation and accommodation, etc The limitations impact on: (1) the percentage of

tourists (including foreign tourists) re-visiting to the destinations; (2) expenditure for

shopping activities/total cost of the trip; (3) average length of stay; (4) tourist’s comments

on the destination quality Thus, the prime challenge for the rapid development and

building sustainable competitive advantage of Vietnam's tourism industry is not only how

to provide a solution to increasing the number of tourists, but also how to improve service

quality, the visitor’s satisfaction to extend the length of her/his stay, encourage visitors to

actively introduce new tourists to the beache destinations, and also actively return to visit

them The thesis, therefore, will analyzise and clarify the factors of visitor’s loyalty to

beach destinations Analysis of visitor’s loyalty for beaches destinations (typically

obtained through three beaches: City of Nha Trang, Da Nang and Vung Tau), as to make

proposals for tourism enterprises and tourism management at the national and local level

in order to build vistor’s loyalty to beaches destinations This is a necessary condition of

the practical perspective of Vietnam's tourism industry development

1.2.2 Theoretical perspective

The study is based on the loyalty of visitors to the destination It points out that one

of the factors to encourage them return to visit is their satisfaction with previous

destinations (Alegre & Cladera, 2006, Yoon & Uysal, 2005) However, the main

motivation of a visitor’s satisfaction is his/her awareness of the sevice quality at the

destination (destination quality) (Backer & Crompton, 2000) Research indicates that

natural relationships between service quality-satisfaction-loyalty in marketing in general

and tourism in particular is quite complex (Chi & Qu, 2008; Seiders et al., 2005) In the

tourism perspective, to study the effects of different components of the service quality to

the satisfaction and loyalty of tourists are still subject to many restrictions and debate

Specifically, the previous studies identified that the perceived service quality as well as a

quality destination is the general concept and direct impact on visitors’ satisfaction and

loyalty (Crompton & Love, 1995) Some other studies, meanwhile, considere service

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quality through multiple different components, by using scales service quality SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al., 1988) Particular are studies on the approach in the Western culture perspective, where the development of tourism services very modern and overexploitation of natural resources and other resources for tourism development (Truong

& King, 2009) Meanwhile, the problem in the development of Vietnam's beach tourism is how to link between development and conservation or conservation of valuable natural gifts The question is how to evaluate the impact of service quality components to point to the satisfaction and loyalty of visitors, thereby focusing attention to factors needing investment What factors need to preserve is a matter of concern From this perspective, the author suggests that researchers consider how the development of different components of destination quality will inpact on satisfaction and loyalty of visitors, in order to meet the needs of theoretical perspective

In particular, the complex relationship between the satisfaction-loyalty is interested

by a number of researchers This is explained by the different effects of these moderators variables Study of moderators variables, however, on demographic characteristics (age, gender, income) as well as attitude strength construct (involvement, the knowledge of destination, variety-seeking (psychological interest in exploring which new visitors ) affect the relationship between satisfaction, and the different components of loyalty visitors is very limited in the field of tourism; special especially lacks in Vietnam Meanwhile, this is the impact on changing the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty of visitors and is significant for the development of policy to impact on the related factors Consequently, studies related to the impact of these variable moderators on the relationship satisfaction-loyalty of tourists to a destination for tourism in the context of Vietnam will meet the needs of theoretical and practical perspectives

1.3 Research objectives

The overall objective of the study is to build tourists’ loyalty to Vietnam beach tourism (the intention to return to visit, intention to encourage other visitors to visit in the Vietnamese tourism destination)

Specific objectives:

(1) Exploring the factors (components) of different destination quality effects on the tourist’s satisfaction at a destination

(2) Exploring the factors (components) of different destinations quality effects on different aspects of destination loyalty (intention to return to visit, intention to suggest to others to visit)

(3) Testing of the effects of variables moderatorsuch as demographic characteristics (gender, age, average income) as well as attitude/satisfaction strength construct (knowledge of destinations, involvement, variety seeking) in the relationship between satisfaction and various aspects of destination loyalty (the intention to return to visit, intention to encourage other visitors to visit the Vietnam beaches destination tourism)

1.4 Research questions

(1) How do the factors of different destination quality influence visitor’s satisfaction at

a destination?

(2) How do the factors of different destination quality influence the difference aspects

of destination loyalty (intention to return to visit, intention to suggest to others to visit)

(3) How do the moderator’s variables such as demographic characteristics (gender, age,

average income) as well as attitude strength construct (knowledge of destinations,

involvement, variety seeking) influence the relationship between satisfaction and

various aspects of destination loyalty (the intention to return to visit, intention to

encourage other visitors to visit in the Vietnam beaches destination tourism)

1.5 Subject and scope of research

This study is based on the samples collected randomly from domestic tourists at

other hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions in three beaches: Nha Trang, Vung Tau, Da

Nang, during the period from May to August 2012 The selection of these three cities

mentioned above is needed to balance between visitors to of regional beach tourism in

Vietnam This is typical of the local tourism development and marine tourism which is

less affected by seasonality than in the provinces of the north In addition, in recent years,

this has been pretty typical of three beaches cities in the selection of domestic tourists

