Critical factors influencing international tourists' decisions to choose tours to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Bui Duc Sinh; Truong Dinh Thai

doi:10.31893/multiscience.2026086

Keywords:

tours

international tourists

destination selection

knowledge and discovery

Abstract

Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam's major economic and cultural center, is witnessing a substantial transformation in the tourism industry through digital transformation. This is a crucial step to help the city recover quickly from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and lay a solid foundation for a future of sustainable development. Therefore, this study aims to explore the factors affecting international tourists' decision to choose Ho Chi Minh City as a destination. The study approaches the Pust-Pull theory, in which push motivation includes the following factors: Knowledge and discovery, entertainment and relaxation, family and friends, and financial conditions; pull motivation includes destination image and destination information. Pust-Pull factors simultaneously affect choosing a tourist destination in Ho Chi Minh City for international tourists. The study's method uses a convenient sampling survey design, including 422 international tourists in Ho Chi Minh City. Data are analyzed using statistical software SPSS 25.0 and SmartPLS 4.1.0.0, and research hypotheses are tested using PLS-SEM. The results show that push and five factors affect tourists' decision to choose a destination, all statistically significant at 5%. The study's unique contribution showed that knowledge discovery and financial conditions have the most substantial influence, while destination image is another factor that strongly influences the decision to choose Ho Chi Minh City as a destination. Finally, the authors proposed key recommendations for tourism businesses and stakeholders, which need to pay attention to digital transformation, a trend and a key factor determining tourism development to enhance appropriate policies to attract more international tourists to the city, contributing to sustainable economic development.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to cite

Sinh, B. D., & Thai, T. D. (2025). Critical factors influencing international tourists’ decisions to choose tours to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Multidisciplinary Science Journal, 8(2), 2026086. https://doi.org/10.31893/multiscience.2026086

[1] Al-Ansi, A., & Han, H. (2019). Role of halal-friendly destination performances, value, satisfaction, and trust in generating destination image and loyalty. Journal of destination marketing & management, 13(2019), 51-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2019.05.007

[2] An, S., Suh, J., & Eck, T. (2019). Examining structural relationships among service quality, perceived value, satisfaction and revisit intention for Airbnb guests. International Journal of Tourism Sciences, 19(3), 145-165. https://doi.org/10.1080/15980634.2019.1663980

[3] Baloglu, S., Henthorne, T. L., & Sahin, S. (2014). Destination Image and Brand Personality of Jamaica: A Model of Tourist Behavior. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 31(8), 1057–1070. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2014.892468

[4] Bayih, B. E., & Singh, A. (2020). Modeling domestic tourism: motivations, satisfaction and tourist behavioral intentions. Heliyon, 6(9), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04839

[5] Becker, J. M., Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., & Völckner, F. (2015). How collinearity affects mixture regression results. Marketing Letters, 26(4), 643-659. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-014-9299-9

[6] Braimah, S. M., Solomon, E. N. A., & Hinson, R. E. (2024). Tourists' satisfaction in destination selection determinants and revisit intentions; perspectives from Ghana. Cogent Social Sciences, 10(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2024.2318864

[7] Çelik, S., & Dedeoğlu, B. B. (2019). Psychological factors affecting the behavioral intention of the tourist visiting Southeastern Anatolia. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, 2(4), 425-450. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTI-01-2019-0005

[8] Chen, C. F., & Chen, F. S. (2010). Experience quality, perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intentions for heritage tourists. Tourism Management, 31(1), 29-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2009.02.008

[9] Chew, E. Y. T., & Jahari, S. A. (2014). Destination image as a mediator between perceived risks and revisit intention: A case of post-disaster Japan. Tourism Management, 40(2014), 382-393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2013.07.008

[10] Crossley, E. (2020). Ecological grief generates desire for environmental healing in tourism after COVID-19. Tourism Geographies, 22(3), 536-546. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1759133

