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MASTER DISSERTATION
Current Tourism Structures in Central Vietnam
Need for a Destination Management Organisation?
Anna Maria Tatjana Hildebrandt
Tourism Destination Management
NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences
i
Current Tourism Structures
in Central Vietnam
Need for a
Destination Management Organisation?
Master Dissertation by Anna Maria Tatjana Hildebrandt – 121280
Student at NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences
Master Programme Tourism Destination Management
Date of Submission: 12 December 2013
Supervisor: Rami Khalil Isaac
Declaration of Authenticity
I hereby declare that this dissertation is wholly the work of Anna Maria Tatjana Hildebrandt.
Any other contributors or sources have either been referenced in the prescribed manner or
are listed in the acknowledgements together with the nature and the scope of their con-
tribution.
Breda, December 2013
ii
Acknowledgement
“The world of tomorrow belongs to the person who has the vision today.”
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
First of all I would very much like thank my parents Christine Huth-
Hildebrandt and Winfried Hildebrandt who made my studies at NHTV pos-
sible, for their patience and their encouragement. Without you, I would
never have made it.
Then I would very much like to thank Kai Partale for his support, who ena-
bled me to absolve an internship at ESRT Environmentally & Socially
Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Programme, Hanoi, and to
write my master dissertation within the scope of ESRT. At the same time,
I also would very much like to thank all colleagues at ESRT for their help.
Cám Ơn.
At this point, I have to mention that the research for this dissertation was
carried out under the sole responsibility of Tatjana Hildebrandt. ESRT is
neither responsible nor accountable for the content of this dissertation.
Furthermore, I would very much like to thank all my interview partners who
contributed to this dissertation by sharing their knowledge. Cám Ơn.
I am also very grateful to Hoang Mai Nguyen, who supported me by all
available means, who helped me with translations, who provided me with
contacts and who explained Vietnam to me. Thank you for everything
Mai. Cám Ơn. Also, I would very much like to thank Thanh, who also pro-
vided me with valuable contacts in Central Vietnam. Cám Ơn.
Last but not least, I would very much like thank my supervisor Rami Isaac
for his patient guidance, his always rapid and critical feedback and ideas
as well as his positive support.
iii
Executive Summary
Within the worldwide expanding tourism market, Vietnam adopts a strong
position with its high tourism growth rates.
Central Vietnam, as one of the three most important tourism areas in
Vietnam ought to enhance its competitiveness. Therefore, the research
goal is to analyse the existing organisational tourism structures in Central
Vietnam under the aspect of tourism stakeholder cooperation in order to
find out which structures and types of cooperation appear as the most
efficient ones in Central Vietnam and which structures and which organi-
sation types would add most value to the region, with the aim to give
recommendations for enhancing tourism management in Central
Vietnam.
Consequently, the ensuing research questions have been formulated:
1. How is tourism developing in Central Vietnam?
2. What are the current tourism structures in Central Vietnam?
3. How does the supply side consider the performance of tourism
structures in terms of cooperation?
4. What is destination management lacking in Central Vietnam?
5. Which structures would be most beneficial to enhance tourism in
Central Vietnam?
To answer the above mentioned research question, literature in the field
of destination management and marketing was reviewed, followed by
the collection of data on Central Vietnam. Based on that, qualitative field
research with public and private stakeholders in Central Vietnam was
conducted in order to gather in-depth information about the current
structures of cooperation between the three provinces.
The analysis of the research findings revealed that all stakeholders per-
ceive Central Vietnam as one destination. At the moment, there are dif-
ferent types of DMO-like cooperations of public and private stakeholders
in juxtaposition with each other, which do not achieve an effective target-
oriented cooperation for enhancing the destination‘s competitiveness.
iv
Therefore, it is recommended to establish one single “DMO Central
Vietnam” as Public Private Partnership (PPP), which shall be responsible for
the three destinations Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An, whose tasks include the
sustainable development of tourism in order to position Central Vietnam
as a strongly competitive destination on a national as well as an interna-
tional level.
Because unrestricted consensus exists regarding necessity, functions and
goal of such an organisation, the recommendation is to establish an inde-
pendent, non-profit PPP, in which the public and private stakeholders shall
be adequately represented, however, with a majority for the public side.
Yet, various opinions occur regarding the adequate organisational struc-
ture.
The governance of PPPs, in fact, can take different legal forms ranging
from rather loose types like working groups, committees, theme-based or
activity-based cooperation, multi-stakeholder destination management
boards to more strongly institutionalised forms like associations or agencies
etc. through to business-oriented corporations like Limited Liability Com-
panies (LLCs) or joint stock companies.
Since the goals of the recommended DMO Central Vietnam (DMO CV)
are business and success oriented, the institutionalisation of this PPP re-
quires a firm structure as it is usual in the business environment. In regard to
this, the establishment in form of a business corporation seems to be most
suitable.
In order to proof the validity of the recommendation for a business orient-
ed implementation of the new DMO as LLC or joint stock company, it is
advisable to evaluate the experiences of such DMOs with this type of
legal structure in different countries with capitalist and centrally planned
economies in order to find out the most suitable solution for Central
Vietnam.
v
List of Abbreviations
bn. Billion
DCST Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism
DMO Destination Management Organisation
DMO CCV Destination Marketing Organisation Central Coast
DMO CV Destination Management Organisation Central Vietnam
ESRT Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism
Capacity Development Programme
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GNI Gross National Income
HCMC Ho Chi Minh City
HITT High Impact Tourism Training
ITDR Institute for Tourism Development Research
KEZ Key Economic Zone
LLC Limited Liability Company
MCST Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
mio. Million
MSDMB Multi-Stakeholder Destination Management Boards
NGO Non-Government Organization
PPC Provincial People‘s Committee
PPP Public Private Partnership
UNWTO United Nations World Tourism Organization
VBF Vietnam Business Forum
VCP Vietnamese Communist Party
VISTA Vietnam Society of Travel Agents
VITA Vietnam Travel Association
VNAT Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
VTR Vietnam Tourism Review
WTO World Trade Organization
WTTC World Travel & Tourism Council
vi
List of Tables and Figures
Tables
Table 1 Determinants of DMO success and destination success (Bornhorst
et al., 2010). ......................................................................................................... 11
Figures
Figure 1 Research Goal........................................................................................ 2
Figure 2 Research Questions. .............................................................................. 3
Figure 3 Outline Desk Research. ......................................................................... 4
Figure 4 Structure of the Report. ......................................................................... 6
Figure 5 Destination according to Distance (Bieger, 2005, p. 58). .............. 10
Figure 6 Vietnam (CIA, 2013)............................................................................. 20
Figure 7 Key Economic Zones in Vietnam (Asia Briefing, 2013). ................... 24
Figure 8 GDP (Trading Economics, 2013b). ..................................................... 25
Figure 9 GNI per capita 2012 ............................................................................ 25
Figure 10 Poverty map Vietnam (HITT, 2011). .................................................. 26
Figure 11 International Tourist Arrivals, in mio. (Mintel, 2013). ....................... 27
Figure 12 Main Source Markets, 2012 (VNAT, 2013b; GSO, 2013). ............... 28
Figure 13 Domestic Tourism, in mio. (Mintel, 2013). ........................................ 29
Figure 14 Tourism Structures Vietnam. .............................................................. 31
Figure 15 Tourism Structures Central Vietnam. ................................................ 35
Figure 16 Outline Field Research ...................................................................... 37
Figure 17 The Three Provinces in Central Vietnam (DMO CCV, 2013). ....... 38
Figure 18 Hue ....................................................................................................... 38
Figure 19 Da Nang City Centre and Beach Resort Area. ............................. 39
Figure 20 Hoi An. ................................................................................................. 39
vii
Table of Content Acknowledgement .............................................................................................................. ii
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ iii
List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................ v
List of Tables and Figures ................................................................................................... vi
Chapter 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Problem Statement ..................................................................................... 1
1.2 Research Goal............................................................................................. 2
1.3 Research Questions .................................................................................... 3
1.4 Desk Research ............................................................................................. 3
1.5 Dissertation Structure .................................................................................. 5
Chapter 2. Literature Review .............................................................................................. 7
2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 7
2.2 Destination ................................................................................................... 8
2.3 Destination Competitiveness ................................................................... 10
2.4 Destination Management Organisation ................................................ 12
2.5 Destination Management and Destination Governance .................. 15
2.6 Trans-Provincial Destination Management ........................................... 17
2.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 19
Chapter 3. Context Analysis Vietnam ............................................................................. 20
3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 20
3.2 General Information on Vietnam ........................................................... 20
3.3 Historical Overview ................................................................................... 21
3.4 Vietnam‘s Government System .............................................................. 22
3.5 Key Issues of Vietnam‘s Socialist Economy ............................................ 24
3.6 Tourism in Vietnam .................................................................................... 27
3.6.1 Key Figures of Vietnam Tourism ........................................................ 27
3.6.2 Structure of the tourism sector .......................................................... 29
viii
3.7 Key Issues Central Vietnam: The three Provinces Hue, Da Nang and
Quang Nam ..................................................................................................... 32
3.8 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 36
Chapter 4. Empirical Study ............................................................................................... 37
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 37
4.2 Research Area ........................................................................................... 38
4.3 Field Research Techniques ...................................................................... 40
4.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 42
Chapter 5. Research Findings - Analysis and Discussion .............................................. 43
5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 43
5.2 Perception of Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An as one Destination ............ 43
5.3 Cooperation in Public and Private Organisational Structures ............ 44
5.4 Basic Fields of Cooperation ..................................................................... 48
5.5 Perception on a Destination Management Organisation Central
Vietnam ............................................................................................................ 54
5.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 55
Chapter 6. Conclusion, Recommendation, Limitations and Further
Research ............................................................................................................................ 57
6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 57
6.2 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 57
6.3 Recommendation - The new DMO Central Vietnam .......................... 58
6.4 Research Limitations ................................................................................. 61
6.5 Suggestions for further Research ............................................................ 62
List of References ............................................................................................................... 64
Appendix ........................................................................................................................... 75
Appendix A – Questionnaire ......................................................................... 75
Appendix B – List of Interview Partners ......................................................... 78
1
Chapter 1. Introduction
The first chapter provides the problem statement explaining why the focus lies on
Central Vietnam. Subsequently, the research goal and the research objectives
are formulated and the consequent research questions derived from the
research goal. Additionally, it will be described how desk research was
conducted.
1.1 Problem Statement
The three most important tourism areas in Vietnam are Hanoi and Ha Long Bay,
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and the Mekong Delta as well as Central Vietnam with
the three provinces Hue, Da Nang and Quang Nam.
The topic of this dissertation has been materialized within the researcher‘s coop-
eration with the Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Development
Programme (ESRT), Hanoi, functioning as commissioner.
The ESRT project is aiming to build capacity in the tourism sector in Vietnam, by
supporting the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), as well as pro-
vincial tourism administrators, associations, civil society organisations and also
local communities. One of ESRT‘s activities is to facilitate multi-stakeholder desti-
nation management boards (MSDMB) at a regional level, for example the Tour-
ism Working Group in the eight North-Western Provinces. As recorded in their
terms of reference, one of ESRT‘s issues is the concept development of assisting
to establish a MSDMB in the Central Coast.
Corresponding to the National Tourism Action Plan, the task is to ―develop higher
levels of [sector] dialogue and the formation of public-private-partnerships of
multi destination management boards, established at a regional level in priority
provinces as vehicles for promoting enhanced ownership and local involvement
in site and destination management‖ (ESRT, 2013).
Since 2012, those three provinces recorded high tourism increase, according to
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT, n.d.). For example, in
2
Da Nang tourism revenues raised tremendously, ―earning the city the third high-
est tourism revenue of all localities nationwide, only after the two biggest cities
Hanoi and HCMC.‖ During the period from January till August, 2012, 1.87 mio.
tourists arrived in Da Nang (VNAT, n.d.). In 2012, the Vietnam Chamber of Com-
merce and Industry expects tourist arrivals in Da Nang of 2.58 mio (VCCI, 2013).
Therefore, this dissertation focuses on tourism and tourism structures in Central
Vietnam.
1.2 Research Goal
Since the destination Central Vietnam consists of three ―independent‖ provinces,
with their specific public and private tourism structures, emphasis will be put on
type and effectiveness of cooperation1 between these structures and how they
are evaluated from a supply side perspective.
The analysis of the current tourism structures will highlight cooperation structures
of the public and private stakeholders as well as the possibilities for further im-
provement in the setting of the Vietnamese socialist-oriented market economy.
Within the analysis, research will examine the present functional (strategic and
executional) responsibilities of tourism related institutions, organisations and busi-
nesses on a regional, provincial as well as on a local level. Out of this, the ensuing
research goal has been set:
Figure 1 Research Goal.
1 Although the terms cooperation and collaboration have slightly different meanings, in this disser-
tation they will be treated identically.
Analysis of the existing organisational tourism structures in Central Vietnam under the aspect of tourism stakeholder cooperation in order to find out which structures and types of cooperation appear as the most efficient ones in Central Vietnam and which structures and which organisation types would add most value to the region, with the aim to give recommendations for enhancing tourism management in Central Vietnam.
3
The suggested recommendation shall be useful for national, regional and local
public as well as private tourism organisations.
1.3 Research Questions
Pursuant, according to the afore stated research goal, the following research
questions have been formulated:
Figure 2 Research Questions.
The ensuing chapter introduces the research methods being used for desk re-
search, which represents an essential section of this dissertation as it forms the
theoretical and contextual background.
1.4 Desk Research
Desk research was conducted to lay the informational background for this disser-
tation as well as to lay the foundation for answering the formulated research
question, followed by field research in the three provinces Hue, Da Nang and
Quang Nam, which will be further described in chapter four.
