Journal of Tourism & Hospitality
Open Access

Vietnamese Tourist Satisfaction in Agro-Tourism, A Case Study at Tra Que Village, Quang Nam Province, Viet Nam

Ha Van Trung^1* and Suchint Simaraks^{2 *}Correspondence: Ha Van Trung, Department of Rural Development, Khon kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand, Tel: 349766972, Email:

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Introduction

According to the number of visitors who concern about rural tourism is an ascendant tendency nowadays, and they look for a new type of ecological tourism or responsible tourism [1]. Simultaneously, the tourists tend to pay more attention and their consideration to areas that bring unique and extraordinary experiences, authentic and specific activities, as well as primordial lifestyle. In this way, it can avoid the globalized nature of mass tourism [2]. Rural tourism is increasing in the world and gaining popularity amongst tourists. Agro-tourism growth as an inevitable trend in tourism development. It is not only bringing profits in terms of the economy, especially in the rural area but also contributing to well preserving the ecological environment. Agro-tourism was developed in Viet Nam 15 years ago [3]. Yet, agro-tourism in Vietnam has not been developed vigorously as in other countries in the region and in the world. Despite the considerable potential for agri-tourism, agri-tourism activities in Vietnam remain unprofessional. However, there are many issues influenced to Vietnamese tourist satisfaction but have not been identified [4]. Therefore, this research was designed to capture the levels and factors influencing Vietnamese tourist's satisfaction in Tra Que village.

Literature Review

Tourist satisfaction is level of gratification, which tourists fulfilled in terms of experiences of a tourism product and a service that satisfy their wants, desires, and expectations in involvement with their trips. In the tourism perspective, the satisfaction level is compared between desires/expectations before travel and experiences after travel [5]. The tourist satisfaction will be fulfilled well when their experiences about products and services go beyond their expectations. However, showed that attributes related to tourism product of spiritual and cultural nature, atmosphere and climate, a variety of tourist activities, hospitality and safety are significant factors in determining tourist satisfaction [6]. Whereas basic facilities such as accommodation, transportation, tourism infrastructure and hygiene and sanitation at destination are of significant importance in satisfaction evaluation. While, Castro, Quisimalin, Carmen, Gancino, and Jerez identified and validated determinants of tourist satisfaction included of infrastructure, attention, cleanliness of the establishment and availability of parking, food and fun, ease of finding places and availability of service information; gastronomic and cultural tourism, positive tourism experience, successful choice of destination, fulfilled expectations, repetition of the trip and recommendation of destination.

Material and Methods

Research design

The study was conducted at Tra Que village, Quang Nam province, Viet Nam. Because the study aims to identify the factors contributing to Vietnamese tourist satisfaction in agricultural tourism, so available sampled Vietnamese tourists was analyzed. According to the newest data of statistical office of Hoi An, there are 850 Vietnamese tourists visited Tra Que in 2018. It should be noted that this study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research applies non–probability sampling method to select the respondents. Simple random sampling was employed to 100 Vietnamese tourists. The respondents will be chosen rely on two criteria: the first is they have ever experienced all agro-tourism services at Tra Que, and the second is tourists visited the village from on January 2020 to July 2020 [7].

Data collection

This research used a quantitative approach, by questionnaire survey of 100 Vietnamese tourists who have ever visited Tra Que village from June to July in 2020. The questionnaire focused to elucidate level of tourist satisfaction on agro-tourism. The Vietnamese tourists included both group and individual tourists. The questionnaire was developed pretested. Semistructured interview of two groups of 10 Vietnamese tourists for 30 minutes was also conducted to check the reliability of the data collected by questionnaire [8].

Data analysis

Issues related to the satisfaction included: (X1) Tour guide service, (X2) Agricultural activities used in agro-tourism (X3) Infrastructure such as toilets, parking lots, roads, welcome house and other public services (X4) Communication and language skills of local guide and villagers, (X5) Attitude and behaviour of the local toward tourists (X6) Specialization in organizing experienced activities (X7) accommodation services such as homestays, hotels and villas, (X8) Restaurant and food services, (X9) Tour activities such with various option for experiences and (X10) Tourist supported service such as sightseeing directions, maps. Descriptive statistical tools such as percentage, mean, median, and mode were used to analyze and describe tourist' response to their satisfaction of their visits, Multiple Regression Linear analysis with using the stepwise method to select independent variables and estimate regression coefficients was applied to find the factors influencing their satisfaction in agrotourism services at Tra Que. Independent variable is the general satisfaction level of respondents (Y), and dependent variables are from variable X1 (Tour guide service) to variable X10 (Tourist supported service). Statistical Package for Social Science have used for the analysis process [9].