1.6 Research model

The research model in which the visitor’s loyalty will be an entirely dependent

variable and influenced by the different components of the destination quality

(accommodations, food, tour, attraction of beach city; local people, shopping services,

entertainment, recreation ); visitor’s satisfaction At the same time, the role as variable

moderators characteristics of visitors’ demographics (gender, age, average income) as well

as attitude strength (knowledge of destinations, tourist’s involvement, variety seeking) in

the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty of visitors will also be addressed in the

model

1.7 New contributions of the thesis

New contributions to theoretical and methodological aspects

New contributions to the theoretical aspect: Based on the theory of consumer

behavior and tourist’s loyalty in the tourism sector, this doctoral thesis has focused on the

clarifying the theoretical basis of visitor’s loyalty, and the factors that influence the loyalty

as a basis for offer three new researches, namely:

(1) Establish the need to access quality beach tourism destination in view of the

components (elements) as well as the degree of their influence on different

satisfaction, and loyalty of visitors to the beach tourism destination

(2) The components of the attitude strength (destination knowledge, involvement in

beach tourism, variety seeking of tourists) as moderate effects for example, making

the relationship between tourist’s satisfaction and loyalty to beach destinations to

increase or decrease various)

(3) The components of the demographic characteristics (age and income) as moderate

effect (for example, making the relationship between tourists’ satisfaction and

loyalty to beach destinations to increase or decrease various)

New contributions to the methodological aspect: this doctoral thesis has applied

research methodology by combining the qualitative and quantitative method (multivariate

research model that takes into account mediator and moderator variables), with techniques

to handle data at the AMOS software for research into beach tourism in Vietnam

New conclusions and recommendations from the research fidings

For the tourism enterprise: The quality of accommodation, restaurant, and tour

sevices has the greatest influence on the satisfaction and loyalty of tourists to Vietnam

beach tourism Meanwhile tourist resources play an important role in increasing the

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attractiveness of beach tourism destination Therefore, tourism enterprises need to: (1) Focuse on the study and classification of visitors’ premise customer data to build the cruise; (2) Improve the quality of business services to meet the needs of each target group visitors; (3) Improve the quality of human resources in the tourism enterprises themselves For tourism management agencies at the local beach tourism: First, policies should

be developed for tourism services, to take care of “loyalty of visitors” in order to increase the loyalty of groups of tourists such as: married; high income; higher levels of education; over 50 years old Second, there should be further development of new tourism services, continuous improvement of services to “entice” young unmarried visitors to develop their loyalty to the destination Third, increase investment in improving the quality of accommodation facilities, restaurant, tour, shopping, and entertainment facilities from which to build and promote the brand image of beach tourism This will contribute to increasing tourists’ knowledge, their involvement with services such as beach tourism destination “Unique - Safe – Civilized - Friendly”

For tourism management agencies at the national level: (1) First, the policies should preserve and conserve the cultural value of coastal fishermen, conservation and development of beaches bays, beach protected areas associated with the maintenance of the beach ecological environment; (2) there should development of policies transportation system safe destination associated with inter-regional, and inter-disciplinary aspects; (3) policies should educate, about the role and position of beach, marine economics, and marine tourism the local people and communicate

1.8 Thesis outline:

Besides the introduction and conclusion, the thesis consists of five chapters and is structured as follows: Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: An overview of the theoretical aspect; Chapter 3: Research methodology; Chapter 4: Research findings; Chapter 5: Implications and recommendations

Chapter 2: AN OVERVIEW OF THE THEORETICAL ASPECT

2.1 Introduction

The purpose of the reviewing theories include: (1) The theory of consumer behavior

in tourism; (2) The different views concerning customer’s loyalty; (3) Factors impacting

on loyalty; (4) The gap theory needs further study; and (5) The reseach proposal models

and hypotheses

2.2 The theory of consumer behavior in tourism

2.2.1 The concepts concering consumer behavior in tourism

Consumer behavior in tourism is interpreted as visitor’s behavior in finding,

purchasing, using, evaluating and removing of the products/services which they want to

satisfy the needs of the trip Consumer behavior in tourism focuses on individual decision

-making as to how to use the available resources (time, money, effort) and the

consumption of tourism-related products in the trip

Consumer’s tourism is understood as buyers of tourism products to meet the

personal needs and wants They are the ultimate consumers of tourism products due to

manufacturing/supply business enterprises/destination

Consumer’s tourism market is where the participation of individuals, househomes,

and groups exists and potential buyers of tourism products aim at satisfying their

individual needs/wishes

2.2.2 The research model in consumer behavior in tourism

The general model of consumer behavior in tourism indicates the individual

consumer decision making in tourism depends on two groups of factors The first group is

the stimulus from the external factors (economic, political, socio-cultural, technology,

nature, the elements of Marketing - Mix of business tourism unit) Meanwhile, the second

group is the domestic factors or tourist consumers (personality and psychological

characteristics, cognitive processes, involvement, variety seeking, evaluation the quality of

the product/service tourism, attitudes toward tourism products selected, and the decision to

select travel products…)

The model of consumer behavior of visitors (Mathieson & Wall, 1982) including

five stages (identifying needs, wants, selecting information regarding the trip, decision

making of destination choice, travel; experience evaluating and deciding to go back)

Stimulus-Response model (Middleton, 1994) shows the interaction of four components

(stimulating travel, personal factors, social factors, characteristics of the destination) with the

central component being characteristics of visitors and their making-decisions

2.3 Customer’s loyalty

2.3.1 The research related to customer’s loyalty

For nearly 80 years, the studies of customer’s loyalty have become a topic of great

concern to the researchers (Rundle-Thiele, 2005) The concept of loyalty has been

developed through three basic aspects: (1) Acts of brand choice/use of customer service;