1. How is tourism developing in Central Vietnam?
2. What are the current tourism structures in Central Vietnam?
3. How does the supply side consider the performance of
tourism structures in terms of cooperation?
4. What is destination management lacking in Central Vietnam?
5.Which structures would be most beneficial to enhance tourism
in Central Vietnam?
4
Within desk research a mixed-method approach has been undertaken. Desk
research was based on qualitative as well as quantitative methods; whereas field
research was based on qualitative research methods.
Existing tourism literature such as academic articles and books as well as valua-
ble sources from the internet have been analysed regarding aspects and models
of destination management, its characteristics and the importance for a destina-
tion‘s competitiveness. Needs and possibilities of destination management were
regarded through the lens of different authors in the field of destination man-
agement, where the aspect of destination governance and cooperation are
also vital.
Special emphasis was put on the implications of destination boundaries for inter-
provincial cooperation, since Central Vietnam consists out of three destinations
with different historical, geographical and administrative characteristics.
Secondly, desk research served to gather information on Vietnam in general as
well as more specific information on the focused research area of Central
Vietnam. For this purpose, data was collected from reports and other publica-
tions like newspaper articles. Moreover, online research was executed, especially
for tourism-related statistics as well as for latest newspaper publications. There-
fore, websites of national and provincial government institutions have been ana-
lysed, which gave a first insight into current tourism structures in Central Vietnam
– Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An. Moreover, newspapers as well as other online publi-
cations on Central Vietnam have been reviewed.
Figure 3 Outline Desk Research.
Theoretical destination
management
Contextual research
Vietnam and Central Vietnam
Desk Research
5
The analysis of desk research gave crucial indications for the core topics and the
question complexes for the field research.
Desk research faced limitations such as out-dated data which again hampered
analysis. Especially concerning statistical data, contradicting figures were found
from different sources and from different years, which made a direct analysis
quite complicated or comparison even impossible. Moreover, language barriers
made the research difficult. Some important documents like the Vietnam Tourism
Master Plan, regional tourism strategies and websites of tourism associations were
only available were only available in Vietnamese or as Google translations.
1.5 Dissertation Structure
This dissertation consists of six chapters. The first chapter, the introduction, pro-
vides the problem statement presenting why the focus is on Central Vietnam,
followed by the research goal, the research objectives and the consequent re-
search questions derived from the research goal. Finally, the methodology of
desk research will be described.
The second chapter introduces the theoretical foundation for the dissertation,
encompassing reviewed literature with regard to destinations and their competi-
tiveness, destination management organisations, the management of destina-
tions linked to destination governance, and finally trans-provincial destination
management.
Chapter three consists out of a contextual analysis, comprising a brief historical
overview of Vietnam and its government structures. Moreover, key issues of
Vietnam‘s Socialist Economy, Vietnam Tourism, and finally, key issues of the three
provinces Hue, Da Nang and Quang Nam are tackled.
In chapter four, the research methods being used for obtaining primary data will
be introduced.
6
Subsequently, chapter five comprises research findings resulting from desk and
field research on the three provinces Hue, Da Nang and Quang Nam. Addition-
ally, this chapter covers the analysis as well as the discussion of research findings
based on literature in terms of tourism structures in Central Vietnam.
In chapter six conclusions are drawn from the research findings and their analysis.
Furthermore, this chapter includes possible recommendations and calls for
action. Lastly, the limitations of this research are described herein.
With regard to the chapters introduced above, Figure 4 visualises the
dissertation‘s structure:
Figure 4 Structure of the Report.
Introduction
Literature Review
Context Analysis
Empirical Study
Research Findings, Analysis & Discussion
Conclusion & Recommendation
7
Chapter 2. Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
With regard to the dissertation‘s research goal –
Analysis of the existing organisational tourism structures in Central
Vietnam under the aspect of tourism stakeholder cooperation in
order to find out which structures and types of cooperation
appear as the most efficient ones in Central Vietnam and which
structures and which organisation types would add most value to
the region, with the aim to give recommendations for enhancing
tourism management in Central Vietnam. –
destination management literature has been analysed according to relevant
issues such as the definition of destinations, destination competitiveness, destina-
tion management organisations with their characteristics and the emphasis on
cooperation. Moreover, literature related to destination governance and trans-
provincial destination management has been considered in order to map key
issues and fields of stakeholder activities in Central Vietnam. The literature review
will not only form the theoretical background for answering the above
formulated research questions but will also provide guiding principles for the
analysis and discussion of status and performance of tourism structures in Central
Vietnam. In addition, the theoretical base is vital for the research process and will
shape further field research. Since existing literature does not deal with the
specific political, socio-economic conditions of a socialist market economy, this
research may gain some significance by placing it within previous, already
existing literature.
8
2.2 Destination
According to United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 2013a),
the destination is ―the fundamental unit of analysis in tourism‖.
The analysis of literature shows that there are as many different definitions as
there are authors writing about destinations. This leads Framke (n.d.) to raise the
question ―[...] if it is at all meaningful to continue working with it, because the
word spreads confusion rather than brings clearness because there seemingly is
some systematically self-contradictions in the use of the word.―.
All the different definitions are legitimate for the respective research, but differ
due to the fact that their authors are viewing destinations from different perspec-
tives or different approaches to the topic: supply side or demand side; inside or
outside; destination development or destination management or destination
marketing.
Supply-side oriented definitions of destination:
―[...] a combination (or even a brand) of all products, services and ultimately
experiences provided locally‖ (Saftić et al., 2010)
―Destinations are amalgams of tourism products, offering an integrated expe-
rience to consumers.‖ (Buhalis, 2000)
Some authors conceptualise the destination by highlighting the stakeholders‘
function of building tourism packages as ―[...] complex networks that involve
a large number of co-producing actors‖ (Gunn, 1994; Pearce, 1989; Hu &
Ritchie, 1993; Ramirez, 1999; Buhalis, 2000; Murphy et al., 2000; Haugland et
al., 2011)
According to Laesser and Beritelli (2013) ―Destinations can be understood as
being geographic entities; a cluster or (latent) network of suppliers; or ad-
additionally, as a network of suppliers activated by visitors‘ demands. In es-
sence, they are productive social systems with specific business aims and
non-business related goals.‖
9
Demand-side oriented definitions of destination:
―[...] both a system of attractions and the geographic area that en-
compasses them, identified on the basis of the range of needs of inter-
mediate or final clients‖. (Bieger, 1997; Buhalis, 2000; Leiper,1979, 1990, 1995;
Smith,1988; Sainaghi, 2006).
„[...] a set of products, services, natural and artificial attractions able to draw
tourists to a specific place, where the geographical location is simply one of
the factors that comprises a destination.― (Presenza, n.d.)
A continent, country, state, region, city or town or even a resort, which is
marketed or markets itself as a place for tourists to visit (Bieger, 2005, p. 56)
Destination‘s basic components are the reasons why tourists are attracted to
a destination, and also shape a destination experience (UNWTO, 2007).
The basic components being the following:
Attractions: Categorised into natural, built or cultural attractions.
Public and private amenities: This refers to services and facilities support-
ing the destination experience, distinguished into indirect- (e.g. basic in-
frastructure in the place) and direct tourism-related (e.g. accommoda-
tion) services to tourism.
Accessibility: In terms of tourists being able to travel to a destination
Human resources: Refers to tourism-related workforce, but additionally
also refers to local communities with which the tourist interacts.
Image and character: Closely related to marketing and promotions:
people – the potential tourist – need to be aware of the destination and
it‘s ideally unique assets and characteristics.
Price: Plays an important role in terms of competitiveness, related to all
kinds of prices for services at the destination, but not of minor importance,
the transportation costs to a destination. Pricing is an influencing factor
for the tourist decision making process.
From the tourist‘s perspective, one striking characteristic of a destination is its
geographical loose boundaries. In other words, when referring to a destination,
the definition could mean one specific attraction (Ankor Wat or Kruger National
Park), a hotel (The Legian, Bali), a city (New York or London), a region
(Côte d‘Azur or Ha Long Bay) or a whole country (Holland or Vietnam) and
10
in the broadest term it can also mean a whole continent (Australia) (Bieger, 2005,
p. 57, Sainaghi, 2006; Bornhorst et al., 2010). However, for a potential tourist, the
perception of a destination is closely related to its distance, as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5 Destination according to Distance (Bieger, 2005, p. 58).
Moreover, these given conditions regarding a destination‘s geographical con-
text causes the difficulty of destination governance (Sainaghi, 2006).
The following UNWTO (2013a) definition will be taken as the basis for this disserta-
tion, because it has a broad, yet distinctive supply side oriented perspective,
which covers the main components of the presented research questions:
"A local tourism destination is a physical space in which a visitor spends at least
one overnight. It includes tourism products such as support services and attrac-
tions, and tourism resources within one day´s return travel time. It has physical and
administrative boundaries defining its management, images and perceptions
defining its market competitiveness. Local tourism destinations incorporate various
stakeholders often including a host community, and can nest and network to form
larger destinations."
2.3 Destination Competitiveness
Due to the fact that supply exceeds demand, destinations are competing with
each other not only on a regional and national, but because of globalisation
even on a continental and global level, a worldwide multi-optional choice has
opened up for tourists. Therefore, it is even more important for a destination to
stand out in competition in order to be successful (Go & Govers, 2000; Navickas
& Malakauskaite, 2009). This is ideally achieved through USPs (Unique Selling
11
Propositions). These can include natural USPs or man-made USPs (built attrac-
tions, events or outstanding service quality etc.). Moreover, the destination is
forced to be more pro-active and implement strategies to ―survive and maintain
their position in the current competitive travel market.‖ (Formica & Kothari, 2008,
Ghirelli, 2013; Haugland et al., 2010). In other words, they are forced to find their
competitive advantage. As a function of this, the destination‘s overall attrac-
tiveness matching with tourist expectations are pre-conditions to ensure compet-
itive advantages (Dwyer et al., 2004), which, in turn, arise from successful tourism
structures within a destination.
According to Bornhorst et al. (2010), a destination‘s success ―must be addressed
through an assessment of both input (e.g. effective marketing) and output
variables (e.g. increase in visitation).‖ Successful individual actors and the overall
success of the whole destination are based on ―efficient coordination and inte-
gration of individual companies‘ resources, products, and services‖ (Beritelli,
Bieger, & Laesser, 2007; Rodríguez-Díaz & Espino-Rodríguez, 2008; Haugland et
al., 2011). This view is also shared by Bornhorst et al. (2010), who state that tourism
success is related to both, the destination and the destination management
organisation (DMO).
Additionally, Bornhorst et al. (2010) identified overlaps in defining determinants of
DMO success and destination success, indicating high interdependencies, which
will also be considered for the analysis of professionalization of current tourism
structures in Central Vietnam. Those determinants are the following:
Destination DMO
Economic indicators Internal stakeholder relations
Effective marketing initiatives Operational activities
Product & service offerings Resources
Quality of visitor experiences Performance measurement
Internal stakeholder relations
Table 1 Determinants of DMO success and destination success (Bornhorst et al., 2010).
Dwyer & Kim (2003) state ―There is no single or unique set of competitiveness in-
dicators that apply to all destinations at all times. For any given element of desti-
nation competitiveness, any number of indicators may be employed as
measures.‖
12
Ritchie and Crouch (2003) explicitly add the element of profitability by naming
―its ability to increase tourism expenditure, to increasingly attract visitors while
providing them with satisfying, memorable experiences, and to do so in a profit-
able way, while enhancing the well-being of destination residents and preserving
the natural capital of the destination for future generations‖ as indicators for
tourism destination competitiveness‖.
This research study will concentrate on finding out which factors may be seen as
successful tourism structures from the supply side perspective of Central Vietnam
or which might need adaptation and/or modification in order to improve the
sustainable competitiveness of Central Vietnam as a tourism destination.
Often, not all but a substantial number of stakeholders are precondition for
competitiveness of a specific destination on the international market, because
their quantitative and qualitative weight must exceed the critical mass for inter-
national recognition.
The indicators of competitiveness found by Dwyer et al. (2004) facilitate the
measurements of relative performance of the tourism industry. Key criteria there-
fore, are visitor numbers, expenditures, market share, foreign exchange, earn-
ings, economic impacts on income, employment etc. (Dwyer et al., 2004).
According to Crouch & Ritchie (1999), to strengthen the destination‘s
competitiveness requires ―[…] activities of destination management organisa-
tions, destination marketing management, destination policy, planning and
development, human resource development and environmental manage-
ment.‖ (Gomezelj & Mihalic, 2008).
2.4 Destination Management Organisation
Since destinations are characterised by loose boundaries and small or large
geographical areas, the DMOs will have to adequately match all corresponding
destination characteristics. This means, that the DMOs have to be as multifacet-
ed in their organisation and structure as the corresponding destinations
themselves. A rather practical and illustrative description of a DMO is that DMOs
are ―not-for-profit bodies […] to represent companies in an industry sector‖ with
13
the goal of enabling an adequate environment in which businesses can flourish
(Tourism Insights, n.d.).
DMOs can adopt different kinds of organisational forms, whereas in literature,
authors widely discuss all types of issues related to the management of a DMO,
while the topic of the legal organisation of a DMO is mostly neglected.
In general, DMOs are organised as governmental, national, provincial, local,
municipal bodies, ministry departments, tourism boards or agencies etc. A com-
mon form among others is an association, in which the private and public stake-
holders are members. The coordination of the multi-layered variety of influences
from a set of private stakeholders with different ownership (Howie, 2003) as well
as public stakeholders from different levels of administration requires an
adequate operational and manageable structure for the DMO. Due to this
complexity, a destination‘s organisational structure is regarded as a ―network [of]
multiple stakeholders‖ interacting with each other and are dependent on each
other as well (Cooper et al. 2009; d‘Angella & Go, 2009, Waligo et al., 2012).
