International tourists’ post-visit behaviors: a study of short-term revisit intention in the emerging tourism destination of Vietnam
Author: Ha Luong, Van
Under the direction of: Nathalie Prime
Université Paris 1
English text
Keywords: Management sciences, Vietnam, Tourism in Vietnam, Intention to revisit, Self-congruence, Perception of a tourist destination, Emerging destinations, Image of a tourist destination, Tourist behaviors, Consumer loyalty, Travelers - Customs and behaviors, Consumers - Attitude.
Abstract
This thesis is an endeavor to provide a new theoretical framework for investigating international tourists’ short-term revisit intention following the experiential marketing paradigm in the context of an emerging destination of Vietnam based on the in-depth exploration of the destination perception and empirical testing of the self-congruity mode. By employing a mixed-method research design that combines both content analysis and structural equation models, it aims at bridging several research gaps raised in tourist behavior literature, which mainly are : the irrelevance of expectancy-disconfirmation theory (service quality paradigm) in explaining tourist’s short-term revisit intention ; the absence of time factor in examining the revisit intention ; and the unidentified relationship of novelty-seeking motivation and tourist’s behavior in the post-visit stage. Through a non-linear buying process model, it first discovered that experiential and symbolic perceptions of a destination are found to be key mediators that should be incorporated in tourism destination research. Furthermore, self-congruity has been found to have a positive influence on short-term revisit intention whereas novelty seeking is revealed a robust motivation that discourage the revisit intention of tourist to the same destination by its moderating effect on the interrelationship of post-visit behavior constructs. This might explain the reality of the weak return rate of international tourists to Vietnam. Finally, emerging destinations seem to attract more millennials who prefer novelty and unique traveling experience.
