Kinh and Ethnic Minority Stakeholder Perspectives of Tourism Development in Sapa, Vietnam NGUYEN VAN HUY This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Murdoch University College of Arts, Business, Law and Social Sciences 2021 © 2021 Nguyen Van Huy. All rights reserved. No parts of this thesis may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, comprising photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods without the written permission of the author. i THESIS DECLARATION I, Nguyen Van Huy, certify that: This thesis is my own account of my research and contains as its main content work which has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in my name, in any university or other tertiary institution.
Signature: Date: ii ABSTRACT This thesis compared the perspectives of Kinh and Ethnic minority groups in terms of the impacts of tourism, participation, collaboration, and their motivations for participating in tourism planning in Sapa, Lào Cai, Vietnam. The rationale for focusing on these groups is that Ethnic minorities account for more than 80% in Sapa, while Kinh people represent 86% of the wider population, but they are the minority in Sapa, making up 18%. Tourism development is primarily in the management of Kinh stakeholders, in Vietnam. The decision-making process is dominated by the Kinh in a top-down approach, and Ethnic minorities with little education are rarely part of the tourism planning process.
This thesis employed pragmatism as a research paradigm and employed the exploratory sequential mixed method including semi-structured interviews with key tourism stakeholders and a follow-up survey with broader involvement of Kinh and Ethnic minorities. The differences between the two groups are that Kinh people perceived the effects of tourism in generic ways, whilst Ethnic minorities responded very specifically and personally. Both groups perceived that participation in tourism planning followed a top- down approach in Sapa. There are differences in perceptions of participation in tourism planning between lower level Ethnic minorities and higher level Kinh government positions.
The findings showed that there is a limited collaboration among stakeholders in tourism planning. This current study confirmed that some conditions including; (1) a recognition of interdependence among stakeholders; (2) a recognition of mutual benefits derived from a collaboration process; (3) a need for a convener to facilitate collaboration in tourism planning as suggested by Jamal and Getz (1995) occur in the current Sapa tourism planning scenario. Both groups reflect similar responses when asked about the aspects facilitating or hindering their participation in tourism planning. These aspects comprised of the government policy, economic benefits and distribution of the benefits, social and cultural benefits for local residents, socio-cultural and environmental costs.
The original contribution of this study is that Social Exchange Theory (SET), stakeholder and collaboration theory have been applied in a destination with diverse ethnic groups and rapid changes in tourism development. Future research should incorporate power and trust variables in the SET, since they are considered important influences on the social exchange processes. Some limitations of this study related to language issues, and the length of time allocated for ethnographic fieldwork. Keywords: tourism impacts, SET, stakeholder theory, collaboration theory, Kinh, Ethnic minorities, Sapa, Vietnam iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In order to complete this thesis, there are many people involved in the process and completement.
First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards my supervisors, Dr. Diane Lee and Assoc. Carol Warren, for their excellent guidance, inspiration, patience, sympathizing throughout the whole process of my thesis. David Newsome also gave valuable feedback and academic support to me.
This thesis is dedicated to my family and friends who have constantly encouraged and supported me throughout my life. My appreciation to Vietnam International Education Development (VIED), and Murdoch University that have supported my scholarship to study in Australia. Special gratitude to all the wonderful people in the Tourism Program, College of Arts, Business, Law and Social Sciences, Murdoch University, who have helped me by sharing their knowledge, experience and feedback, and supporting me in many other ways. My special thanks to all Sapa tourism stakeholders who offered their valuable time to participate in the interviews, answered my questionnaires and provided useful information.
Finally, I wish to extend my sincere thanks to all those whose names are not listed here, for their valuable assistance and cooperation. Nguyen Van Huy iv Publications during the Ph. process Journal Articles Early versions of some chapters in this thesis have been published as a journal article. Kinh and ethnic tourism stakeholder participation and collaboration in tourism planning in Sapa, Vietnam.