(2) Buttons attitude towards the customer for the purchase of a brand; (3) Combining the

above two aspects (Jacoby & Chestnut, 1978; Rundle-Thiele, 2005)

2.3.2 Behavioural loyalty

Customer’s loyalty is defined as behavior in choicing the brand/repurchase (Jacoby

& Chestnut 1978) In the tourism perspectice, customer’s behavioural loyalty is as

following: (1) Residence time (Iwasaki and Havitz, 1998); (2) Intensity (time of the

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purchase, use, or participation in recreational activities every day/week/month/year) (Iwasaki & Havitz, 1998); and (3) Frequency (quantity purchase, use, or participate in a certain time period) (Petrick, 2004) In this thesis, the author proposes that behavioural loyalty is interpreted as a set of reactions of visitors which can be observed through the frequency of their back travel in a defined time period (number of back travel to the destination in a defined time period) and the length of stay at the destination of that tourist (staying in one of the day trips)

2.3.3 Attitudinal loyalty

Attitudinal loyalty is defined as the attitude of the customer's perception of a certain behavior This is expressed through the psychological constraints, intention to buy the brand or using service providers, as well as suggestions from others or to speak well of a product/service for them (Oliver, 1999) In this thesis, the author proposes that attitudinal loyalty is interpreted as the visitor’s preference/intention to return to a tourist destination (as measured through statements such as: will/ intent/desire/ability) and intention to suggest to others about travel destinations (as measured through speech-related mouth intentions as: will/intent/desire to )

2.3.4 Composite loyalty

Some researchers exploit the aspects of customer loyalty by using the concept of composite loyalty (Backman & Crompton, 1991; Morais et al., 2004) (attitudinal loyalty, behavioral loyalty, and composite loyalty) The thesis presents concepts related to the loyalty of tourists based on the synthesis of previous research in many different fields and statements of loyalty visitors which have access to the three main aspects of the measure

as follows:

First, behavioural loyalty in toursim is the behavior of visitors expressed through the frequency of their back travel in a defined time period and their length of stay

Second, attitudinal loyalty in tourism is interpreted as the visitor’s preference/ intention to return to a tourist destination and his/ her intend to introduce others to travel destinations

Third, composite loyalty is defined as a combination of commitment or frequency of tourist’s return travel which stems from their positive attitude to specific destinations

2.3.5 Factors impacting on visitor’s loyalty

The identification of factors affecting tourists' loyalty plays a very important role in the development of their loyalty to a tourist destination (Chi & Qu, 2008; Morais et al., 2004) If the researchers point out where the fundamentals have great influence on customer loyalty, it would be really useful to managers as well as corporate sectors in developing measures to influence on the factors that contribute to building loyalty travelers

Attitudinal loyalty

• Service quality;

• Satisfaction;

• Brand trust;

• Switching costs;

• Variety seeking;

• Reliability of provider;

• Sự quan tâm đến thị trường tham gia;

• Marketplace involvement;

• Perceived value;

• Knowledge

Behavioural loyalty

• Service quality

• Satisfaction;

• Switching costs;

• Lack of suitable alternatives;

• Economic costs;

• Brand image;

• Service recovery;

• Strength of preference;

• Customer involvement;

• Attitudinal loyalty

Figure 1.2: Factors impacting on customer’s loyalty in the service and tourism area

Based on many different studies in the world, the author finds that there are many

factors that affect customer’s loyalty in the research of service and tourism areas The

factors mentioned above may impact directly, linear and customer loyalty In addition,

some factors include indirect effects, linear or non-linear In addition, the nature of the

impact factor is not the same Specifically, some factors that influence positively (for

example making customers more loyal to the destination) while other factors have a

negative impact However, in this thesis, the author focuses on two main groups of factors

related to consumer behavior theory in tourism:

Group 1: Factors belonging to different components of destination quality,

tourist’s satisfaction effect on visitor’s loyalty to the beaches cities

Group 2: The role moderator of some factors which makes the relationship between

satisfaction and loyalty of visitors for destination change (positive relationship, negative,

linear or non-linear)

2.4 Destination quality

2.4.1 The research related to destination quality

Visitors have the opportunity to have access to many different services in a

destination so the evaluation of perceived quality of tourist services is complex (Crompton

& Love, 1995) The concept of “destination quality” indicates the attributes of service

introduced by service providers in a destination, namely: quality of roads, airports, ports,

hotels, restaurants, bars, communications systems, parks, amusement parks, sports

activities, area museums, historical sites, the level of security, political stability, the price

of items, atmosphere, weather, noise pollution, traffic congestion Moreover, some other

factors can also help us to assess the destination quality such as tourism resources in rural

areas, the friendliness and hospitality of the local population, language problems (Backer

& Crompton, 2000; Beerli & Martin, 2004) Apart from the research in the beaches cities,

besides some components of destination quality are mentioned above, the components of

the beaches tourism resources also play a vital role in creating an attractive destination and

enticing visitors to return

2.4.2 The relationship between destination qualities with visitor’s loyalty

Type 1: Focus on the direct relationships, positive, linear between service quality

and customer loyalty (Chi & Qu, 2008; Truong & King, 2008; Yoon & Uysal, 2005)