Murphy et al. (2000) even describe it as ―an amalgam of individual products and
experience opportunities that combine to form a total experience of the area
visited‖.
The cooperation within a DMO can be organised in different ways which vary
between loose, non-organised cooperation or semi-organised cooperation such
as non-government organisations (NGO), working groups, committees, boards
etc. on the one hand and legally structured organisations such as registered as-
sociations or registered companies such as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) on
the other hand. Concerning legal forms of DMOs on an international scale, re-
search manifested that all legal forms can be found in reality. Regardless of their
legal structure, one can say that DMOs are acting like business units which are
placed above the public and private stakeholders. As a consequence, the
DMO‘s functions correspond with those of business units. The legal form, however,
determines the intensity of cooperation within the DMO and its business environ-
ment.
The fundamental goal of each DMO is profit maximisation for its members, which
can be achieved by e.g. maximising tourist arrivals, tourist expenditures and/ or
length-of-stay etc. In order to achieve these goals, the DMOs have to act within
14
the legal framework of their countries and also following the given governmental
tourism strategies, meta-economic guidelines, which differ from country to coun-
try. Sustainability e.g. is meanwhile claimed in nearly each country worldwide,
however, the understanding of sustainability as well as its implementation varies
from country to country. An additional goal of each DMO is that cooperation
and integration of all stakeholders is strengthened which creates mutual under-
standing for stakeholders of different sectors with conflicting goals (Sainaghi,
2006; De Carlo et al., 2008; Saftić et al., 2010).
In developing tourism destinations, it is necessary to mention the importance of
meta-economic guidelines and goals. These are goals such as pro-poor tourism,
where tourism contributes to the local community, to job creation and to poverty
reduction, which are not confirm, respectively compete with profit maximisation.
In conventional international DMO policies, which mainly cover countries with
capitalist market economies, these meta-economic aspects have gained only
minor attention. In Vietnam, these meta-economic aspects are not only just
written into national and/ or regional tourism plans and strategies. In Vietnam‘s
socialist market-economy they are precisely defined, implemented and super-
vised (VNAT, 1995).
With regard to its members, a DMO can be differentiated between public organ-
ised DMOs, private organised DMOs and DMOs which are organised as a Public
Private Partnership (PPP).
Public and private stakeholders take over different roles within a destination.
Public authorities are setting the legal environment, they have the executive
power and decisive budgeting function. However, changes in public power or
opinion will immediately influence the DMO. In addition, they stand for social
responsibility and sustainability. Private stakeholders are driven by their profit-
oriented business functions which require quick and flexible adaptation to
market changes. Moreover, private sector stakeholders play an important role
because they are closer to the tourist. These different interests shall be
adequately reflected within a DMO, which therefore should be based on the
PPP model (Pechlaner et al., 2012). The legal forms of this model may vary
(UNWTO, 2007).
15
All stakeholders of a DMO basically operate to achieve their own self-interest,
their target-oriented cooperation and interaction will only take place if ―[…] their
own self-interest rests with the interests of the destination itself‖, which means
they are conform (Ritchie & Crouch, 2003). The skill of the DMO management is
to convince all DMO stakeholders, even the competitive ones, to follow the
common vision of the DMO (Ritchie & Crouch, 2003).
Strategic management with its characteristics of long term planning and future
orientation requires necessarily the implementation of dynamic processes due to
permanent internal as well as external changes of factors which influence the
tourism market on a national and global level (Buhalis & Fletcher, 1995;
Middleton, 1998; Sainaghi, 2006; Beritelli et al., 2007). Of utmost importance for
successful destination management is the fact that planning is actually followed
by the process of implementation of what has been planned (Go & Govers,
2000; Saftić et al., 2010).
In literature, authors widely discuss all types of issues related to the management
of a DMO, while the most important aspect of the legal form of institutionalisation
of a DMO is mostly neglected, although this aspect hast strong influence on
both, the intensity of cooperation and the DMOs sustainable effectiveness.
This research study will concentrate on tourism structures and how they are
evaluated from the supply-side perspective in Central Vietnam. Detailed field
research on structures and cooperation between public and private sector
stakeholders will help to analyse and evaluate the success chances of tourism
structures in Central Vietnam.
2.5 Destination Management and Destination Governance
Destination management has to take into consideration more than just the activ-
ities and operational processes within the group of members and stakeholders
which are directly related to tourism. This means that the stakeholder definition
encompasses not only the members of the organisation but any person in the
destination which is or might come into contact with the tourists. This means, that
the entire population of the destination is concerned. Therefore, it has to be
16
considered that ideally each person within the destination ought to be aware of
the chances and opportunities of tourism. Moreover, that they are part of the
atmosphere in a destination which the tourist faces and the DMO‘s tasks is to
create this awareness (Saftić et al., 2010; Fyall et al., 2012).
In fact, a DMO ought to be aware of all activities within the destination. Hence,
not only tourism related management but also the management of all common
issues in the sense of governance which concerns ―[the] ways individuals and
institutions, public and private, manage their common affairs‖ (Commission on
Global Governance, 1995, p. 4).
By introducing the concept of governance the DMO‘s scope of activities gets a
bigger, yet a more or less undetermined radius within which the DMO acts with
own activities and via taking over the role as inter-mediator between all stake-
holders (Pechlaner et al., 2012). Wang and Xiang (2007) call this issue a ―social
coordination‖ whereas Rodes (1996) names it ―network management‖ because
it ―promotes the ‗common course‘―(Pechlaner et al., 2012). Within the destina-
tion network, DMOs take over a central role in coordinating and managing
public and private stakeholders and their networks: ―DMOs are central figures in
the governance of tourism destinations‖ (Pechlaner et al., 2012).
A well-managed DMO ought to create a mission statement for the destination.
The major task is to convince and unite all stakeholders under the umbrella to
support the common vision of the mission statement. Moreover, the task is also to
encourage all stakeholders to actively contribute in achieving the commonly
agreed goals, namely each stakeholder with its contribution out of his business
operations (Saftić et al., 2010).
Whereas Raich (2006) states that ―destination governance is embedded into
regional governance‖, the question may be raised whether public authorities will
have to be pushed in their activities by the private stakeholders, because the
latter are more flexible, decisive and success-oriented and closer to the market
with its fast changing demands. This question will be of special interest for the
Central Vietnam research.
17
In their concept of destination governance, Beritelli et al. (2007) also analyse the
effectiveness of DMOs under the aspect of number of board members and their
public or private origin. The question may be raised that much larger forces or
constraints concerning success-oriented decision-making stem from the organi-
sational structure itself. DMO managers of private company origin are able to
decide very fast upon analysis of the documents in question whereas DMO
managers of public authority origin have to get their approval from each layer of
their administration. Since DMOs work in a business-oriented environment they
should have the possibility to decide like business companies.
However, other authors mention the institutional weaknesses of the government
by pointing out the obsolescence in public administration devoted to tourism
(Hall, 1999).
The findings of Pechlaner et al. (2012) by introducing the governance concept to
both, destinations and DMOs, show the interdependence and influence of the
DMO and the destination, and that success of destinations and DMOs are
congruent with each other to a large extent.
Dallen (1998) emphasises the aspect that in emerging countries, the public
sector in form of national, regional and local government institution plays a more
important role in terms of influencing tourism development in comparison to de-
veloped countries. This important role is also expressed by the extent of public
tourism investment, as stated in the Vietnam Tourism Master Plan (VNAT, 1995).
2.6 Trans-Provincial Destination Management
Destination borders as seen by tourism stakeholders as well as especially by the
demand-side – the tourist – do not necessarily correspond with administrative
borders. Borders do not simplify cooperation and management activities for
trans-border destinations, because tourism has to be ―[…] planned in con-
junction with a region‘s broader development goals; tourism should be one
element of broader regional development planning.‖ (Baud-Bovy, 1982; Inskeep,
1987, 1988; Marcouiller, 1997; Dallen, 1998).
18
Since Central Vietnam has currently no regional DMO, this research study seeks
to analyse which influencing structures of cooperation in and between the three
provinces can be identified within the local tourism stakeholders and their organ-
isations. The necessity of trans-provincial destination management, respectively
trans-provincial cooperation management also implicated the issue of
―inter-destination bridge ties‖ as defined by Haugland et al. (2010). The authors
highlight the importance ―to be connected to the wider region and other desti-
nations‖. They argue that these bridge-ties render ―valuable sources for ex-
change of information and knowledge‖, directly linking actors who operate in
different destinations within Central Vietnam; or indirectly, through collective
external agents such as e.g. a marketing firm, acting as information channel
between detached destinations (Haugland et al., 2010). Further, ―Bridge ties
thereby promote imitation and innovation at the destination‖, (Haugland et al.,
2010) which can serve as best-practice examples.
In the following, the bridge tie concept will be further pursued, because it can
be extended to foster best practice and innovation and it can be utilised to de-
tect possibilities for improving organisational structures, e.g. through synergies,
economy of scale effects and strategic task allocation etc. And how this im-
provement can lead to tourism structures which are most likely to better develop
and promote tourism with the vision of one destination for the three provinces.
Re-inventing and re-arranging structures regarding ―collaboration, cooperation
and leadership can add value to a destination in terms of growth […], innovation
and competitiveness‖ and plays a substantial role in tourism destination devel-
opment (Ghirelli, 2013).
In favour for a dynamic destination management model, Sainaghi (2006) points
out that a ―[…] holistic viewpoint proves useful, one that can encompass both
the perspective of supply as well as demand.― where not only ―a system of
attractions is set up, and a set of client segments‖, in other words: it is necessary
that a precisely defined supply-set is matching with a precisely defined
demand-set (Sainaghi, 2006).
19
2.7 Conclusion
As mentioned before, the literature review will form the theoretical base for this
dissertation. According to the dissertation theme, literature mainly from the sup-
ply side perspective of destination management was reviewed to figure out the
determining aspects of an effective and successful destination in general.
Further, these determining aspects will shape the theme-oriented desk and field
research of this dissertation.
The literature review illustrates, that for enhancing and increasing destination
competitiveness, the interdependencies between a successful destination and a
successful DMO cannot be separated. In other words, that efficient integration
and cooperation of all relevant tourism stakeholders through a DMO are vital for
achieving the intended goals.
Furthermore, the integration and interdependency aspects have special signifi-
cance due to the fact that three provinces with different administrative layers
and already existing tourism structures are subject of investigation, and therefore
issues of trans-provincial cooperation have to be evaluated.
In existing destination management literature, no authors could be identified
who are tackling the topic from the perspective of a socialist market economy
with its specific legitimacies and their consequences within a single-party politi-
cal system like Vietnam. Therefore, the question may be raised whether the
validity of the aspects found in literature is given in the context of Vietnam. In any
case, new challenges are arising from continuous developments along two
dimensions. On the one hand, from slow but steady liberalisation tendencies
within socialist systems and on the other hand, from fast changing trends on inter-
national tourism markets.
For this research study, the validity of the findings in existing literature will be
assumed.
20
Chapter 3. Context Analysis Vietnam
3.1 Introduction
In the following chapter, specific emphasis will be put on historical, political and
economic aspects of Vietnam in order to understand the specific situation of
tourism within a socialist society.
Firstly, a brief historical overview of Vietnam and its present government struc-
tures will be provided. Moreover, key issues regarding Vietnam‘s socialist
economy and tourism in Vietnam will follow. Finally, the focus will be laid on key
issues regarding administration, structures and tourism in the three provinces Hue,
Da Nang and Quang Nam.
3.2 General Information on Vietnam
The official name of the country is Socialist Republic Vietnam. With a population
of 92.5 mio, Vietnam is the 14th largest country in the
world. It is stretching along the East of the South-East
Asian peninsula, bordering the Chinese Sea in the East,
the Gulf of Thailand in the South bordering with
Cambodia and Laos in the West and China in the
North. The country has a North-South length of 1.650 km
and an East-West average of 200 km, with only 50 km
at its narrowest point in Central Vietnam. The country is
ethnically nearly homogeneous with about 86 %
Vietnamese (Kinh) and small minorities like Tay, Thai,
Muong, Khmer, Mong, Nung, Cham and others mainly
in the Northern and Eastern mountainous areas. None
of the minorities amount more than 1.9 % (CIA, 2013).
Figure 6 Vietnam (CIA, 2013).
21
3.3 Historical Overview
In the 10th century AD, after a millennium of Chinese domination, the independ-
ence of Vietnam was won and finally consolidated in the course of the 15th cen-
tury by the Emperors of the Ly Dynasty. At that time, Thang Long (Hanoi) became
the capital of Vietnam (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013). The time of independ-
ence lasted for about 900 years.
In the middle of the 19th century, France started occupying and colonising
Vietnam with Saigon as capital. In the course of World War II, Japan invaded
and occupied Vietnam. After 1945, the Communist Viet Minh troops expelled the
Japanese and Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Viet Minh, declared Independ-
ence for entire Vietnam in a speech ―[...] that invoked the U.S. Declaration of
Independence and the French Revolution‘s Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen.‖ (Library of Congress, 2005). This act was the beginning of the
French Indochina War (1946-1954) (interKnowledge Corp., 2010).
Also, in 1945 the Chinese characters of Vietnamese script were officially re-
placed by the present script Quoc ngu on basis of Latin characters, the result of
a transcription which was initiated by Portuguese and then completed by French
missionaries in the 17th century (SOAS – University of London, 2007).
