Measuring tourism value chains through tourist satisfaction in Vietnam

Abstract

The tourism value chain plays an important role in sustainable tourism development because it makes identifying the important tourism services possible in order to create the value chain for tourists. This study is conducted to identify the basic elements of the tourism value chain and measure their impact on tourist satisfaction, thereby evaluating the effectiveness of the tourism value chain in Vietnam. Hypotheses are tested from the estimation of coefficients in the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and multigroup analysis with survey data from 540 domestic tourists in Vietnam. The results of data analysis have confirmed that services such as transport, accommodation, catering and recreation, entertainment are key components of the value chain that tour operators provide for tourists; the tourism value chain provided by tour operators is more valuable than the service provided directly by basic tourism service providers. However, significant differential impact of tourism services on satisfaction among tourist groups was not found. These findings are the basis for promoting cooperation between tour operators and basic tourism service providers to create tourism products with more value for tourists.