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 14(4), 579-597. The article included the content from sections of Chapters 1,2,3,5, and 7. Segmenting local residents by the perceptions of tourism impacts in Sapa, Vietnam, A cluster analysis. International Journal of Tourism Cities.
Manuscript ID IJTC-03-2021-0046. Journal Articles in Process 1. A comparison of stakeholder perspectives of tourism development in Sapa, Vietnam. Tourism and Hospitality Research, (Under review).
Ethnic minority participation in tourism planning in Sapa, Vietnam; A political approach (Manuscript). Refereed Conference papers 1. Kinh and Ethnic Stakeholder Perspectives of Tourism Development in Sapa, Vietnam; a Social Exchange Theory Approach. CAUTHE 2020 Conference, Auckland, New Zealand – (CAUTHE Ph.
Scholar Bursary Award, and Vice Chancellor’s Student Development Fund, Murdoch University). How Kinh and Ethnic Tourism Stakeholders perceived Cost and Benefit of Tourism Development in Sapa, Vietnam. Murdoch Annual Research Symposium – Presentation. Identifying of tourism stakeholders in academic research; A systematic literature review.
International Conference, Sustainable Development and the roles of University in the Industrial Revolution 4. Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration (TUEBA) – Vietnam. Comparing Tourism Stakeholders’ Perspectives of Tourism Impacts in Sapa, Vietnam, Proceedings of the 6th Annual Conference Travel and Tourism Research Association Asia-Pacific Chapter (pp. v ABBREVIATIONS ASEAN South East Asian Nation CIA Central of Intelligence of America DCST Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism GDP Gross Domestic Products ITDR Institute for Tourism Development Research MCST Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism NGO Non – governmental Organization PATA Pacific Asia Travel Association PPC Provincial People’s Committee SNV Netherlands Development Organization TITC Tourism Information Technology Centre UNDP United Nations Development Program UNWTO United Nations World Tourism Organization VISTA Vietnam Society of Travel Agents VITA Vietnam Tourism Association VHA Vietnam Hotel Association VNAT Vietnam National Administration of Tourism VTR Vietnam Tourism Review WTO World Trade Organization vi Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, beloved spouse Elise & my daughters Ruby and Bonnie, my older brother and sister-in-law, for their love, empathy, patience and support during my Ph.
journey vii TABLE OF CONTENTS THESIS DECLARATION. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. viii LIST OF TABLES. xiv LIST OF FIGURES.
International context for research. Local context for research. Significance of the Study. Structure of the Thesis.
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. The Impacts of Tourism. Economic impacts of tourism. Socio-cultural impacts of tourism.
Environmental impacts of tourism. Relationship between personal benefits, tourism impacts, and support for tourism. Stakeholders’ Perceptions and Attitudes of Tourism Impacts. Social Exchange Theory (SET) .1 Attributes of stakeholders.
Aspects of stakeholder theory. Role of Stakeholders in Tourism Development. Key Tourism Stakeholders in Sapa, Vietnam. An application of Stakeholder Theory in Tourism Planning.
Marginal & less powerful status of ethnic minority stakeholders. Political structure of the destinations. Rebalance stakeholders’ power, roles and relationships. Diversity & heterogeneity within host communities.
Flexible & customized participation strategies & methods. Forms of Stakeholder’s Participation in Tourism. Citizen Participation in Vietnam. Regulations to promote citizen participation.
The other side of the coin. Types of Planning Approaches in Tourism. Community Participation in Tourism Planning. Barriers of Stakeholder’s Participation in Tourism Planning.
The rationale for collaboration in sustainable tourism. Classification of collaboration. Collaboration among stakeholders in tourism planning. Benefits and constraints of collaborative planning.
Conditions facilitating tourism planning collaboration at the community level. Sources of Conflict in Tourism Planning. Theoretical Framework for the Study. CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
Constructivism – Interpretive Social Science. Pragmatism and Research Paradigm. Rationale for Mixed Methods. Exploratory Sequential Design.
