An evaluation of destination attractiveness for nature-based tourism: Recommendations for the management of national parks in Vietnam

By

An, Le Thanh
Markowski, Janusz
Bartos, Maciej
Rzenca, Agnieszka
Namiecinski, Piotr

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2019

Original Publication

Subterranean Biology

Volume

32

Pages

51-80

Subjects

National Park , nature-based tourism , PROMETHEE , SMAA , tourism attractiveness , Vietnam

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.32.30753

 

Abstract

National parks are increasingly recognized as playing an important role in the development of nature-based tourism destinations that promote effective management of natural resources and socioeconomic development. The paper was designed to evaluate the tourism attractiveness and performance of national parks in Vietnam. The tourism performance of 30 Vietnamese national parks was evaluated using multiple criteria decision analysis with the stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis (SMAA) and preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE) method; thirteen national park attributes were used to determine tourism attractiveness, measured by an exponential weighted acceptability index. It was found that the Phong Nha – Ke Bang, Cuc Phuong, and Ba Be National Parks were most attractive for more than 95% of all possible preference structures. In addition, 12 non-dominated national parks were identified, and for an average supporter of most non-dominated protected areas, the trail criterion appears to be the most important. A statistically significant correlation was found between tourism attractiveness and the number of tourists who visited national parks. Our findings offer potentially useful information for decision makers in developing effective tourism marketing and management strategies for national parks in Vietnam.