Proposed Theoretical Model on Tourism Service Quality in Phu Yen Province

The most beautiful landscape because the mountain looks like a dragon lying down, attracting the attention and interest of tourists.

- Dai Lanh Lighthouse: in the Top 5 most majestic lighthouses over 100 years old, Dai Lanh Lighthouse is 26.5m high, standing on a 110m high building (above sea level) closest to international waters and is the first place to welcome the sunrise on land in Vietnam.

- Nhan Tower: located in Tuy Hoa city, on the north bank of the Da Rang River, is a place of worship according to Cham beliefs, dating back to the late 11th century - early 12th century. Recognized by the Ministry of Culture - Sports - Tourism as a national architectural - artistic relic in November 1988, Nhan Tower is also listed in the Top 10 ancient towers and tower clusters most visited by tourists.

- Xuan Dai Bay and Vung Ro Bay: are in the top 10 beautiful bays of Vietnam. If Xuan Dai Bay (Song Cau Town, Phu Yen) is considered a bay with rare diversity in terrain: cliffs following coves, coves following beaches, beaches following mountains, winding in a pristine beauty, then Vung Ro Bay is known for its charming landscape style with many species of seafood, corals and historical relics where the "ships without numbers" were welcomed during the resistance war against America.

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- Ganh Da Dia: Recognized as a national scenic spot since 1997 and is in the top 20 most popular destinations for tourists when coming to Vietnam. This is a natural masterpiece with a unique topographical architecture rarely seen in the world with vertical stone columns closely aligned with each other, the surface is hexagonal, like plates. Every year, this place attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors.

2.4.1.2 Accommodation services

Tuy Hoa city is home to many hotels from 1 to 5 stars to serve the accommodation needs of tourists. In particular, Sao Viet eco-tourism area, Bai Tram tourist area and Cendeluxe hotel are ideal places for tourists to relax and recover their health.

2.4.1.3 Local cuisine

With over 3,200 km of coastline stretching from North to South, Vietnam not only has many beautiful bays and beaches famous in the world, bringing high economic value and great tourism potential, but also has a rich source of seafood. The Vietnam Record Book Center officially announced 10 Vietnamese seafood specialties, of which Phu Yen has two specialties:

- Ocean tuna: found in some central coastal areas, but Phu Yen is considered the cradle, the place where ocean tuna fishing originated. Enjoying ocean tuna dishes can be considered the most unique way to eat in Tuy Hoa.

- O Loan lagoon blood cockles: have long been a famous product in Phu Yen. Blood cockles here are processed into many dishes from rustic to sophisticated such as: steamed cockles with lemongrass, grilled cockles with charcoal, cockles fried with tamarind, ... or used to cook porridge or hot pot is also very delicious. Therefore, visitors here often tell each other: "If you have not eaten blood cockles, you have not known Phu Yen".

2.4.1.4 Entertainment and tourism activities

In addition to visiting scenic spots and historical sites, visitors can participate in discovery tours, learn about daily activities to understand more about the culture and local people such as:

- Night squid fishing trip at sea by boat with fishermen: tourists will be introduced to the biological characteristics of squid by fishermen and instructed on how to fish. After squid fishing, tourists will be able to grill and enjoy the results of their own efforts.

- Diving to see diverse coral reefs and unique colorful fish and starfish at Hon Chua Island. In addition, visitors can also experience the feeling of being a "fisherman" fishing, rowing a basket boat, participating in games and exploring the surrounding pristine islands.

- Visit Ngoc Lang flower village: tourists can interact with local people to learn about flower and vegetable growing, enjoy rustic dishes such as grilled corn, boiled cassava right on the vegetable field. Not only that, tourists can also

Go to the market, join the locals in the kitchen to prepare rustic country dishes to learn more about the life and local cuisine of this land.

In addition, Phu Yen also has many festivals such as: Nguyen Tieu Poetry Festival, Bai Choi Festival (full moon of January), Boat Racing Festival (annual holidays), Fishing Festival (2nd day of the third lunar month)... and regularly organizes fairs and seafood festivals (2014).

It can be seen that with many beautiful landscapes, delicious cuisine and diverse tourism activities, Phu Yen has the potential to make tourism a key economic sector of the province.

2.4.2 Proposed research model

As a successor model of SERVQUAL, the SERVPERF model consists of five components that cover quite completely all issues that characterize the quality of a service. In addition, measuring only customer perceptions of using the service of this scale is relatively simple, bringing practical efficiency in the survey and analysis process. Therefore, the tourism service quality scale in this study is determined based on the SERVPERF scale with some factors adjusted to suit the type of tourism service suitable for Phu Yen province.

Service quality scale calibrated according to Phu Yen province tourism:

2.4.2.1 Tangible means : are physical assets, equipment and appearance, uniforms of service staff - INFRASTRUCTURE

Tourism infrastructure is a series of equipment, components that make up the physical and organizational basis for tourism development. It includes four basic elements: accommodation, food and beverage, facilities and accompanying information media (Panasiuk A., 2007).