After the defeat of French forces in the battle of Dien Bien Phu 1954, the country
was divided at the Geneva Conference along the 17th parallel into liberated,
communist ruled North Vietnam and French backed South Vietnam. The Central
Vietnam provinces Hue, Da Nang and Quang Nam were situated in South
Vietnam, south of the De-militarized Zone. In the following years, French support
for South Vietnam was progressively replaced by the United States of America.
Conflicts between North and South Vietnam were continuing and expanding.
The so-called Gulf of Tonkin Incident was taken by the US in 1964 as pretext and
reason for fighting ―the communist aggression‖ (Library of Congress, 2005). This
was the beginning of the American Vietnam War, during which nearly 3 mio.
Vietnamese were killed, more than 4 mio. were injured and the whole country
severely destroyed by bombing and Agent Orange (Hirschman et al., 1995).
22
In 1975, after the defeat and subsequent withdrawal of American Forces, North
and South Vietnam were reunited as Socialist Republic Vietnam, with Hanoi as
capital (almost 3 mio. inhabitants), while Ho Chin Minh City, the former Saigon,
remained a simple district in the South although it is the by far largest city of
Vietnam with about 9 mio. inhabitants in the urban area by the end of 2012
(New Geography, 2013).
The following process of re-unification and integration process of the socialist and
the capitalist societies of North and South Vietnam under an at that period very
harsh socialist primacy did not pass off without immense obstacles and injuries for
the society: emigration of more than one million people, re-location of more
than one million people to ―new economic zones‖, etc. The consequence was
the breakdown of the economic system in the 1980s (Library of Congress, 2005).
In 1986, the Doi Moi (Renovation) Campaign for political and economic renewal
was introduced, which prompted in a long-lasting period of inner-societal
appeasement, economic growth (see following chapter) and development of
improving relations to other nations and cooperation in as well as with interna-
tional organisations (VNAT, 2013a).
3.4 Vietnam’s Government System
Vietnam‘s government is formed according to rules of communist one-party
systems similar to the former Soviet Union or the German Democratic Republic.
Formally it shows the division of powers like in Western democracies. However,
with the leadership and control-function of the Vietnam Communist Party (VCP)
on all three levels of the administrative system; national/state level, provincial
level, district/ local level (The Government Web Portal, 2013b).
The Vietnam State Government represents the state level with the National
Assembly (Quoc Hoi) which in fact is the legislative arm of the Vietnam Com-
munist Party, the Political Bureau of the Vietnam Communist Party, the Council of
State, the Council of Ministers and the People's Courts and People's Organs of
Control (The Government Web Portal, 2013b).
23
The second level is represented by 36 Provinces and five autonomous munici-
palities Hanoi, Can Tho, Da Nang, Hai Phong and Ho Chi Minh City, the former
Saigon (Asia Briefing, 2013).
On the third level the Provinces are divided into districts, towns and capitals.
The provincial districts are again divided into villages and townships; whereas the
provincial towns and provincial capitals are further divided into wards and
villages. Fact is that the basic administrative modules of the government are the
provincial districts. These districts represent the primary political units of the local
government which are in power of all economic planning, budgeting, and
management for all issues of local concern (The Government Web Portal,
2013b).
The Vietnamese Communist Party practices its overall control and supervisory
function in that way that it has allocated People's Councils as legislative arm and
People's Committees as executive arm on each administrative level with over-
lapping memberships. This means that ―[...] centralized state authority is
exercized over local authorities‖ (Van Arkadie & Mallon, 2004). The council
members are indeed democratically elected, the list of candidates, however, is
proposed by the VCP. People's Committees act as executive bodies and carry
out local administrative and budgetary and duties (Van Arkadie & Mallon, 2004).
The lowest administrative level is the Commune People‘s Committee (CPC)
(The Government Web Portal, 2013b).
Economically, the government has provided a preferential position for the three
Key Economic Zones (KEZ): The Northern Key Economic Zone, the Central Key
Economic Zone and the Southern Key Economic Zone. For each zone, economic
development plans have been launched in 2004. For the three KEZs a per capita
income of US$ 3.000,00 in 2011-2015 is planned, which means nearly four times
higher than the national average of US$ 760,00 in 2011(Asia Briefing, 2013;
Trading Economics, 2013a).
24
As seen in Figure 7, the prov-
inces Hue, Da Nang and
Quang Nam, which are fo-
cused on in this dissertation,
belong to the Central Key
Economic Zone (Asia Briefing,
2013). For planning purposes
an additional division into
eight regions was made:
Southeast, Red River Delta,
Mekong River Delta, North-
East, Northwest, North Central
Coast, South Central Coast and Central Highlands. Hue belongs to the region
North Central Coast, whereas Da Nang and Quang Nam belong to the South
Central Coast as shown in Figure 7(Asia Briefing, 2013).
3.5 Key Issues of Vietnam’s Socialist Economy
After 1978, Soviet advisers set up a system of central planning to develop the
socialist transformation of Vietnam‘s economy (Van Arkadie & Mallon, 2004). The
country and its economy were still suffering from the Vietnam War and the
US embargo. The economy was organized in rigid, bureaucratic Fife-Years-Plans,
which caused economic stagnation, problems in food and consumer goods
supply, sectoral imbalances, high inflation rates and social pressures
(Van Arkadie & Mallon, 2004).
In 1986, the transformation from a centrally planned economy to a ―socialist-
oriented market economy‖ took place, fostered through the introduction of a
political and economic renewal campaign (Doi Moi), which ―[…] combined
government planning with free-market incentives‖ by that encouraging private
business and foreign investment (Library of Congress, 2005; indexmundi, 2013a).
Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007 and became an
official negotiating partner of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement
in 2010 (indexmundi, 2013b; McKinsey & Company, 2013).
Figure 7 Key Economic Zones in Vietnam (Asia Briefing, 2013).
25
All this induced that the Vietnamese economy continuously flourished, however,
within the framework of the socialist value system. This development is briefly
demonstrated by reference to the following economic key data.
Figure 8 GDP (Trading Economics, 2013b).
As shown in Figure 8 Vietnam‘s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was continuously
growing by more than 2000 % from $ 6,5 bn. to $ 141,67 bn. in 2013 (estimated)
with a faster growth rate than any other country in Asia with the exception of
China (Trading Economics, 2013b; McKinsey & Company, 2013).
In 2012, the estimated GDP was composed out of agriculture with about 22 %,
industry about 41 % and services with about 38 %. The high percentage of agri-
culture and the low one for services clearly indicates that Vietnam is to be
counted as a developing country (CIA, 2013).
During the same period of time, the GDP per capita was growing by 333 %
from US $ 227 to US $ 775, which makes Vietnam ranking 138 in the world (Trading
Economics, 2013a).
Despite these high increases during the recent years,
it is to notice that the Gross National Income (GNI)
per capita still only reaches about one third of the
average Asia Pacific GNI - as can be seen in Figure 9
(The World Bank Group, 2013).
Figure 9 GNI per capita 2012 (The World Bank Group, 2013).
26
Although Vietnam belongs to the countries of
middle status income, there are still extreme in-
come disparities between the thriving economic
centres and coastal areas in the North and the
South and regions of poverty in remote areas like
in the Highlands and the Annamite Mountain
Range, as shown in Figure 10.
The policy of Doi Moi has created an economical
profile for Vietnam, which among others encour-
aged foreign investments, making the country
―[...] one of Asia‘s most attractive destinations for
foreign investors‖ (McKinsey & Company, 2013).
Recent figures about the source countries of foreign investments show, that the
main sources of investment Europe and the US in the meantime have shifted to
Japan (34.4 % = $ 4.1 bn.), followed by Singapore (31 % = $ 3,72 bn.) and Russia
(8 % = $ 1,01 bn.) (Intellasia East Asia News, 2013).
The direction of economic liberalisation fostered through Doi Moi, which was
launched in 1986, found its continuing support in the approval of the Master Plan
on Economic Restructuring in 2013-2020, which was approved early in 2013: ―The
Plan aims at perfecting the socialist-orientated market regime, creating a system
of reasonable, stable and long-term stimuli, especially tax incentives and other
investment-encouraging measures, promoting the distribution and use of social
resources for sectors and products of competitive advantages, improving labour
productivity and competitiveness.‖ (The Government Web Portal, 2013a). Since
then, steering elements of liberal market economies have been introduced into
the former command economy.
Figure 10 Poverty map Vietnam
(HITT, 2011).
27
3.6 Tourism in Vietnam
Tourism in Vietnam is divided into three main periods. In the period of
1960 – 1975, tourism was developed for political purposes (Truong, 2013). Political
delegates travelled to Vietnam to achieve political goals (VNAT, 2005). In the
period of 1976 – 1990, the economic potential of tourism was recognised. And
finally, since 1990s, tourism was utilised in order foster economic growth and
poverty reduction. (Truong, 2013).
Recent UNWTO publications indicate that despite global economic problems,
the tourism industry still is a growing sector. Tourism accounts for 9 % of the global
GDP and provides 9 % of the global jobs. In 2012, 1 billion international tourist
arrivals have been counted. Domestic tourists are estimated between 5 to 6 bn.
For 2030, UNWTO forecasts that international tourist arrivals will increase by more
than 70 % (UNWTO, 2013b).
3.6.1 Key Figures of Vietnam Tourism
In line with the global growth figures, Vietnam also experienced a noteworthy
growth of its tourism sector.
In 2012, Vietnam received 6.8 mio. international tourists, which represents an in-
crease of 13.86 % in comparison to 2011 (VNAT, 2013b; GSO, 2013).
Figure 11 International Tourist Arrivals, in mio. (Mintel, 2013).
4.172 4.254 3.772
5.050
6.014
6.848
0
1.000
2.000
3.000
4.000
5.000
6.000
7.000
8.000
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
28
The international arrivals until October 2013 amount up to 6.119 mio., represent-
ing an increase of 10.4 % over the previous year (VNAT, 2013b; GSO, 2013). Inter-
national visitors mainly come to Vietnam for holidays and leisure, representing
62 % of the tourism market, whereas business travel accounts for 20%, followed
by VFR with 18 % (Mintel, 2013). Their average length of stay is estimated with
6.5 days and with a spending of US$ 75 per day (HITT, 2011). They mainly attend
round trips to the big cities (Hanoi, HCMC), visiting cultural as well as natural
attraction, especially the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Vietnam hosts five
Cultural Sites – Imperial Citadel Hanoi (2010), Citadel of the Ho Dynasty (2011),
Hue Monuments Complex (1993), Hoi An Ancient Town (1999), My Son Sanctuary
(1999) – and two Natural Sites – Ha Long Bay (1994) and Phong Nha-Ke Bang Na-
tional Park (2003). Furthermore, seven properties are on the tentative list
(UNESCO, 1992-2013).
The intra-regional ASEAN source markets, namely China, Korea, Japan and
Taiwan represent the most important markets for Vietnam. In addition, the USA
plays an important role in terms of international arrivals, illustrated in Figure 12.
Figure 12 Main Source Markets, 2012 (VNAT, 2013b; GSO, 2013).
From an European perspective, it is interesting to observe that the main source
markets have shifted to Asia with nearly 60 % of international arrivals.
China
21%
Korea
10%
Japan
9% USA
7%
Taiwan
6%
Cambodia
5% Malaysia
4%
Australia
4%
Thailand
3%
France
3%
Others
28%
29
Domestic tourism increased from 19 mio. in 2007 to more than 32 mio. in 2011,
which represents an increase of nearly 70 % within four years only (Mintel, 2013;
HITT, 2011).
Figure 13 Domestic Tourism, in mio. (Mintel, 2013).
VNAT (2013b) estimates an average stay of 3.5 days for domestic tourists, with a
daily spending of about US $ 35 (VNAT, 2013b; GSO, 2013).
Regarding the contribution of tourism to the Vietnamese GDP, the World Tourism
and Travel Council (WTTC, 2013) states that the tourism sector direct contribution
is 4.5 % (indirect contribution: 9.4 %) to the national GDP in 2012 (EUROCHAM,
2013). For the same year, competing ASEAN countries achieve higher GDP
contributions compared to Vietnam: Cambodia 11.5 %; Thailand 7.3 %; Malaysia
7.0 % and Laos 5.5 % (VBF, 2013a; WTTC, 2013).
Travel and tourism generated 1.832 mio. jobs, respectively 3.8 % of total employ-
ment in 2012 (WTTC, 2013).
3.6.2 Structure of the tourism sector
Until 1960, tourism in Vietnam was under the responsibility of the Ministry of
Foreign Trade. In 1992, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) took over
the responsibility for tourism. MCST is accountable for all activities on the legal
level (decrees, legal documents, approval of plans etc.). On provincial and
district level, tourism is administered by the respective Departments of Culture,
Sports and Tourism (DCST) which are part of the Provincial People‘s Committees
(PPC), the provincial administration, where ―tourism decisions are predominantly
19.200 20.800
25.310
30.070 31.880
0
5.000
10.000
15.000
20.000
25.000
30.000
35.000
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
30
made by both the macro- and micro- level tourist administrator.― (Vietnam
Online, 2011).
As specialised agency, MCST founded the Vietnam National Administration of
Tourism (VNAT) which is responsible for the execution of all tourism-related activi-
ties. VNAT controls four tourism-related institutions: Tourism Information Technolo-
gy Centre, Institute for Tourism Development Research (ITDR), Vietnam Tourism
Review (VTR), and Tourism Newspaper (Vietnam Online, 2011).
VNAT is responsible for the development of the tourism master plan. The version
currently in force is the Vietnam National Tourism Master Plan until 2020, Vision to
2030 which was developed by VNAT agency ITDR, by evaluating the 1995 – 2010
tourism master plan (VNAT, 1995).
The Master Plan defines the goal for national tourism and the role of state man-
agement on tourism. It functions as a top-down guideline for the public institu-
tions on the lower administrative levels down to the municipalities (VNAT, 1995).