Type 2: The role moderator of custormer’s satisfaction in the relationship between

destination quality and customer loyalty (Caruana, 2002; Yu et al., 2005)

Type 3: Destination quality effect on customer’s loyalty by both direct and indirect

through satisfaction (Baker and Crompton, 2000; Lee et al., 2004)

In this thesis, the destination quality is a multidimensional concept including

components (accommodation, food, tour, entertainment, recreation, transportation,

shopping, attractive beach resources, hosts .) The influence on the satisfaction and

loyalty of visitors is essential

2.5 Customer’s satisfaction

2.5.1 The research related to customer’s satisfaction

Oliver (1997) suggests that satisfaction is the process of “fully meeting customer’s

needs”; customers will be satisfied if the products and services are provided to meet their

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expectations Zeithaml et al., (1996) emphasize that satisfaction is considered the state level of customer feelings through comparative awareness of a product/service to expectation This study uses the concept of tourist’s satisfaction as a result of the comparison sense when using products/services in a destination with the expectation that tourists pose before using the product/services

2.5.2 The relationship between satisfaction and loyalty

Type 1: Focus on direct relationships, positive, linear between customer’s

satisfaction and loyalty (Chi & Qu, 2008; Truong & King, 2008; Yoon & Uysal, 2005)

Type 2: Focus on the two aspects of direct impact, linear, non-linear by the different

effects of variables moderator such as demographic characteristics (age, gender, income) (Cooil et al., 2007; Homburg & Giering, 2001), or strengths attitudes such as involvement, knowledge, varieting seeking, preperence conflict, degree of certainty (Chandrashekaran

et al., 2007; Seiders et al., 2005)

Thus, the complexity of the relationship between customer’s satisfaction and loyalty, in other words the gap, especially the role of moderator-personal variables in studies concerning the relationship between these two factors should be further implemented in the subsequent studies in different contexts, including the tourism perspective

2.6 The factors which play the role as moderators in the relationship between customer’s satisfaction- and loyalty

2.6.1 The components of attitude strength

2.6.1.1 Knowledge of destination Concept

Knowledge is indicated as subjective evaluation of visitors relevant to performing a specific task (Gallarza et al., 2002) The thesis examines the perspective of knowledge as visitor’s knowledge or capacity to access new information of the marine tourism destination

The role of knowledge of destination in the relationship between satisfaction and customer loyalty

Visitor’s evaluation of the destination is effected by their knowledge (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999), satisfaction, and intention to WOM and intention to return to visit The relationship between satisfaction and loyalty is stronger for the visitors much private/understanding of destination (Beerli &Martin, 2004)

2.6.1.2 Visitor’s Involvement in the beach Concept

Involvement is the combination of the level of awareness of personal issues with either the importance of the product/service in the customer's consumption (Homburg & Giering, 2001) This thesis inherits the concepts of involvement mentioned above and uses

it to grow as awareness of the importance of beaches tourism activities for visitors in the context of business tourism destinations in Vietnam

The role of tourist’s involvement in the relationship between customer’s satisfaction and loyalty

Customers have a high level of involvement in the product/service will lead to attention seeking information related to the product/service (Mittal, 1989; Homburg & Giering, 2001) A high level of involvement they tend to search for and consume such products and services Therefore, the involvement is expected as moderator variables in

the relationship between customer’s satisfaction and after-sales service and customer’s

loyalty

2.6.1.3 Variety seeking (finding new destiantions)

Concept

Variety seeking is seen as the motivation persperctive, the diversity of behavior is

found as a tool or function of the diversity of choice (Bansal et al, 2005) The motivation

of variety seeking means that customers prefer to search for a new brand to have a variety

of brands, whether customers are satisfied with the original brand This is the result of

changing shopping behavior (Steenkamp & Baumgartner, 1992) This thesis develop the

concept in previous studies in many fields, and for that (variety seeking), or psychological

interested in exploring new destinations of tourists is choice behavior towards a new

destination which replaces the destination before

The role of variety seeking in the relationship between customer’s satisfaction and loyalty

Variety seeking of customers will affect the relationship between satisfaction and

loyalty of customers for products/services (Homburg & Giering, 2001) In the field of

tourism, tourists prefer to seek diversity in tourism products will reduce the relationship

between satisfaction and loyalty to the destination rather than looking at the diversity

2.6.2 The components of demographic characteristics

2.6.2.1 Gender

Homburg & Giering (2001) has suggested that gender influences moderate in the

relationship between satisfaction and loyalty of customers when shopping In the tourism

perspective, the research of Pizam et al (2004) indicates that men differ from women in

detination loyalty Particularly, those who prefer the outdoors, seek change, even though

they are satisfied with the service at the destination, but it is hard to go back the next time

2.6.2.2 Age

Homburg và Giering (2001) has proposed that age plays a moderator role in the

relationship between satisfaction and loyalty of customers

2.6.2.3 Income

Homburg và Giering (2001) has proposed that income plays a vital importance

moderator role in the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty of customers