Results

Respondent characteristic

Tra Que Village started to develop tourism in 2003, now Tra Que provides many services for domestic and foreign tourists such as accommodation services, food services and multiform experienced tours. There are 29 males and 71 females participated in the survey. More than half of the respondents (51%) are age from 26 to 35 years old. There was approximately one-third (31%) of the respondents currently work in school and educational institutes followed by tour guides (23%).

Satisfaction level of tourists on agro-tourism services in Tra Que village

Table 1 shows levels of Vietnamese tourists' satisfaction of those who had visited Tra Que. Among the tourists who had ever used services/activities, a majority of them are quite satisfied with what they experienced [10]. More than half of the respondents answered that their satisfaction levels were above average level included of agricultural activities (79%), communication and language skill of tour guide and local people (75%), attitude and behaviours of villagers (80%), restaurant service (53%), specialization of organization in agro-tourism (70%) and tourist supported service (55%). Also, approximately half of them stated that their satisfaction levels are higher than the average level consisted of: the quality of infrastructure (50%), tour programs (49%). However, there are also some respondents felt unsatisfied on the supported services (6%) and infrastructure (5%). Almost half of the respondents have never used accommodation service (49%) at Tra Que and majority of them had participated in agricultural activities and felt good about it (97%). The results above indicated that most of the respondents’ satisfaction in agro-tourism services in this village were higher average level. To Vietnamese tourists satisfaction level of agrotourism services in general, more than half of the respondents (57%) are satisfied with what they experienced in agro-tourism in the village, and the number of respondents who feel very satisfied is 17% of the total. On the other hand, about onefourths of them (26%) are still not satisfied.

Table 1: Tourist's satisfaction level of agro-tourism in Tra Que village.

Discussion and Recommendation

In the evaluation criteria reflect the needs of Vietnamese tourists for agricultural tourism in Tra Que vegetable village, the above criteria are very important to determine the necessary issues for tourism development of Tra Que vegetable village. And possibly for Hoi An city in general. However, it was found that the most prominent factors affecting visitor satisfaction, included participation in agricultural activities by the tourists (X2), the quality of restaurants, food stalls in the village (X8) and the quality of infrastructure for agricultural tourism (X3). These are critical factors contributing directly to the satisfaction of visitors when visiting and experiencing agricultural tourism in Tra Que vegetable village. In particular, the most important factor is infrastructure. They should be upgraded, so that satisfaction level of visitors would increase significantly, followed by restaurants and agricultural experience activities. Therefore, local authorities should pay more attention to the development of local infrastructure, especially public services such as toilets, car parking, resting and other related public facilities. However, local authorities should plan and built public construction in appropriate ways to upgrade public services for tourists to relax and entertain during their trip to the vegetable village.

Likewise, to local people, the experimental agricultural activities also need to pay more attention in terms of diversifying agricultural experience activities and enhance the tourists’ participation level in agricultural activities. Developing new experienced programs, increasing the participation of tourists in those activities will make a positive affect to tourist’s satisfaction. That will also contribute significantly to promoting tourist attraction. Besides, the local people should work with local government to organize culinary activities such as food festivals or cooking contests so that visitors can join and experience with local people. It is necessary to establish the close linkages between tourists and tourism companies and local restaurants to increase potential and minimize the constraints of parties.

Conclusion

There are ten factors that contribute to the satisfaction of Vietnamese tourists in agricultural tourism. In which infrastructure, restaurants services, and agricultural experience activities play a key role in promoting visitor satisfaction. In the coming future, if Tra Que vegetable village wants to promote tourism development, attract more tourists, Tra Que vegetable village needs to focus in the upgrade, development of all three factors in terms of both quality and quantity. Besides, Tra Que also needs to pay attention to other factors to make sure that agricultural tourism development is sustainable in the future.

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