For achieving the goals of the Master Plan, VNAT established the Strategy on
Vietnam’s Tourism Development until 2020, Vision to 2030 (The Government Web
Portal, 2013c).
The strategy defines ―[…] priority policies of the tourism infrastructure
investment, human resources training, tourism promotion and brand
development; policies of combination, mobilization of resources to make
a concentrated investment in the improvement of the capacity and the
quality of tourism service suppliers, establish a number of tourist service
centres of the regional and international significance.‖ (VNAT, 2013c).
VNAT‘s range of internal duties also includes licencing for tour operators, travel
agencies and domestic tour guides as well as the classification of three up to five
star hotels, the lower classes fall into the responsibility of the provincial DCSTs. The
internal duties are mainly covering all issues of quality control, training and infra-
structure.
VNAT‘s range of external duties covers the domestic and international marketing
and promotion activities.
31
Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA) has currently 31 regional chapters, represent-
ing about 1.000 tourism enterprises of the accommodation and distribution
sector (tour operators and travel agencies). VITA is aiming at promoting ―collab-
oration, coordination and mutual support and benefits of their members with
regards to improvement of the service quality and competitive tourism
products in a healthy competitive business environment‖ (ESRT, 2011). VITA is
the national parent organisation of Vietnam Society of Travel Agents (VISTA)
and Vietnam Hotel Association (VHA).
The above describes tourism structures are visualised in Figure 14.
Figure 14 Tourism Structures Vietnam.
The membership of only 1.000 enterprises in VISTA and VHA allows to conclude,
that effective organisations for destination marketing and destination manage-
ment organisations do not exist in Vietnam yet. Their development is seen as
―functional and institutional challenges that exist within the sector‖ (VBF,
2012). This lack is also the case in Central Vietnam.
32
3.7 Key Issues Central Vietnam: The three Provinces Hue, Da Nang
and Quang Nam
From a tourist‘s perspective, Vietnam as destination is divided into three regions.
North, Central and South Vietnam, mainly due to its geography, but also due to
its different climate and seasonality. Within those regions, the tourists in general
mainly visit just a few spots, for example Ha Long Bay, in the North, Hoi An and
Hue in Central and Ho Chi Minh City as well as the Mekong Delta in the South,
just to name some of the most popular destinations. In addition, some of the
Vietnam highlights are also forming the essential parts of Vietnam-Laos-
Cambodia or Indochina round trips.
Tourism of the three Central Vietnam Provinces Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang and
Quang Nam concentrates in the three destinations Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An.
However, from an administrative point of view, these three provinces differ to a
large extent, the three destinations as well, also from a geographical and a
touristic point of view.
Hue is the capital city of Thua Thien Hue province. The Vietnamese Government
has decided to improve the administrative status of Thua Thien Hue from the pre-
sent province status into of a centrally governed city by 2015. This upgrading will
imply that more importance will be attached to Hue as an autonomous munici-
pality due to the reduction of one administrative layer. This results in numerous
positive implications, such as faster administrative processing and will transform
Hue into a leading urban zone of the country with ―a complex of heritage,
historic, cultural and landscape towns […]‖ (TalkVietnam, 2009-2013).
In terms of tourism, Hue is famous for its location on the Perfume River with the
UNESCO World Heritage Sites on the North bank and the French-style of colonial
architecture on the South bank and the imperial tombs around the city. More-
over, its cultural festivals (7 imperial and 13 other cultural festivals) (Hue Tourism
Information and Promotion Centre, 2013) and temple rites, as well as its unique
local cuisine with ―more than 1,700 dishes ranging from food for the people to
aristocrats― (Nguyen Ho Minh & Nguyen Huu Chau, 2012) which originates from
the imperial court and are well-known not only all over the country but also
internationally attract tourists. Hue is also renowned for its lagoons, beaches and
33
bays. Lang Co Bay for example has recently become member of the club of The
Most Beautiful Bays in the World (World Bays, 2013). Moreover, the province is
home of Bach Ma National Park, one of Vietnam‘s biggest national parks. Hue is
also a gateway for theme-based niche tourism to the DMZ and the Ho Chi Minh
Trail. Within the Vietnam Tourism Master Plan, the focus of Hue tourism develop-
ment lies on the development and preservation of Hue‘s natural and cultural
resources (VNAT, 1995).
According to Hue DCST, its tourism industry generates 7.000 direct jobs in 77
hotels and 43 tour operators and about 20.000 indirect jobs in supporting and
tourism related businesses in 2010 (HITT, 2011). By the end of September 2013, the
Phu Bai Hue national airport was re-opened after upgrade works of six months
which will give additional tourism drive for further tourism development.
In 2011, 1.3 mio. tourism arrivals have been counted of which were 550.000 inter-
national tourist (Nguyen Ho Minh & Nguyen Huu Chau, 2012).
Da Nang became an autonomous municipality, directly under the Central
Government in 2007. As the third largest city of Vietnam concerning population
figures, it is a centre of economic development which is due to its geographical
situation; with the deep-water seaport (also important for cruise ship tourism) and
the international airport which is the busiest in Central Vietnam and third largest
in the country.
Regarding tourism, the increasing number of direct flight connections from
China, Korea, Cambodia, Taiwan, Singapore and Russia has helped to augment
tourist arrivals to the city itself and the close by beach resorts. In addition to a
large number of four and five star city hotels, Da Nang has a well-developed four
and five star beach resorts along the 90 km of coast line. Other than Hue and
Hoi An, Da Nang offers a large number of shopping and entertainment facilities
of international standard including theatres, cafés bars, discotheques, casinos
and the Da Nang International Firework Competition etc. Cultural tourism sites
like the Marble Mountains and the Museum of Cham Sculpture are of minor im-
portance in Da Nang‘s tourism programme. Furthermore, Da Nang serves as
tourism gateway to the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Hue in the North
and Hoi An/ My Son in the South.
34
In 2011, Da Nang achieved to reach a total of 2,345 mio. tourist arrivals, of which
nearly 80 % were domestic tourists (VCCI, 2013).
Hoi An, with a population of 120.000, is the second largest city of Quang Nam
province, the capital of which is Tam Ky. Quang Nam province offers rich natural
resources in the inland and a coast line of 125 km with white and clean beaches
which are developed only to a minor extent (JICA, 2010). The Hoi An municipal
DCST reports to the provincial DCST in Tam Ky.
Tourism in Quang Nam is predominantly concentrating on Hoi An, the UNESCO
World Heritage Site, with excursions to the My Son Sanctuary which is a group of
Hindu temples, also inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage list, situated about
45 km away from Hoi An. Tourism stakeholders like hotels and tour operators as
well as other supporting services are predominantly located in Hoi An, therefore
this dissertation therefore focuses on the city of Hoi An, because the remaining
parts of Quang Nam province are not (yet) relevant for tourism.
In the 17th and 18th century, Hoi An was the most important commercial port in
Central Vietnam, more important than Da Nang, with trading links to China and
Japan. Hoi An did not develop any further due to the siltation of the Thu Bon
River‘s estuary, with the consequence that the city‘s structure remained nearly
unchanged since those times (The National Committee for International Sympo-
sium on the Ancient Town of Hoi An, 2011).
―Hoi An is a live museum of ancient architecture and life style, consisting of 1,360
heritages and scenes. Heritages are classified into 11 types including 1,068
ancient buildings, 19 pagodas, 43 temples, 23 commune houses, 38 ancestor
churches, 5 headquarters, 11 ancient water wells, 1 bridge, 44 ancient tombs.‖
(JICA, 2010).
Handicrafts offers, like instant tailoring and shoe making, silk products, wood
carving, lampions and pottery provide abundant shopping possibilities for the
tourists.
Nowadays, Hoi An and My Son have developed into one of Vietnam‘s most
popular tourism destinations with a total of nearly 2.5 mio. visitors in 2010 (60 %
domestic, 40 % international visitors) (HITT, 2011).
35
In Figure 15 an overview is provided of the administrative tourism structures of
Central Vietnam.
Figure 15 Tourism Structures Central Vietnam.
In terms of administration, Hue is situated in the North Central Region, whereas
Da Nang and Hoi An in the South Central Region, albeit, all three provinces
belong to the Central KEZ for which the National Government has set up specific
development programmes (Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, 2011).
Public and private stakeholders of the three central provinces have realised the
necessity to commonly develop tourism in Central Vietnam. In 2008, the provin-
cial authorities signed an agreement to jointly promote and develop tourism in
Central Vietnam as one destination. Hence, a rotating system of cooperation
evolved: Each year one of the three DCSTs is in charge of tourism decisions within
the three provinces. Tasks are common development and promotion activities
on the basis of the tourism master plan.
Additionally, a private initiative for destination marketing has been established,
namely the Destination Marketing Organisation Central Coast Vietnam (DMO
CCV), aiming at building awareness of the destination Central Coast. Un-
fortunately it was not possible to find any further information on this organisation.
36
Despite the intentions of common development in the three provinces, mainly
isolated and provincial planning takes place, without reference to the common
interdependencies in Central Vietnam area. One example is the Quang Nam
Region Integrated Culture and Tourism Strategy: Final draft, 2010, in which
Da Nang is only mentioned in terms of distinction, but not referring to the inten-
tion to ―cooperate with the Central Heritage Path project involving Hue,
Da Nang, Q[ang] Nam‖ (Quang Nam Region Integrated Tourism Strategy, 2010,
p.27).
It can be assumed, that the same type of isolated and provincial planning is
happening in the other two destinations.
3.8 Conclusion
The contextual analysis provides a general overview of Vietnam and its history
and its specific political and economic development to a socialist-oriented mar-
ket economy which helps to understand various factors affecting tourism in
Vietnam in general, as well as the particular situation in the three provinces of
Central Vietnam, which are one of the three main tourism areas in Vietnam, as
shown by the tourism key figures.
Of importance for the evaluation of the current tourism situation in Vietnam is
that the liberalisation and modernisation of the economy just started in 1986 with
Doi Moi, and only in the period of the 1990s, tourism was recognised and sup-
ported by the Government as an economic growth factor. In comparison to
most of the competing tourism destinations in South-East Asia, Vietnam just had a
short development time for modern tourism structures which will be analysed in
this dissertation according to the research goal.
37
Chapter 4. Empirical Study
4.1 Introduction
The following chapter will describe the method how primary data was collected
in addition to desk research, described in chapter 1.4, which gave some general
and statistical background information on tourism and the structures of destina-
tion management in the three provinces as well as on the context of Vietnam.
Field research was conducted in order to gather more in-depth information
about current tourism structures in Central Vietnam from a supply-side perspec-
tive from public and private stakeholders.
Throughout desk research, established forms of cooperation were discovered
which caught the researcher‘s attention. Through additional field research, the
researcher sought to obtain primary data on how public and private stakehold-
ers perform in terms of cooperation as well as how they evaluate cooperation
within the three provinces. Furthermore, field research aimed at finding out more
about their different perspectives and diverging opinions on appropriate target-
oriented tourism development and suitable tourism structures.
Figure 16 Outline Field Research
In the following, the research areas will be presented, followed by an outline of
the research techniques which have been applied in order to gather primary
data.
Field Research
Desk research
context of Central Vietnam
Desk research Theoretical desk research
destination management
38
4.2 Research Area
For the purpose of the field research, the researcher travelled to Central Vietnam
for a period of three weeks and spent one week for interviews in each province.
Figure 17 The Three Provinces in Central Vietnam (DMO CCV, 2013).
The first week, the researcher stayed in Hue. The interviewed public and private
stakeholders are situated in the city centre, illustrated by through the blue circle
while the interview with the Hue Monument Conservation Centre took place in
the imperial city (red circle).
Figure 18 Hue
39
In the second week, the researcher travelled to Da Nang. Tour operators were
located in the city centre (blue circle) as well as the city hotels, while the resorts
were located on the beach front (red circle).
Figure 19 Da Nang City Centre and Beach Resort Area.
In the final week, the researcher stayed within the city of Hoi An, where tour op-
erators and some hotels were grouped in the city centre, highlighted through the
blue circle, as well as the Hoi An Municipality. The interviewed beach resorts are
shown in the red circle.
Figure 20 Hoi An.
40
4.3 Field Research Techniques
Sampling
For this study paper, the researcher used purposeful sampling (Baily, 2007);
tourism experts such as representatives of provincial authorities (DCSTs and Tour-
ism Information and Promotion Centres), accommodation and tour operator
sector on site had been selected for an interview because of their inside-
knowledge (Patton, 1990) in order to adequately answer the research questions
to meet the dissertation‘s research goal: Analysis of the existing organisational
tourism structures in Central Vietnam under the aspect of tourism stakeholder
cooperation in order to find out which structures and types of cooperation ap-
pear as the most efficient ones in Central Vietnam and which structures and
which organisation types would add most value to the region, with the aim to
give recommendations for enhancing tourism management in Central Vietnam.
Questionnaire
A questionnaire, based on issues and topics from the desk research‘s findings,
was developed as a guideline for personal interviews. The aim was to find out
what tourism structures exist and how they are functioning in the three provinces.
According to the study‘s research goal – need for a DMO in Central Vietnam,
question segments directly asked for the stakeholders‘ perceptions on this issue.
Additionally, emphasis was put on cooperation related attitudes, motivations
and interest within a province as well as between the three provinces. Further-
more, to find out if the expectations of cooperation and the indicated measures
are the same on both sides, public and private business side.
Due to time constraints by some stakeholders, the questionnaire has been allo-
cated to the stakeholders.
Interviews
Experienced showed that questionnaires are rarely sent back, which makes it
impossible to gain representative results. Due to that fact, the emphasis was put
on face-to-face interviews, where the questionnaires functioned as a basic
guideline.