2.7 The research proposal and hypotheses

2.7.1 Mode 1: The relationship between components of destination quality and

visitor’s satisfaction and loyalty

The study will test the positive impact of the different components of destination

quality on the tourist’s satisfaction At the same time, the study also will test the positive,

linear relationship between the different components of the destination quality with

visitor’s loyalty Finally, this study will suggest a positive linear relationship between the

tourist’s satisfaction and the components of destination loyalty; intention to WOM has a

positive impact on the intention to return to visit

2.7.2 Model 2: The relationship between the visitor’s satisfaction and loyalty: the role

moderate of knowledge of destination, involvement, variety seeking

The relationship between satisfaction and loyalty of visitors will increase by a

moderate impact of destination knowledge and involvement in beach travel while this

relationship will be reduced by the impact of varieting seeking

2.7.3 Model 3: The relationship between visitor’s satisfaction-loyalty: the role moderate

of demographic characteristics (age, gender, income)

The relationship between satisfaction and loyalty of visitors will decrease for males

than females; for younger people than older people and for people with higher income than

people with low incomes

Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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3.1 Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to present the methodology used in the dissertation process, namely: (1) Research design (research methodolygy, process of conducting research); (2) Building scale; (3) Data analysis (statistical analysis, synthesis comparable, quantitative analysis) with two dedicated software SPSS 16.0 and AMOS 16.0 Finally, this chapter also shows the results of the preliminary assessment scales as prerequisite for the design of the questionnaire which served formal quantitative research on a large scale

3.2 Research design

3.2.1 Research methodolygy

This study has been carried out in two steps: (1) Preliminary research conducted through qualitative methods, while (2) the official research has done by quantitative methods

3.2.2 Reseach process

Research into consideration of the scale construction process based on Churchill (1979) as suggested

3.2.3 Research sample

In this study, in oder to ensure the sample size for research the author balances the sample selected after discussion and review all of the estimated parameters in the model, namely: all indicators used to measure the 52 observed variables (including 05 indicators measuring demographic factors; 02 indicators measuring loyalty behavior; 06 indicators measuring attitudinal loyalty; 08 indicators measuring satisfaction; 21 indicators measuring destination quality; 03 indicators measuring knowledge of destination; 03 indicators measuring involvement; 03 indicators measuring the variety seeking, 01 indicators measuring visitor’s motivation; and 08 research concepts Based on the measurement indicators, the sample sizes conducted in this study for each destination is 60

* 5 = 300 observations; the total sample size is 900 observations

3.3 Building scale

Table 3.0 The origin of the scale

Construct

Number

of indicators

Origin of the scale

Rojas và Camerero (2008)

(2008); Truong và King (2009)

* Some indicators measuring research concept is based on developing expert method

3.4 Data analysis procedures

Using SPSS 16.0 to analyze the Cronbach Alpha coefficient for rejecting the

indicators which have the correlate with the total is small, and to test Cronbach's Alpha In

addition, SPSS16.0 will also be used to Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) At the same

time, the thesis uses AMOS 16.0 for Conformatory Facotr Analysis (CFA) in oder to

assess the scale before being put into the area of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)

3.5 Results of preliminary quantitative research

The objective of preliminary quantitative research is a completed surveys

questionnaires which serve official quantitative research Thus, the preliminary study

results allowed the authors to propose a new questionnaire to serve official quantitative

research

Table 3.13 Sum up the results of the preliminary scale assessment for research into

service officies

Construct Numble of indicators Conclusion

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Chapter 4: THE RESEARCH FINDINGS 4.1 Introduction

The goal of this chapter is to present the results of data analysis and testing of hypotheses First, the characteristics related to demographics of the study sample will be presented to the local destinations Second, the study will present the results from the ANOVA analysis to test the difference in the average value according to the demographic characteristics (age, gender, marital status, educational level and income) Third, the study will present the results of factor analysis and reliability of the measurement scale Fourth, the study will present the results of testing the components of the proposed model Finally, the study will explain the results of the impact of abstinence involved in the proposed research model

4.2 Sample characteristics

4.2.1 Characteristics of the study area

Characteristics of the study area were analyzed under the following perspectives: (1) Beaches tourism resources; (2) The facilities for the development of beaches tourism; (3) Tourism product and tourism business of the three destinations to be selected

4.2.2 Sample

This study is based on collecting randomly samples of domestic visitor’s accessing hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions in three beaches tourism Cities (Nha Trang, Da Nang, Vung Tau) In addition, a number of similarities to the natural conditions of the beach areas in central and south Viet Nam such as blue sea, white sand, sunshine, with beautiful islands are also considered Direct interviews with 900 visitors (nearly 100 questionnaires with more questions left blank item has been removed) The structure of the sample is distributed as follows: the total 812 repondents includes 57,4% of men; rate of travel of the married participants is over 60%; aged 22 to 35 participating in most beach tourism (39,70%); Nearly 70% of respondents have a university, post graduate, college and high school degree transition activities engaged in the beach; nearly half of the respondents indicated their average income ranging from 5 to 10 million VND/month (average income of individuals in the study sample is 4.35 million VND/month) Distribution of the sample according to the origin of the visitors show that tourists from

Ho Chi Minh City account for the highest rate, followed by visitors from Hanoi Besides noteworthy is that tourists tend to choose the cruise destinations close to where they reside more Finally, test Skewness and Kurtosis parameters of components age, education level, income per capita shows that the values obtained are less than 1 Thus, the structure of the demographic characteristics responds quite well the distribution of sample preparation

Table 4.2 Sample distribution

Origin distribution (where the visitor goes)