[11] Croy, W. G. (2010). Planning for film tourism: Active destination image management. Tourism and Hospitality Planning & Development, 7(1), 21-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790530903522598

[12] Gretzel, U., Sigala, M., Xiang, Z., & Koo, C. (2015). Smart tourism: Foundations and developments. Electronic Markets, 25(3), 179-188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8

[13] Guri, E. A. I., Osumanu, I. K., & Bonye, S. Z. (2021). Eco-cultural tourism development in Ghana: potentials and expected benefits in the Lawra Municipality. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 19(4), 458-476. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766825.2020.173709

[14] Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European Business Review, 31(1), 2-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-11-2018-0203

[15] Hasan, M. K., Abdullah, S. K., Lew, T. Y., & Islam, M. F. (2019). The antecedents of tourist attitudes to revisit and revisit intentions for coastal tourism. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 13(2), 218-234. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCTHR-11-2018-0151/FULL/XML

[16] Kani, Y., Aziz, Y. A., Sambasivan, M., & Bojei, J. (2017). Antecedents and outcomes of destination image of Malaysia. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 32(2017), 89-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2017.05.001

[17] Kim, J. H., & Ritchie, J. B. (2014). Cross-cultural validation of a memorable tourism experience scale (MTES). Journal of Travel Research, 53(3), 323-335. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287513496468

[18] Maghrifani, D., Liu, F., & Sneddon, J. (2022). Understanding potential and repeat visitors' travel intentions: the roles of travel motivations, destination image, and visitor image congruity. Journal of Travel Research, 61(5), 1121-1137. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875211018508

[19] Manosuthi, N., Lee, J., & Han, H. (2020). Predicting the revisit intention of volunteer tourists using the merged model between the theory of planned behavior and norm activation model. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 37(4), 510-532. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2020.1784364

[20] Martín-Santana, J. D., Beerli-Palacio, A., & Nazzareno, P. A. (2017). Antecedents and consequences of destination image gap. Annals of Tourism Research, 62(2017), 13-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2016.11.001

[21] Mohammed, I., Mahmoud, M. A., & Hinson, R. E. (2021). The effect of brand heritage on tourists' intention to revisit. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, 5(5), 886-904. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTI-03-2021-0070

[22] Nikjoo, A. H., & Ketabi, M. (2015). The role of push and pull factors in the way tourists choose their destination. Anatolia, 26(4), 588-597. https://doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2015.1041145

[23] Park, S. H., Hsieh, C. M., & Lee, C. K. (2017). Examining Chinese college students' intention to travel to Japan using the extended theory of planned behavior: Testing destination image and the mediating role of travel constraints. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 34(1), 113-131. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2016.1141154

[24] Preko, A., Mohammed, I., & Ameyibor, L. E. K. (2020). Muslim tourist religiosity, perceived values, satisfaction, and loyalty. Tourism Review International, 24(2), 109-125. https://doi.org/10.3727/154427220X15845838896341

[25] Qiu, R. T., Masiero, L., & Li, G. (2018). The psychological process of travel destination choice. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 35(6), 691-705. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2018.1435332

[26] Seetanah, B., Teeroovengadum, V., & Nunkoo, R. (2020). Destination satisfaction and revisit intention of tourists: Does the quality of airport services matter? Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 44(1), 134-148. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096348018798446

[27] Slack, N., Singh, G., & Sharma, S. (2020). The effect of supermarket service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction on customer loyalty and disloyalty dimensions. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 12(3), 297-318. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQSS-10-2019-0114/FULL/XML

[28] Soliman, M. (2021). Extending the theory of planned behavior to predict tourism destination revisit intention. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 22(5), 524-549. https://doi.org/10.1080/15256480.2019.1692755

[29] Valduga, M. C., Breda, Z., & Costa, C. M. (2020). Perceptions of blended destination image: the case of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, 3(2), 75-93. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTI-03-2019-0052

Abstract

References

How to cite