Testing cultural tourism typology and implications for marketing strategies - A case of Ho Chi Minh city

Abstract

Tourism has been an important industry in Vietnam’s economy, which annually contributes about 280,000 billion VND to Vietnam’s GDP. The number of tourists visiting Vietnam is increasing over the years. Owning lots of UNESCO-world-recognized heritages like Halong Bay, Hoian Ancient Town, MySon Sanctuary, Vietnam attracts tourists from all over the world. Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), located in the South Vietnam where there are not as many world heritages as the North or Central Vietnam, still attracts lots of foreign tourists. Up to Dec 24, 2016, HCMC. has welcomed five million foreign visitors whose figures are more than half of HCMC.’s population. Tourism, however, is a special industry where customers’ demands and market segmentation might not be the same as the other industries. Understanding customers well enhances the efficiency of marketing campaign, therefore, adds up the profit. However, there are few researches on tourist’s motivation and categorization of Ho Chi Minh City. The research is to explore the profile and characteristics of tourists visiting HCMC based on (McKercher, 2002) and to suggest implications for marketing strategies based on “message perception process” suggested by (Kantanen & Tikkanen, 2006). The results show sightseeing tourists and incidental tourists account for 50% of foreign visitors whereas the incidental tourists are the major visitors to HCMC. In addition, the older the people are, the more interested in cultural tourism they are. Implications for marketing strategies should follow “Do-Learn-Feel” process with a “Habitual Strategy”. In other words, to attract more visitors to come to HCMC., “persuading” tourists to “do”- take action – make decision of choosing HCMC. as vacation destination – is the initial step.