Resource: research findings by the author from May to August/2012

4.3 Analysis of the characteristics of research concepts

4.3.1 Behavioural loyalty

Table 4.4: Average time return travel X city within 5 years

Indicator

Average time return travel X city

within 5 years

Total Average

time

1 Time

2 Times

3 Times

4 Times

Over 5 Times

Percentage (%) 42.7 23.9 13.9 10.0 9.5 100

Total time 347 388 339 324 358 1783 2.19

Resource: research findings by the author from May to August/2012

Table 4.5: Average number of days of stay in the city of X in the last 5 years

Indicator

Average number of days of stay in the city of

X in the last 5 years

days

1 (From 1

to 2 days) (1.5)

2 (From 3

to 4 days) (3.5)

3 (From 5

to 6 days) (5.5)

4 (Over 7 days) (7)

Percentage (%) 69.60 25.70 4.70 0.40

Resource: research findings by the author from May to August/2012

4.3.2 Attitudinal loyalty

The results indicate that for the indicator to the visitor’s intention to return to visit

the beach city, most travelers intend to return to visit in the range of from 4 points to 7

points, the average score is 5.5 At the same time, this study also considers the average

scores of tourists’ reply to intend to suggest for others which ranges from 5.41 to 5.67, on

average, over 90% of respondents have a plan to suggest for relatives, friends to visit in

the beach city X

4.3.4 The ANOVA test for the difference values of the loyalty concepts related to

demographic characteristics (age, education level, income)

The difference is not statistically significant in value mean between the age groups,

education levels and income related to behavioural loyalty

The difference is not statistically significant in the value mean of stays between age

groups, education levels

The difference is statistically significant at level (p<0.05) of the value mean of the

length of stay between those with different incomes

The difference is statistically significant at level (p<0.05) between the age groups

and income related to the assessment of the return to visit

The difference is not statistically significant in the value mean of attitudinal loyalty

among educated groups

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Final, the difference is statistically significant at level (p<0.05) between the age groups, education levels and income related to the assessment of the intention to suggest other people to travel in the city of X

4.3.5 Visitor’s motivation

Table 4.9 Visitor’s motivation to the beach City Chỉ tiêu Visitor’s motivation to the beach City

Visit, relax

MICE Visiting

relatives and friends

Trading Health Others

Percentage (%) 55.20 15.80 11.50 10.50 5.20 2.00

Resource: research findings by the author from May to August/2012

4.3.6 Visitor’s satisfaction

The result findings indicate that tourists are rather satisfied with the beach cities The average score for the speech ranges from 5.38 to 5.71/7.0

4.3.7 Knowledge of destination

The results findings indicate that tourists’ knowledge of the beach cities are not high The average score for the speech ranges from 5.19 to 5.31/7.0

4.3.8 Involvement

The result findings indicate that toursists’ involvement with the beach cities are not high The average score for the speech ranged from 3.93 to 4.30/7.0

4.3.9 Variety seeking

The result findings indicate that tourists often have variety seeking behavior for a new destination The average score for the speech ranges from 5.44 to 5.52/7.0

4.3.10 Destination quality

The average score for twenties items ranges from 5.06 to 5.95/7.0

4.4 The research findings for SEM

4.4.1 Preliminary assessment scales by Cronbach alpha

4.4.1.1 Cronbach alpha for scales in the research model

The scales have Cronbach alpha coefficient which is quite high, especially small scale is knowledge of destination DK (0.771) The correlation coefficients are greater than 0.30 (as defined by less than 0.30 is turning trash which needs to be removed) Therefore, all the observed variables will be used in the EFA

4.4.1.2 Cronbach alpha for the destination quality scales

The scales have Cronbach alpha coefficient which is high (0.871) The correlation coefficients are greater than 0.30 Therefore, all the observed variables will be used in the EFA

4.4.2 EFA analysis

4.4.2.1 The result findings of EFA analysiz for scales in the model

The result findings of EFA analysis show that six factors are extracted in eigenvalue which is 1.394, and the total extracted variance is 72.388%, with Cronbach alpha coefficients of most of the observed variables being all large scale more satisfactory 0.7 However, to assert the value of the scale is a more stringent application and to ensure that the value of convergence and discrimination of the value scale, the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is all essential

Table 4.17 EFA analysis

Factors

SA1
SA8 0.558
0.807

INVOL1
INVOL3 0.870
0.902

Resource: research findings by the author from May to August/2012 4.4.2.2 The result findings of EFA analysiz for destination quality

The results of EFA analysis (three times) show that 05 factors are extracted in the

eigenvalue which is 1.117 and the total variance extracted high 66.283% In addition, with

Cronbach alpha coefficients of most variables observed in all scales greater than 0.7 are

satisfactory Therefore, there are 18 indicators for 05 components are retained to assess the

quality point scale will be used to CFA in order to prove the validity of the scale in a more

stringent while ensuring the single, converged values and distinctiveness of the value scale

Table 4.18 EFA analysis

Resource: research findings by the author from May to August/2012

4.4.3 CFA analysis

4.4.3.1 The result findings of CFA analysiz for scales in the model

The result findings of CFA analysis indicate that the factor weights of indicators for the

concepts are achieving a high level of significance (p <0.001, t > 15, factor loadings from 0.51

to 0.91 Additionally, the scales are achieved composite reliability within the very good reviews

CCR> 0.70 and variance extracted values of VE > 0.50 These results conclude that the scale

used in the thesis has achieved reliability and the convergent validity Moreover, the value of