41
Contacts to potential interview partners were made either through ESRT contacts
in each province, which functioned as ―gatekeepers‖ (Bailey, 2007, p. 66) and
provided the researcher with leads to additional interview contacts to mainly
public stakeholders. But soon it was clear that these contacts could not be
sufficient. Therefore, further research on potential interview partners was neces-
sary. The majority of interviews were achieved through directly contacting gen-
eral managers or marketing managers of three to five star hotels and tour opera-
tors in Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An by making contact via email, asking for an
interview meeting or ―simple walk-ins‖ directly asking for contacts and interview
meetings. Additionally, the advantage of interviews compared to other research
methods is that the researcher is in charge and has the possibility to improve the
quality of the interview by asking comprehension questions and/or additional
questions (Blumberg et al., 2008).
Semi-Structured Interviews
The interviews were conducted as semi-structured interviews using the question-
naire as a guideline with similar question categories to ensure that all main areas
are covered. This allowed the researcher to be more flexible and questions were
chosen during the interview, related to the interviewee‘s knowledge or the
information already given during the interview (Bailey, 2007, p. 100).
Open questions also allowed more flexibility during the interview (Bailey, 2007,
p. 100). In addition, open questions enabled the interviewees to share infor-
mation which was of importance to them, which might not have been consid-
ered by the researcher. This provided the researcher with the opportunity to
become familiar with issues which have been ignored in the first place, but play
a more important role in Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An and/or to the stakeholder.
Through open questions sometimes whole new topics arose.
Un-Structured Interviews
Throughout the course of conducting interviews, it turned out to be more appro-
priate to rely less on the afore created questionnaire and rather have a ―free‖
conservation with some stakeholders, as firstly the interviewees seemed to be
more relaxed when there was no questionnaire and rather have a normal con-
versation (Bailey, 2007, p. 96). Secondly it also gave the conversation a free flow
42
into different directions which provided the chance for the interviewee to freely
talk about topics/issues related to the broad research theme. On the other hand,
it also enabled the interviewer to ask questions which had resulted through a
previous answer of the interviewee or even trough an interview with another
partner (Bailey, 2007, p. 96).
In order to strengthen the validity and reliability of data, interviewed were con-
ducted with public as well as private stakeholders from the tourism industry to
ensure the analysis of a mutual perspective.
4.4 Conclusion
Field research proofed to be an adequate addition to desk research. The ad-
vantage was to gather focused primary data according directly related to the
dissertation‘s research goal. Additionally, face-to-face interviews allowed gain-
ing in-depth information (Bailey, 2007, p. 41) on tourism destination management
structures in Central Vietnam.
Altogether, 78 potential interview partners have been approached. Due to time
constraints of some stakeholders, the questionnaire has been sent to 17 stake-
holders, while only 5 have been returned to the researcher. In total, 24 face-to-
face interviews were conducted out of the 78 approached potential interview
partners. During the semi-structured interviews, the researcher simultaneously
took notes, whereas for the un-structured interviews, the researcher took notes in
the retrospect.
In the following, the research findings will be presented and analysed.
43
Chapter 5. Research Findings - Analysis and Discussion
5.1 Introduction
Chapter five will show the research findings for the current status of structures
and cooperation between tourism stakeholders in the field of destination
management in Central Vietnam with regard to the research goal: Analysis of
the existing organisational tourism structures in Central Vietnam under the aspect
of tourism stakeholder cooperation in order to find out which structures and
types of cooperation appear as the most efficient ones in Central Vietnam and
which structures and which organisation types would add most value to the
region, with the aim to give recommendations for enhancing tourism manage-
ment in Central Vietnam.
The following research findings result from theoretical desk research and data
collection for the contextual analysis on Central Vietnam, as well as field
research in the three provinces Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An where the researcher
carried out 24 personal interviews and allocated 5 questionnaires.2
5.2 Perception of Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An as one Destination
The majority of the respondents, on public and private side, share the opinion
that the three destinations Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An should be considered as
one destination Central Vietnam, therefore they also see the necessity of coop-
erating in order to grow as one destination and to exploit the given tourism
potentials of the three provinces to a larger extent.
Arguments supporting the view of one destination are the particularly close
geographical location of the three destinations, the beauty of their beaches,
2 Since the large majority of stakeholders asked for confidential treatment of their answers, the
following code system will be used for the quotations: The first two letters stand for the province: DN
= Da Nang, HA = Hoi An, HU = Hue. The third letter stands for stakeholder type: A = Accommoda-
tion, P = Public authority, T = Tour operator. EXP stands for tourism experts. The following two num-
bers stand for the respective interviewed stakeholder. An alphabetical list of the interviewed stake-
holder is in the appendix.
44
their richness in cultural sites, the UNESCO world heritage sites in Hue, Hoi An and
My Son, as well as Da Nang‘s complementary features of entertainment and
shopping (EXP03; HUP01; EXP02; EXP05). Additionally, the respondents mentioned
the dependency of the three destinations, on each other related to their com-
plementary infrastructure: Da Nang as international gateway to the other two
cultural heritage destinations.
Only a small minority of respondents have the view that Central Vietnam must be
seen as two destinations: (i) Hoi An and Da Nang on the one hand and (ii) Hue
on the other. With only 25 km distance, Hoi An and Da Nang are close together,
while Hue lies nearly 100 km North, additionally separated by the mountain
barrier with the Hai Van Pass, which also causes a different climate.
In the following, it is assumed that the three provinces shall be seen as one desti-
nation.
5.3 Cooperation in Public and Private Organisational Structures
Between the three provinces, cooperation of tourism stakeholders is taking
place, both on an official an official public stakeholder level (DCSTs) as well as
on a private stakeholder level of hotel and tour operator and their respective
associations.
In addition to institutionalised cooperation, a lot of informal cooperation is taking
place because ―all tourism stakeholders know each other‖ (EXP02), which will be
dealt with in section 5.4 basic fields of cooperation.
The organisational structure of public stakeholders refers to the provincial and
municipal organisations within the DCST structures.
Already in 2008, the DCSTs of the three provinces signed an agreement to jointly
promote and develop tourism under the slogan ―Three Provinces - One Destina-
tion‖ or ―Four Heritage Sites - One Destination‖ (DNA01; HUP04). This cooperation
of the DCSTs Hue, Da Nang and Quang Nam (municipal DCST) is known as the
―Rotating System‖, with annually changing leadership and thus also annually
changing g directors of each individual tourism programme. In their annual
45
meetings, a common programme on basis of the National Tourism Master Plan
for the upcoming year is identified by reviewing the outcome of the previous
year. The new identified programmes and activities shall be presented to the
private sector (HUP03).
The cooperation of the Rotating System of the DCSTs with the private stake-
holders, however, seems to be tainted with quite some issues such as mentioned
in the following.
Although intended, this top-down distribution of information does not happen
sufficiently in the eyes of many private stakeholders (HUT01; HUT02 HUT03; HUA04;
HUA01; HAA01; DNA01; DNA02). The private sector feels insufficiently informed
and involved in activities by local, provincial and national authorities (HUA01;
HUA04; HUT01; HUT02; HUT03; DNA01; HAA01).
Whereas decisions on the private side can be taken very fast, the public side
needs to follow all administrative procedures throughout all administrative layers,
and different topics require the involvement of additional administrative units
with overlapping responsibilities (EXP02; DNA02).
Some stakeholders share the view that within the Rotating System, the three
DCSTs are rather competing with each other because they try to outperform
each other (DNA01; HUA01; HAT01).
A higher involvement of the private sector in the Rotating System could
contribute to more practical decisions because they are closer to the market
and have more business and tourism experience (DNP01; HUA01; DNA01; DNA02;
HAA01).
Far reaching decisions require the approval from the Central Government in
Hanoi, which means that the processes of coordination of planning involve dif-
ferent administrative layers which consequently require different timescales
(DNA02; HAT01), since the destinations Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An belong to dif-
ferent administrative layers (Hue as city and capital of the province Thua Thien
Hue, Da Nang as autonomous municipality and Hoi An as a city of the province
Quang Nam). These different administrative statuses create imbalance between
the three destinations (EXP01; HAA04).
46
Another issue regarding the Rotating System, mainly mentioned by the private
stakeholders, is the fear that the province which currently is in charge of leader-
ship will prioritise and incorporate their own province‘s goals within the common
trans-provincial programme. For instance, the common presentation on the In-
ternational Travel Expo in HCMC was not planned and organised properly by the
current leader Quang Nam, as the province was engaged with its own provincial
problems (DNA03).
Many private stakeholders share the view that the DCSTs and the Rotating
System produce a lot of paper, but do not execute, nor implement or do not act
(HUT01; HUA04; HUA01; HAA01). The initiatives and input by private tour operators
to organise specific tourism events get lost in administration layers (HUT03).
More input from private stakeholders should be integrated into planning of the
Rotating System (HUP04; HUT03; HUA01). Some private stakeholders share the
opinion that the cooperation between the DCSTs, the Rotating System, happens
on a reserved level because de facto they are competing with each other,
which, however, is not admitted (DNA01; HUA01). This shortage may also be due
to the weak cooperation of the private tourism organisations (HUP04), such as
the regional chapters of the national associations Vietnam Tourism Association
(VITA) and Vietnam Society of Travel Agents (VISTA) in each province.
The organisational structure of private stakeholders refers to the provincial and
municipal tourism associations as well as the private tourism businesses.
The regional chapters of the national associations VITA – VHA for hotels and
VISTA for tour operators and travel agencies (VITA, 2013; VISTA, 2013), are
generally evaluated negatively Many private stakeholders complain that their
own associations exist, admittedly, but are not active enough or even do noth-
ing and that they just report to the Government ―that they did something‖, in
order to have a reason for collecting membership fees (HAT01; HUT02; HUE04;
HUT01; HUT01; HUT02; HUT03; HAA01; HUA01; HUA03; HUA04; DNA01; DNA02;
EXP02). The input initiatives of single private stakeholders do not receive notice,
since individuals do not have the same bargaining power as an active organisa-
tion (association) would have.
47
These associations have overlapping memberships and responsibilities. Critical
respondents state that there should only be one association for the three
provinces (EXP01; EXP02; HUA01; DNA01; HUT02; HUT03; HAA01; HUP04).
Respondents from the hotel sector emphasise the positive and stimulating
influence by the international hotel chains on tourism development which is out-
performing the activities of local hotel association, and even VNAT (DNA01;
EXP04; HAA04; HUA01; HUA02; DNP01).
The privately organised Destination Marketing Organisation Central Coast
Vietnam (DMO CCV) is a marketing cooperation of ten exclusive world-class five
star hotels and resorts in Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An. This network was judged
quite controversially by the few stakeholders who knew about the organisation.
Most private stakeholders had only heard about it, some tried unsuccessfully to
cooperate with it (HUT01; HUT02; HUT03; DNA03; HUA04), some report about
good cooperation (HAP01; HUA01; HUA05). The researcher‘s attempts to get in
touch with the DMO CCV came to nothing, so further information could not be
gathered.
An additional example for informal cooperation can be identified between
further groups of luxury resorts can be identified; General Managers from one
province recommend their guests where to stay in the other two provinces, in
order to ensure that the quality standard remains the same because they know
what ―type of standard‖ they recommend, but they also of course recommend
their ―friend‘s hotel‖. (DNA01; DNA02; HUA01). In some cases, locals own hotels in
more than one of the three provinces. Partly, they are integrated in international
marketing programmes like ―Five-Star Alliance‖.
In Da Nang, there is a private business network, which was mentioned by one
hotel, where meetings take place for knowledge transfer and news exchange
(DNA03).
In summary, it can be said that various types of DMO-like cooperation are
already occurring in Central Vietnam which are initiated by both, public as well
as private stakeholders, but are operating rather independently of one another
instead of gaining common power and effectiveness through concerted action.
48
5.4 Basic Fields of Cooperation
In the course of research, the questioning covered all fields of activities which in
literature are generally attributed to DMOs. Concerning organisational structures
and their efficiency, stakeholders have rather different opinions and attitudes.
However, when it comes to the practical fields of cooperation, there is a broad
consensus.
In all three provinces stakeholders agree that the cultural assets and the quality if
the beaches make up the main attractions for tourists to visit Central Vietnam.
This counts for Hue with its World Heritage Sites Complex of Hue Monuments
comprising the Imperial City, the Citadel and the great number of pagodas and
imperial tombs surrounding Hue and for Hoi An with its two World Heritage Sites
the Ancient City and My Son. But even Da Nang, hosting only the Champa Art
and Culture Museum and Marble Mountains, is aware of the importance of
cultural assets for Central Vietnam tourism.
However, the notion about the state of these cultural assets is absolutely polaris-
ing. A minority of public and private stakeholders seems to be quite satisfied with
the prevailing presentation, whereas the majority strongly asks for improvement
regarding conservation, protection and restoration. Hue and Hoi An, for
instance, are rich in monuments and are focusing tourism on these monuments.
Presentation and preservation, however, require permanent improvement in
order to meet the needs of tourists. Therefore, in Hue, several activities by more
than 20 organisations, originating from National Government, provincial and city
authorities as well as UNESCO and a number of national and international
donators, operate on the same goal but individually (HUP02).
The mutual dependencies of tourism and heritage require a close cooperation
of all stakeholders and donators, which calls for mutual understanding especially
between heritage managers, travel agencies, and monument guides (HUP02;
HUT02).
Of particular concern are the aspects of tourist information like signage of sites
and exhibits in detail. Signage is either missing at all, or it is irrelevant or even
tautologic respectively (e.g. an elephant sculpture is bearing the sign
―Elephant‖). Additional concern is the lack of information folders or brochures
49
etc. and the strongly diverging quality of museum and tour guides. The latter
does not only relate to partly very poor language knowledge but also to the
absence of informational content and in-depth history and cultural knowledge.
