The Perceived Attractiveness of Vietnam Tourism Destinations for Korean Tourists: A Comparison between Visitors and Non-visitors

Vietnam has become a popular international tourism destination. Korean tourists ranked second in the number of international tourists to this location, and Korea represents one of the fastest-growing markets for Vietnam tourism. Hence it is necessary to apprehend the perceptions of Korean tourists toward Vietnam, particularly its attractiveness as a tourism destination. The purpose of this study is to identify the attractiveness of Vietnam as a tourism destination from the standpoint of potential Korean tourists. To achieve its objective, it applies the multi-attribute model to measure the perceived ability of each destination and ascertain the importance accorded by Korean tourists to the locations. In doing so, it attempts to identify the appeal of specific destinations. Further, the study compares the attractiveness of locations for visitors and non-visitors to control for the past visit experiences of tourists. Data were collected from an aggregate of 255 questionnaires administered via online and on-site surveys targeting Koreans who have an interest in Vietnam. The perceived ability and importance scores allotted for each destination attribute were multiplied, and the overall destination attractiveness scores were calculated by totaling the products of all attributes. Also, a t-test was also conducted to evaluate the differences in the assessment of every attribute by visitors and non-visitors. The results revealed that non-visitors accorded the highest score of attractiveness, followed by all potential tourists and visitors. Additionally, all the destination attributes were evaluated differently by visitors and non-visitors. Finally, this paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the study’s findings.