Chi - squared = 2.971, degrees of freedom 215 with p <0.001 The indicator measuring

relevance also reaches very high values (NFI = 0.937, TLI = 0.945, CFI = 0.957; CMIN/df =

2.971; RMSEA = 0.049) (Browne & Cudek, 1992); demonstrate that the research model with

components explaining the visitor’s loyalty is consistent with market data

4.4.3.2 The result findings of CFA analysis for destination quality

The result findings of CFA analysis indicates the factor weights of indicators for the

concepts achieve a high level of significance (p <0.001, t > 17, factor loadings from 0.60 to

0.91 Additionally, the scales have achieved composite reliability within the very good reviews

CCR> 0.70 and variance extracted values of VE > 0.50 These results concludes that the scale

used in the thesis has achieved reliability, and the convergent validity Moreover, the value of

Chi - squared = 2.891, degrees of freedom 80 with p <0.001 The indicator measuring relevance

16

also reaches very high values (NFI = 0.951, TLI = 0.950, CFI = 0.967; CMIN/df = 2.891; RMSEA = 0.048) (Browne & Cudek, 1992); demonstrate that the research model with components explaining the visitor’s loyalty is consistent with market data

4.4.4 Assessing discriminant validity

4.4.4.1 The result findings of assessing discriminant validity between constructs in the model

The estimated results of the structural model indicate a good fit with the data [χ2 (215) = 638.18, p = 0.000; CMIN/df = 2.97, TLI = 0.945, CFI = 0.957, RMSEA = 0.049] In addition, all correlations are low (less than 0.52); showing the value of the concept of discrimination validity (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988)

4.4.4.2 The result findings of assessing discriminant validity between destination quality construct

The estimated results of the structural model indicate a good fit with the data [χ2 (80) = 231.287, p = 0.000; CMIN/df = 2.891, TLI = 0.950, CFI = 0.967, RMSEA = 0.048] In addition, all correlations are low (less than 0.48) showing the value of the concept of discrimination validity (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988)

4.4.5 Testing direct effects 4.4.5.1 Model 1: Testing the relationship between destination quality components with

visitor’s satisfaction, and destination loyalty components

The estimated results of the structural model indicate a good fit with the data [χ2 (281) = 1108.266, p = 0.000; CMIN/df = 3.944<5.0, TLI = 0.902, CFI = 0.922, RMSEA = 0.06] ((Browne & Cudek, 1992) The proposal model, thus, fits the data collected from the market The results of standardized estimates of parameters and hypothesis are presented in the table 4.26 shows that 13/18 relationships is a statistically significant (p <0.10)

Table 4.26 Testing research model 1 Construct Satisfaction Intention

to WOM

Intention to return to visit

Attractive (AT) H1a 0.307 7.16*** H2a 0.112 2.43** H3a 0.050 1.118ns Traffic and safety

ns H2b 0.064 1.63* H3b 0.105 2.81**

People (DP) H1c 0.066 1.93* H2c 0.027 0.69ns H3c 0.033 0.935ns Lodging, food,

travel (HP) H1e 0.437 1.,94

*** H2d 0.256 5.30*** H3d 0.256 5.45*** Entertainment

*** H2e 0.043 1.054ns H3e 0.069 1.81* Satisfaction - - - H4a 0.144 2.87** H4b 0.280 5.85*** Intention to

***

Resource: research findings by the author from May to August/2012

***

p < 0.001; **p< 0.05; *p <0.10; ns: non significant

(H) Hypothesis; (E) Estimate

4.4.5.2 Model 2: Testing the role moderate of knowledge of destination, involvement, variety

seeking in the relationship between visitor’s satisfaction-loyalty

Table 4.27 Testing the role moderate of knowledge of destination, involvement, variety

seeking in the relationship between satisfaction-visitor’s loyalty:

Estimate Standard

error

error

Sig

squares

squares

Regression 97.509 9.512 0.000 311.346 35.812 0.000

Resource: research findings by the author from May to August/2012

***

p < 0.001; **p< 0.05; *p <0.10; non significant

4.4.5.3 Model 3: Testing the role moderate of demographic characteristics (age, gender,

income) in the relationship between visitor’s satisfaction-loyalty

Table 4.28 Testing the role moderate of demographic characteristics (age, gender,

income) in the relationship between visitor’s satisfaction-loyalty

Model

Estimate Standard

error

error

Sig

Intercept 4.151 0.236 17.561*** 2.389 0.213 11.235***

INCOME -0.076 0.059 -2.102* -0.152 0.035 -4.387***

SA*SEX -0.024 0.015 -0.646ns -0.012 0.014 -0.350ns

SA*AGE 0.171 0.008 4.519*** 0.182 0.007 5.393***

ANOVA Sum of

squares

squares

Regression 115.788 11.250 0.000 367.020 44.224 0.000

Resource: research findings by the author from May to August/2012

*** p < 0.001; **p< 0.01; *p <0.05; non signigicant

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4.5 Review of the main findings of the thesis

4.5.1 Some prominent characteristics of loyalty destination for beaches cities

Firstly, the study results indicate that the average length of stay of tourists in the study sample is 2.19 times/05 years (higher than the results of preliminary studies in Nha Trang city 2.0 times/05 years) The survey results from a sample in three destinations indicate that the overall average length of stay of tourists for 01 day trip is 2.21 days (lower than the preliminary results of research in Nha Trang city is 0.11 days; but higher than the average forecast national average is 0.40 days) In addition, unmarried people often stay lower than the average married Testing ANOVA also show that people with high incomes usually stays higher for a trip compared to those with low incomes