There are not sufficient possibilities for visitors to interact and learn about culture
and history, which needs improvement in the sense of edutainment (HUP01;
HUP02).
All stakeholders agree that the official listing of Hue and Hoi An by UNESCO was
the decisive factor for more awareness of culture. Consequently, a Middle World
Heritage Road was initiated by VNAT, meanwhile the competing idea of a
Central Heritage Road, even with a logo, was developed by a Hue tour opera-
tor. The opportunity for close cooperation on this issue was not pursued ade-
quately and not yet institutionalised (HUT01; HUT02), although the majority of
stakeholders share the view that a closer theme-based cooperation would be
beneficial for all three provinces.
All interviewed stakeholders agree that the beaches of Central Vietnam can
actually compete with other international destinations on a worldwide level.
Albeit, their potential for tourism is not fully exploited yet; the untouched beaches
and bays beyond the coastline between Da Nang and Hoi An, namely the
beaches South of Hoi An and the beaches and bays of the province Thua Thien
Hue.
The majority of respondents, however, mention the poor cleanness of the public
beaches and the lack of beach entertainment such as water sports activities like
water-skiing, sailing, surfing and para-surfing, boat rentals or pontoons etc. but
also bars, restaurants or music events and other shows.
Another issue is the limited access to public beaches due to the development of
luxury beach resorts which are placed next to each other extremely closely,
especially in the Da Nang – Hoi An area, which calls for adequate planning of
public space.
50
Product development is vital for the competitiveness of a tourism destination,
but mostly neglected or postponed by private stakeholders, due to their short-
term thinking and costs involve without immediate pay out (HUT01; HUT02). Public
stakeholders are not active enough in this field, possibly because of the lack of
market proximity or lack of budget.
But when it comes to events, the DCSTs take the lead in organisation and execu-
tion of events such as Hue Festival, Da Nang International Fireworks Competition
and Full Moon Festival at Hoi An Ancient Town etc. However, private stakehold-
ers criticise that they are not sufficiently involved in the planning process and
consequently cannot adapt their capacities accordingly (HUT01; HUT02; HUA04).
One contradicting (and interesting) view from a tour operator is, that regarding
product development, tour operators do not need to be engaged in a coopera-
tion, because Central Vietnam is ―so small‖ that ―you can do it yourself‖ and are
not dependent on other operators (HAT01).
Traffic infrastructure development was generally evaluated as positive. For
example, Da Nang International Airport, the improvement of Hue International
Airport, Hai Van tunnel connecting Hue and Da Nang, Da Nang cruise port, in-
crease of direct international flights to Da Nang, public and private transport
between the three destinations (HAA04; EXP02; DNA02; EXP01).
The issue of high quality tourism products, like postulated in the Quang Nam
Region Integrated Tourism Strategy Draft 2010, should not only be written on pa-
per but actually implemented, promoted and monitored (HAT01).
The DCSTs and the Tourism Information and Promotion Centres are responsible for
quality control and standards for hotels (star ranking) and tourism products.
Expert opinion is that tourism associations and hotel associations shall be more
involved in this issue, while other stakeholders share this view (EXP04).
Private stakeholders emphasise the need for more rigid quality control and
especially comparable standards, which was mentioned to be varying quite
substantially between the three provinces. Questions among private stakehold-
ers arise about the inadequate classification of public businesses and/or privat-
ised ―career-politician‖-hotels. The latter hotels are owned, run and ―milked‖ by
ex-politicians who enjoy tax holidays and other public benefits. These hotels are
51
often lacking in service quality, ―selling the same old product […] they get the
money anyway as paid by the government‖ (EXP02).
Multiple complaints about lacking cooperation and transfer of best practice be-
tween the province were mentioned, e.g. the issue of cyclo drivers, which are
registered in Hoi An, but not in Hue, which leads to an uncontrolled system result-
ing in lacking service quality and tourist scamming (HUA01; HUA02; HUA03;
HUA04). The same applies for excursion tour operators which are not registered
and therefore are not subject to quality control.
Human resources are seen of utmost importance for tourism, since in all sectors
persons are interacting with tourists, and by this they are contributing to the
image not only of the stakeholder‘s business itself, but also for the entire destina-
tion (DNA02; DNA03; DNA06; DNP01; HAA04; HUA01).
Due to growth of the tourism, especially for the hotel sector, 30.000 new staff is
required (EXP02). This is underlined by recent press releases of the Da Nang
Tourism Association mentioning the lack of "at least 200.000 personnell in the
mushrooming tourism industry", figures which indicate the problem (Nguyen,
2013).
Hoi An for example is competing for staff from Hue and Da Nang, where trained
staff mainly is originating from (EXP02).
Tourism schools exist in Hue and Da Nang, which are operating independently
from each other with different training programmes. Concerning HR develop-
ment, all stakeholders see the necessity for a closer cooperation for achieving
comparable standards in HR development and service standards on inter-
national level.
Hotels and resorts of international chains such as Hilton, Accor, Crown Plaza,
Intercontinental and Pullman etc. are benefiting from internationally recruited
management for their internal HR development programmes which at the same
time are setting the standards for Vietnam. More support in training as well as
more government investment is asked for by the private stakeholders. Some of
the international hotel managers recommend to follow the example of Thailand,
where training of hotel staff is paid by public institutions (DNA02; DNA01)
52
Although tourism guides need a licence from a DCST or the Hue Monuments
Conservation Centre (HUP02), experience showed that there is still room for
improvement. More emphasis shall be put on in-depth history and languages
knowledge mainly in English, less important rated are Chinese, Japanese, French,
and Russian.
A positive aspect of HR improvement is that younger people gradually take over
responsibilities in government and private management positions, people who
also have studied abroad and have gained international experience, which will
open up their mind, will change their view on things and will have a stimulating
effect on quality, policies, regulations and tourism. (HUT03; DNA01).
Only for Da Nang, stakeholders are satisfied with shopping and entertainment
facilities on international level, whereas these are lacking in the other two desti-
nations, especially Hue, while in Hoi An handicraft offers for tailoring, silk and
shoemaking can be found in abundance. Especially in Hue, all stakeholders
agreed that shopping and entertainment needs improvement for tourists.
Although stipulated in the Tourism Master Plan, community involvement to pre-
serve and promote traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities is not sufficiently
implemented. Labelled under ―community involvement‖ in most cases turns out
to be mere shopping pretence to ―staged‖ craft villages, sometimes even selling
souvenirs ―made in China‖ (HUP02; HUT02; HAT01).
Stakeholders also emphasised the necessity for further development of tourism
on the countryside, mainly through community-based, theme-based and
activity-based tourism like homestay tourism, farm tourism etc. where tourists are
able to experience and be involved for a longer stay in local life of ethnic
minorities (EXP01).
Because stakeholders are aware that one destination in itself is not strong
enough to successfully perform on the international market, quite substantial
common marketing and promotion activities on public and private side are
already carried out on provincial and trans-provincial level. Joint production of
folders and brochures in different languages, regional TV spots, attendance on
national and international tourism fairs etc. To market a complementary bunch
of tourism products from three provinces is more efficient, creates stronger
53
awareness for the destination and achieves economies of scale (Dwyer et al.,
2004).
Central Vietnam feels under-represented in the promotion and marketing activi-
ties by VNAT (EXP04; HAA01).
In trans-provincial cooperation, especially the attendance on trade fairs can be
found. Even a trans-provincial tour guide ―Hue – Da Nang – Hoi An. Center of
Wonders‖ is produced in addition to the VNAT brochure ―Charming Central
Vietnam‖.
Private and public stakeholders in Hue criticised lacking cooperation by Da
Nang and Hoi An in terms of the attendance on trade fairs. Due to budget con-
straints, Hue was not able to attend a trade fair, but wanted to provide the other
two destinations with information material, which they refused (HUP03).
Asked for the Destination Marketing Organisation Central Coast Vietnam (DMO
CCV), the answers of stakeholders varied between ―never heard of‖, ―never
answered request for cooperation (HUT01), cooperation can be improved
(HUA01; EXP04; HAA04; HAP01; HUA02; HUA05; HUA16) and ―good cooperation‖
(DNP01). This wide spread variety of answers implies the interpretation of either
lacking acceptance in the region or lacking activity.
Bearing in mind that length of stay is important for tourism success, mainly stake-
holders from the accommodation call for product development in favour of
extending tourist‘s stay in Central Vietnam which is reported with 2.02 days
(VNAT, 2013b). In the three provinces, stakeholders stated an average length of
2-3 days. Stakeholders share the opinion that the length of stay does not function
without appropriate marketing and promotion.
In terms of research, all stakeholders agree to supplement the present regional
research activities by common trans-provincial research programme.
54
5.5 Perception on a Destination Management Organisation Central
Vietnam
All stakeholders shared the view that there is a need for closer communicational
structures of tourism in Central Vietnam. The public stakeholders (DCSTs) already
made a first institutionalising step towards ―one common organisation‖ by estab-
lishing the Rotating System. The private stakeholders, all without exception, are in
favour of one central common organisation. However, due to their experiences
with the constraints of the current Rotating System, private stakeholders have
some reservations and therefore prefer a new type of organisation. Regarding
this organisation‘s form, some stakeholders have either no perception at all,
others have various conceptions.
Mainly from the private stakeholders‘ point of view, such a new organisation
should meet the following structural requirements:
The organisation should be a Public Private Partnership (PPP), and consist out of
an equally balanced combination of public and private stakeholders (DNA02;
DNA01; DNP01; DNP01; EXP02; HUT02), which goes in line with Pechlaner et al.,
2012). The legal form of such a PPP is new for Vietnam, there are no laws for PPPs
implemented yet (DNP01; EXP02; HAT01; HUA03; HUT01; HUT02).
Stakeholders expect the public side to take the lead in such a PPP for planning
and implementing target-oriented investment in tourism infrastructure and tour-
ism supra-structure without administrative boundaries (DNP01). The management
of the PPP should consist of tourism experienced and strong, convincing and
confident professionals (DNP01; DNT01; HAA01; HUA01; HUT01; HUT03; DNA06;
HUA03). The new organisation needs to hold institutional power for defining
a regional master strategy (DNP01). Additionally, it should have a mediating role,
while others prefer it should place special emphasis on the role of execution and
implementation (DNA02; HUT02).
For private stakeholders, it is very important to have more influence, input and
advice in the new organisation, since they are closer to tourists and the market
(DNA02; DNP01; HUT01; HUT02). This was even seen by public authorities. How-
ever, without relieving the government from its responsibilities for tourism and in
particular for the common good (HUT03). This is also in line with the view of
55
Laesser and Beritelli (2013) on destinations as ―[…] productive social systems with
specific business aims and non-business related goals‖. The task of a new DMO
shall be to combine business aims with the common good.
The new DMO should allocate a central budget for all fields of common activities
(DNA03), which formerly was located at public provincial and or municipal
authorities.
Moreover, the new DMO shall serve as flagship for support and promotion of
Central Vietnam as one destination (DNP02). Marketing and promotion measures
shall be executed as common activities under one slogan, but in close coopera-
tion with VNAT (HUA01).
5.6 Conclusion
In conclusion, research revealed that the requirements of the respondents are
corresponding with DMO requirements which can be found in literature. This
proofs that the stakeholders‘ perception and ideas of success-oriented develop-
ment are also valid in the theoretical context. They are aware that the existing
assets of the destination Central Vietnam only calls for an adequate DMO for a
successful exploitation of its full potential, which goes in line with Bornhorst et al.
(2010) and Ritchie and Crouch (2003), who state that tourism success is related
to both.
As interim result and summary, it can be noted that the individual private stake-
holders‘ understanding of one single destination and its structures are far ahead
of the current existing organisational destination management structures. At
present, it seems that they do not feel comprehensively represented by both, the
existing public as well as the different private structures. This judgement is exactly
the same which VBF is criticising for the cooperation between VNAT and private
stakeholders on national level (VBF, 2013b). Partly, stakeholders even feel ex-
cluded from the circles of the upscale elite organisation, such as the DMO CCV
and Five-Star-Alliance, which only indirectly contribute to the image develop-
ment of Central Vietnam.
56
Obviously, private stakeholders do not only argue with the lack of information
and inclusion by the public stakeholders but also with the ―[…] serious weakness
in the machinery of government dealing with tourism in its coordination, and
cooperation with operators either state or privately owned.‖ (Hall, 1999). It seems
that it is just the adequate organisational, institutional structure which is missing,
because on the other hand nearly unrestricted consensus exists regarding
necessity, function and goal of such institutionalisation.
57
Chapter 6. Conclusion, Recommendation, Limitations and
Further Research
6.1 Introduction
With regard to the dissertation‘s research goal –
Analysis of the existing organisational tourism structures in Central Vietnam
under the aspect of tourism stakeholder cooperation in order to find out
which structures and types of cooperation appear as the most efficient
ones in Central Vietnam and which structures and which organisation
types would add most value to the region, with the aim to give recom-
mendations for enhancing tourism management in Central Vietnam. –
the final chapter will draw conclusions derived from secondary and primary data
and based on that recommendations for a new DMO will be given. Ensuing, the
research limitations will be described, followed by suggestions for further re-
search.
6.2 Conclusion
The analysis of research findings on basis of literature and field research leads to
the conclusion that it is indicated to establish one single “DMO Central Vietnam”,
which shall be responsible for all three destinations Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An,
whose tasks include the sustainable development of tourism in order to position
Central Vietnam as a strongly competitive destination on national as well as
international level.