Rationale for Exploratory Sequential Design. The Role of Researcher. Qualitative data collection technique. Quantitative data collection technique.
Qualitative Data Collection. Research instrument and pre-test. Study population and sampling for qualitative data. Qualitative data collection.
Qualitative data analysis. Quantitative Data Collection. Research procedure for data collection. Quantitative data analysis.
CHAPTER 4: SAPA – THE CASE STUDY AREA. Tourism Development in Vietnam. Structure of tourism sector in Vietnam. Tourism planning in Vietnam.
Ethnic composition in Vietnam and in Sapa. Characteristics of Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam. Vietnamese Government Policy Towards Minorities. Development gap between the ethnic minority and majority groups in Vietnam.
Overview of Sapa. Tourism Development in Sapa. Tourism and Ethnic minority livelihoods. Ethnic minorities and State modernization.
CHAPTER 5: INTERVIEW RESULTS. Tourism Stakeholders’ Perspectives on the Impacts of Tourism Development. The benefits of tourism development. The costs tourism development.
Unequal Distribution of Economic Benefits from Tourism. Support for Tourism Development. Different Perspectives between two groups regarding Tourism Development. Barriers to sustainable tourism development.
Forms of participation in tourism planning among tourism stakeholders. Aspects influencing tourism stakeholders’ participation in tourism planning in Sapa. Economic benefits for tourism stakeholders. Social and cultural benefits for local residents.
Socio-cultural and environmental costs. Current collaboration among tourism stakeholders in tourism planning in Sapa. CHAPTER 6: SURVEY RESULTS. Preliminary Data Analysis.
Demographic Profiles of Respondents. Sources of Income and Economic benefit from tourism. Main sources income. Economic benefits from tourism.
The Impacts of Tourism. Kinh and Ethnic minority perspectives on the impacts of tourism .2 Kinh and Ethnic minority stakeholders’ perspectives of costs and benefits of tourism development. Hmong and Other ethnic minorities perceptions of costs and benefits of tourism. Personal benefits and support for Tourism Development.
Frequency analysis of Kinh and Ethnic minorities responses. Independent sample t-test. Participation and Collaboration in Tourism Planning. Frequency analysis of responses to participation and collaboration in tourism planning.
Kinh and Ethnic minority stakeholders’ perspectives on participation and collaboration in tourism planning. Engagement in tourism planning and decision-making processes. Residents, tourism businesses and government officials’ perceptions of participation and collaboration in tourism planning. Hmong and Other ethnic minorities perspectives on participation and collaboration in tourism planning.
Aspects Motivating and Hindering Stakeholder Participation in Tourism Planning. Aspects of motivations. Hindrances to stakeholder participation. Hmong and other Ethnic minorities perceptions of aspects motivating and hindering participation in tourism planning.
Kinh and Ethnic minorities views of each other. Kinh respondents’ perceptions of Ethnic minorities. Ethnic minority respondents’ perspectives to Kinh people. Qualitative Survey Findings.
CHAPTER 7: DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION. Discussion of Research Findings. Similarities in perceptions of tourism impacts between groups. Similar responses in perceptions of benefits.
Similar responses in perceptions of costs. Differences in the perceptions of tourism impacts between groups. Significant differences in statements of benefits. Significant differences in perceptions of costs.
Implications of differential perceptions of the relative benefits to costs arising from tourism development. Personal Benefits and Support Tourism Development. Forms of stakeholder participation in tourism planning. Top-down planning approach.
Opposing views between stakeholders. Factors motivating or hindering tourism stakeholders’ participation in tourism planning. Economic benefits for tourism stakeholders. Social and cultural benefits for local residents.
Socio-cultural and environmental costs. Current stakeholder collaboration in tourism planning in Sapa. Recognition of interdependence and lack of shared vision among stakeholders. Recognition of mutual benefits derived from the collaboration process.
Participation is a two-sided coin .