Second, the study results indicate that the average mean score intention loyalty of visitors

is respectively 5.5/7.0 and 5.54/7.0 This is quite high results which show that visitors intend to travel back for the next times Moreover, the intention to return to visit of the age groups is different In addition, intention loyalty of high-income tourists is low but their intention to recommend to others is high Finally, for visitors who have higher education levels, their intention to introduce others to travel to the beaches cities is higher than the other groups

Third, the motivation for relax: the number of tourists come back from 2 or more times 60% compared to the number of times they return for other motivation as well as the length of stay for the purpose of tourism accounts for over 50%

4.5.2 Explaining effects of destination quality components, and visitor’s satisfaction on destination loyalty

First of all, the highlights of the study results indicate the average score of the evaluation

of the destination quality in the three beaches Cities The study results showe that the overall destination quality is not really high (5.15/7.0)

Second, the visitor’s loyalty to the beaches destinations can be explained as follows: Level 1: The results indicate that some components of destination quality have direct and positive impact on the tourists’ intention destination loyalty to different levels Specifically, component quality food services, accommodation and attraction of the beaches cities play the most important role in introducing other people to travel in the beaches cities In contrast, component quality services and leisure activities of people in the beaches cities have no statistically significant impact on tourists’ intention to introduce to other visitors

Level 2: The study results indicate that the components of the proposed model explains 34.9% of intention to return to visit Specifically, the quality of accommodation services, food and entertainment service continue to play an important role in explaining tourists’ intention to return Meanwhile, the component “cities residents” continues to have no impact on the statistical significance of the intention to return to visit In addition, satisfaction and intention to recommend to other travelers can also play a role in increasing the intention to return to visit

4.5.3 Explaining the complex relationship between visitors’satisfaction and loyalty

First, the role moderator of knowledge of destination, involvement, variety seeking

- Knowledge of destination as moderator, the relationship between satisfaction and

loyalty of visitors will increase by the impact of moderate knowledge of destination

- Involvement as moderator, the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty of visitors

will increase by the impact of moderate involvement

- Variety seeking as moderator, the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty of

visitors will decrease by the impact of moderate variety seeking

Second, the role moderate of age, income, gender

- Gender as moderator, the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty of visitors is not

differ between males and females

- Age as moderator, the study results support the hypothesis and suggest that the

relationship between satisfaction and loyalty of tourists will increase for older travelers

than younger people

- Income as moderator, the study results support the hypothesis and suggest that the

relationship between satisfaction and loyalty of visitors will decrease for high-income

tourists compared to low-income visitors

20

Chapter 5: IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Introduction

The main purpose of this chapter is based on the findings from that official to conclusions, and suggests some implications Therefore, the content of this chapter consists of two main parts: First, suggestions for practical business of enterprises, local and national management; Second, the contribution to the theoretical, research methodology and pratical business beach tourism Finally, the thesis presents the limitations and recommendations for future research

5.2 Recommendation of policies for management of business tourism

The basic objective of the policy implications for business practices of sea travel:

- To continuously improve service quality at beach destinations in order to enhance visitor’s satisfaction

- To increase the promotions in order to improve tourists’ knowledge and involvemet in beach travel from which to increase the visitor’s loyalty to the beaches cities

- To encourage visitor’s WOM (attitudinal loyalty) so that other visitors can promote intentions and behavior of returning to beaches cities

- To improve the aware of businesses enterprises about the visitor’s behavior from which offer effective policies to improve the efficiency of business operations

- To suggest the national and local management agencies to create favorable conditions for business activites in the beaches cities

5.2.1 Recommendation for tourism enterprises

The study results indicate that the quality of tourism services is considered as one of the basic factors affecting the satisfaction and loyalty of tourists to destinations Further, the quality

of tourism services (component of destination quality) will also contribute to the sustainable development of local tourism perspectives, and as well as create added value and competitive advantage for Vietnam’s beach tourism In this study, the thesis shows only the quality components of lodging, food, and tour services have the greatest impact on satisfaction and loyalty of visitors to the destination, while the attractive component of the beaches cites is the second level of influence In this case, the senses from domestic tourists should be by tourism enterprises Specifically, in terms of investors (business) the attractiveness promoted by beaches cities is a prerequisite to attract investment in developing their business While for visitors, today the creating high quality of beach destinations is “not high” and “uniform” As results, the positive effect of them on the satisfaction and loyalty to tourist destinations is reduced Investment in food, accommodation and tour services plays the main role in contributing the satisfaction and loyalty So, tourism enterprises should:

First, focus on research and classify tourist market as prerequisite for the construction of visitor data Currently, besides classifying visitors based on the demographic characteristics of the traditional approach is the effort to continue to use such as age, gender, income, education level; the research conducted to classify tourists according to the following forms of business should be noted: (1) Classification in the form of travel: travel alone; travel with family and friends; travel agencies or organizations; (2) Classification of travelers based on geographical location (nationality, place of birth or current residence); (3) Classification of visitors based on the family life cycle: young singles, young couples, families with childrens under 7 years of age, families with children of school age, families with adult children a family with children living away from home (still working), families with children living away from home (retired),