The DMO shall overcome the on-going organisational and structural weaknesses
and inefficiencies which at present occur in Central Vietnam. It shall be deeply
rooted within the region and cover all spectrums of tourism-related businesses,
not to forget the entire population, and by that to be able to gain in
acceptance.
Furthermore, this means that the system-immanent weaknesses on both sides
need to be reduced to a minimum. On the public stakeholder side it is necessary
58
to overcome the structural weaknesses such as institutional rigidities in organisa-
tion and lengthy and complicated decision-making processes with overlapping
responsibilities; lacking market proximity. On the private stakeholder side, weak-
nesses such as local competition and within the provinces, self-centredness,
short-term orientation need to be eliminated. Therefore, the DMO needs to
operate as an independent organisation of interest which is free of any
domination by either side.
6.3 Recommendation - The new DMO Central Vietnam
Based on the conclusion, it is recommended to establish the DMO as an inde-
pendent, business-oriented, non-profit institution. Its tasks include a sustainable
increase of Central Vietnam‘s competitiveness in the market. By this, the benefit
maximisation of its public and private stakeholders will be achieved. The benefits
for public stakeholders are among others the increase of tax revenues, the in-
crease of employment, the increase of tourism and other investment and the
utilisation of public capacities (airport, trains, schools etc.), the development and
optimisation of public attractions (sites, museums, theatres etc.). For private
stakeholders, this means profit maximisation through the development of capaci-
ties which are competitive on the domestic as well as the international market,
the increase of capacity utilisation such as occupancy, the creation of an at-
tractive business environment for directly and indirectly tourism-related business-
es (e.g. restaurants, cultural institutions, taxi companies, souvenir shops, laundry
shops etc.).
Therefore it is recommended to
establish one single DMO for Central Vietnam
as a Public Private Partnership (PPP).
The governance of PPPs can take different legal forms ranging from rather loose
types like working groups, committees, theme-based and activity-based coop-
eration, to institutionalised forms like associations or agencies etc. though to
business-oriented corporations like the LLCs or joint stock companies.
59
The analysis of successful DMOs showed that quite a number of them are
organised as PPPs. Examples are The Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau3,
London & Partners4, Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH5, Hamburg Tourismus
GmbH6, Köln Tourismus GmbH7. Paris is organised as joint initiative of Paris City
Council and the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry. London is a non-
profit PPP, funded by the Mayor of London and a network of commercial part-
ners. The German examples Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne are organised as
GmbH (LLC – Limited Liability Company).
Since the goals of the new DMO Central Vietnam (DMO CV) are business and
success oriented, the institutionalisation of this PPP requires a firm structure as it is
usual in the business environment. Therefore, the DMO CV must be seen as a
business unit like a company, with firm duties and tasks and clear responsibilities.
This consequently justifies the recommendation to establish the DMO CV as a
business corporation, such as a LLC or as a joint stock company. Even though
being non-profit organisations, the advantage of LLCs and joint stock companies
is their qualification for receiving credits and funding.
Members of this PPP DMO CV ideally shall be tourism stakeholders in Central
Vietnam.
From the public side, members shall be the three provinces – namely the provin-
cial People‘s Committees, tourism-related municipalities, airports, port authorities
and eventually VNAT and Vietnam Airlines etc.
From the private side, members normally would be private hotel and/or tourism
associations, chambers of commerce and organisations of all other tourism
related businesses. Private stakeholders shall hold shares according to their busi-
ness size, accommodation stakeholders e.g. according to their number of rooms,
tour operators according to their turnover etc.
Given the current situation in Central Vietnam, it would be beneficial to have
individual pro-active stakeholders as members (hotels, resorts and other
3 Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau, 2010. 4 London & Partners, n.d. 5 Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH, 2012. 6 Hamburg Tourismus GmbH, 2013. 7 Köln Tourismus GmbH, 2013.
60
accommodation businesses (homestays, hostels etc.), tour operators, travel
agencies), instead of their inactive and inefficient trade associations VITA and
VISTA.
As public stakeholders have to take over responsibilities not only for tourism but
also for the common good of the whole region, they therefore ought to hold the
majority of shares. This is also the case in the best practice examples Berlin
Tourismus & Kongress GmbH (2012) (60 : 40 %, public : private shareholders) and
Hamburg Tourismus GmbH (2013) (51 : 49 %, public : private shareholders). Due to
Vietnam‘s socialist market economy, the public majority is a matter of course.
Acting like a business unit requires the establishment of a professional manage-
ment, the definition of the strategic goal, of medium- and long-term business
goals and corresponding business plans.
The strategic goal of the DMO CV shall be to position Central Vietnam in its key
markets using the brand Central Vietnam, to generate and increase awareness
among visitors, customers, residents, tourism investors and to promote sustainable
economic benefit to the region. As one public stakeholder suggested: ―Central
Vietnam shall become the real centre of cultural and heritage in Vietnam‖
(HUP04).
In line with VNAT‘s national positioning and branding ―Vietnam. Timeless Charm‖,
the slogan for Central Vietnam could be ―Charming Central Vietnam‖.
In addition to the overall tasks mentioned above, the DMO CV will have to in-
corporate internal tasks such as product development, structure development,
control and improvement of quality standards etc.
Essential for the effectiveness of the DMO CV is to ensure that plans are actually
implemented, that the implementation and its results are monitored and even-
tually adapted.
Concrete tasks of the DMO CV comprise among others the presentation of Cen-
tral Vietnam on trade fairs; the organisation of common workshops; develop-
ment of promotion material (sales guide, region brochure, meeting guide con-
vention brochure, incentive brochure, etc.) under the recommended slogan
―Charming Central Vietnam‖; the organisation of familiarisation trips from abroad
61
(tour operators, firms, incentive agencies, journalists, partner cities etc.); the
organisation of national and international press conferences; the handling of any
type of inquiries; HR development; the development of a common website for
pooling of information on the three provinces as well as web-PR; the develop-
ment of mobile travel apps; the internal communications reaching ideally each
person in the destination on all kinds of issues (Saftić et al., 2010; Fyall et al., 2012)
etc.
Furthermore, it might be advisable for the effectiveness of the established DMO
CV to engage in partnership with comparable DMOs in other countries for the
purpose of fast exchange of knowledge, cooperation, best practice exchange
and benchmarking.
On the road map for developing such a new DMO ―Charming Central Vietnam‖
the crucial path will be the efforts to convince the public authorities diplomati-
cally by installing interim steps such as theme-based or activity-based coopera-
tion via tourism working groups (TWG) or multi-stakeholder destination manage-
ment boards, before the factual implementation process of a neutral, inde-
pendent and business-oriented corporation may start.
6.4 Research Limitations
This chapter describes limitations which have been faced throughout desk and
field research.
Questionnaires were not always returned to the researcher which minimised the
sample size. Not in all cases, follow-up approaches to achieve a substantially
higher return rate of the questionnaire. Some interviews could not take place
because some refused to response, contacts could not be made because
potential interview partners were not available.
The interviews were conducted in English language. Since in no case English was
the mother‘s tongue of the interview partners, language barriers may portray a
restriction to primary research. The consequences are possible interpretation
errors on both sides, the interviewer and interviewees side. Consequently, these
62
interpretations might happen to be superficial or misleading which compromises
the credibility and reliability of collected information.
Moreover, cultural differences between the researcher and the respondents
may eventually have hampered research. Especially Hall & Hall‘s theory about
culture in regard to high-context vs. low-context (Hall & Hall, 1987) was experi-
enced throughout research, which was kept in mind throughout research, but
also later on during the analysis (Köster, 2010).
Moreover, another important and worth mentioning limitation is the fact that the
answers are only describing trends, which cannot be quantified and implements
the questioning of generalizability (Onwuegbuzie & Johnson, 2006).
Questionable may be the validity of answers, especially from respondents who
were afraid to talk openly. This was the case mainly with public authorities, where
the questionnaire was reviewed by the department before handing it back to
the researcher.
The recording of interviews would have been useful in order to avoid the loss of
information, but especially in the case of unstructured interviews it did not seem
appropriate to record the interviewee, as well as the researcher was advised
that it was not appropriate to record the interviews.
Although the research results are not representative, however, this research study
provides the reader with qualitative insights on a valid basis into current tourism
structures in Central Vietnam.
6.5 Suggestions for further Research
In order to proof the validity of the recommendation for a business oriented im-
plementation of the new DMO as LLC or joint stock company, it is advisable to
evaluate the experience of such DMOs with this type of legal structure in
different countries with capitalist and centrally planned economies in order to
find out the most suitable solution for Central Vietnam.
63
Existing literature on destination management focuses on all types of DMO
aspects, whereas the legal forms of implementation for such organisations seem
to be neglected. Therefore, further research shall be concentrating on this issue
in order to provide the necessary completion for practical implementation of
DMOs.
None of existing destination management literature could be identified tackling
the topic from a socialist market economy perspective with its specific legitima-
cies and consequences within a single-party political system. Therefore it might
be indicated to further examine the validity destination management theory for
the given context of Vietnam.
64
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Appendix
Appendix A – Questionnaire
Questionnaire
In order to gain more benefit from visitors to Central Vietnam and to gain even more visi-
tors, your help is needed to answer this Destination Profile Questionnaire. To identify which
tourism organisation structures might be most beneficial for Central Vietnam, it is neces-
sary to identify tourism stakeholder‘s perspectives on present and future tourism struc-
tures.
1. Organisational details:
Name: Address:
Website: E-Mail:
2. Guest by country of origin and main type of holiday:
3. Duration of stay:
4. Which Marketing / sales activities do you use?
5. In your opinion, what type of cooperation should be responsible for the tourism devel-
opment in Central Vietnam:
6. How would you describe tourism assets in Central Vietnam?
Cultural heritage and monuments: Status
Cultural heritage and monuments: Access
Quality of landscape
Quality of beaches
Quality of streetscape
Nature discovery
Handicraft discovery
Rural life discovery
Resort, beach tourism
Signage of attractions, visitor information
Local markets in towns
Local markets country side
Community access, integration
Entertainment for tourists
Events and festivals
Shopping
Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, Exhibitions (MICE)
Security and safety
Language Knowledge
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7. Which of the above listed assets do you consider as top three successful factors of your
tourism destination?
1.
2.
3.
8. How would you describe stakeholder interaction and/or cooperation?
On local level
On provincial level (within private sector)
On provincial level (with public sector, e.g. DCST)
On regional level (Chapter VITA)
On regional level with Vietnam Destination Marketing Organisation Central Coast
Between the provinces Hue, Da Nang and Quang Nam
On national level (with VNAT)
9. How would you describe cooperation between the 3 provinces Hue, Da Nang and
Quang Nam?
Marketing & Promotion of Central Vietnam tourism
Membership & Stakeholder Management (DMO)
Policies and strategies within Central Vietnam
Information research
Product development
Development/control of quality standards
Human resources development
Others, please state:
10. Who is influencing tourism development in Central Vietnam in your opinion?
11. Which collaboration/cooperation would you consider as most appropriate for the
provinces Hue, Da Nang and Quang Nam?
Formal tourism working group
Informal or loose tourism working group
Theme-based collaboration / initiative
Sector-based collaboration / initiative
Resource-based collaboration / initiative
12. Which of the following assistance would you find beneficial from a Destination Man-
agement Organization (DMO)?
Advice to help you with your marketing activities
Updates on campaign and marketing plans
Involvement in planning DMO marketing activities (collective marketing promot-
ing the region)
Frequent networking events
Advice / assistance in product development
Development of (quality) standards
Human resources development
Representation on trade fairs
Regional promotion film
Road shows in source markets
77
Press mailings
Other, please state:
13. Will more direct flights from source markets to Da Nang be beneficial for tourism de-
velopment in Central Vietnam?
13. Who should provide support for your institution?
15. How do you think cooperation within the tourism industry could be improved?
16. What is your opinion about a DMO as PPP?
16. If there would be a DMO in Central Vietnam, which recommendations would you give
first to the DMO?
1.
2.
3.
17. If you could make 3 wishes for support to make your job/business easier (apart from
money!) what would you wish for?
1.
2.
3.
78
Appendix B – List of Interview Partners
Stakeholder Province Stakeholder
Type
Data Type
Ana Mandara Hue Hotel Questionnaire
Asiana Travel Mate Hue Tour Operator Interview
Brilliant Hotel Da Nang Hotel Interview
Centre for Tourism Promotion Da Nang Public Institution Interview
DCST Hue Hue Public Institution Interview
ESRT 1 Hanoi Public Institution Interview
ESRT 2 Hanoi Public Institution Interview
Green Travel Vietnam Hue Tour Operator Interview
Hagl Plaza Da Nang Hotel Interview
Hoi An Bicycle Tours Hoi An Tour Operator Interview
Hue Monument Preservation Centre Hue Public Institution Interview
Hue Tourist Hue Tour Operator Interview
Hyatt Da Nang Hotel Interview
Imperial Hue Hotel Interview
Information & Promo Centre Hue Public Institution Interview
Institute for Tourism Development Re-
search
Hanoi Public Institution Interview
Japan International Cooperation Agency Hanoi Public Institution Interview
La Residence Hue Hotel Questionnaire
Le Belhamy Hoi An Hotel Interview
ATM ASIA Company Da Nang Tourism Consultant
Company
Questionnaire
Muong Thanh Hue Hotel Interview
Peoples Committee Tourism Information Hoi An Public Institution Questionnaire
Century Riverside Hue Hotel Interview
Sandy Beach Resort Da Nang Hotel Interview
Sunrise Hoi An Hoi An Hotel Interview
Tourism School Hue Hue Public Institution Interview
Victoria Hotel Hoi An Hotel Questionnaire
Vina Hotel Hue Hotel Interview
Vitours Da Nang Tour Operator Interview