The scales for assessing “Infrastructure” are:

- Accommodation for tourists;

- Convenient local roads and traffic;

- Various means of transportation and sightseeing;

- Necessary equipment at tourist attractions;

- Internet connection is always available at tourist accommodation and tourist attractions;

- Telecommunication services are always available at the places where tourists stay and visit;

- Medical services, banking… are always ready to serve tourists;

- Uniforms of hotel, restaurant and tourist area staff.

2.4.2.2 Access: is creating all conditions for customers to access services easily - TOURISM ENVIRONMENT

The tourism environment includes all natural, socio-economic and human factors in which tourism activities exist and develop. Therefore, the quality of the environment, including natural and artificial, is very important to the tourism industry.

The natural tourism environment includes the entire space and territory with natural elements such as: land, air, fauna, ... and natural landscape architecture works that create the premise for the development of tourist areas and attract tourism activities. In which, the factors that have the most significant impact on tourism are: geographical location, weather - climate, landscape, flora - fauna system ...

The artificial tourism environment includes socio-cultural factors, architectural works, roads, vehicles, etc. that humans create to serve tourism activities and are factors that create the attractiveness of the tourism environment (culture, tradition, etc.)

The scales for assessing the tourism environment are:

- Beautiful scenery at tourist attractions;

- Local climate is favorable for tourism activities;

- Reasonable prices for sightseeing and dining at tourist attractions;

- Convenient local geographical location;

- Delicious and diverse local specialties.

2.4.2.3 Safety: ensuring the physical, mental and life safety of tourists throughout the trip – SECURITY AND ORDER

Security and order are very important in providing quality in tourism. More important than any economic activity, the success or failure of the

Tourist destinations depend on providing a safe environment for visitors. This was evident after the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

Security and order has become a complex, multidimensional concept with many dependent components: political security, public safety, health and environmental sanitation, personal information security, tourism legal protection, consumer protection, communication security, safety in times of disaster, environmental security, quality of insurance services, receiving authentic information, etc.

The scales to evaluate the factor of "Security and order" in tourism are:

- Safety at tourist sites;

- Begging, robbery, soliciting customers, social evils...;

- There are security guards (tourist police) at tourist attractions.

2.4.2.4 Empathy: showing care and concern for each customer –

TOURISM AND ENTERTAINMENT ACTIVITIES

Tourism is an activity of discovering, learning about new things or preserving the beauty of nature (Buhalis, 2000). Besides discovering new places, tourists also spend about 1/3 of their time shopping, mostly souvenirs with symbols of that place (Gratton & Taylor, 1987). In addition, places that attract tourists after visiting and exploring include theaters, bars, restaurants, cafes, etc.

Scales for evaluating recreational tourism activity factors:

- There are many places to visit;

- There are many shopping locations;

- Local events and festivals take place regularly;

- Fun activities at various tourist destinations (boating, diving, mountain climbing, etc.);

- There are places for evening entertainment (coffee shops, bars, etc.).

2.4.2.5 Service capacity: demonstrated through professional qualifications and polite, enthusiastic service to customers - SERVICE CAPACITY

Service capacity is the activities and skills required of employees to perform the tasks of a specific position. Tourism needs are always associated with the need for food and accommodation. Although for the tourism industry, the landscape and tourism environment play a decisive role in attracting tourists, however, to make tourists feel satisfied during their entertainment and relaxation, the service of the staff is indispensable. Therefore, perfect service at hotels, restaurants, and tourist areas also contributes to keeping tourists longer in a tourist destination.

Service capacity assessment scales:

- People are hospitable, friendly, and ready to help tourists;

- Good service attitude of staff;

- Good staff skills and expertise;

- Good foreign language skills of employees;

- Good ability to respond to customer requests.

2.4.2.6 Visitors' feelings

Tourists’ perception of service quality in Phu Yen province is the main factor of this study. Tourists perceive the quality of tourism services as good if they are satisfied with spending time and money to visit and relax in Phu Yen.

The scales to measure visitor perceptions are:

- Considering all factors, I am satisfied with the quality of tourism services in Phu Yen province;

- I got what I wanted when I traveled here;

- I will introduce my relatives and friends here;

- I will continue to come back to Phu Yen.

INFRASTRUCTURE

TOURIST ENVIRONMENT

SECURITY AND ORDER

QUALITY

TOURISM SERVICES

TOURIST ACTIVITIES

AND ENTERTAINMENT

SERVICE CAPACITY

Figure 2.5 Proposed theoretical model on tourism service quality in Phu Yen province

2.4.3 Research hypothesis

From the proposed model above, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H1: The higher the Infrastructure factor is rated, the higher the quality of tourism services in Phu Yen province. Or Infrastructure has a positive relationship with the quality of tourism services.

H2: The higher the tourism environment factor is evaluated, the higher the quality of tourism services in Phu Yen province. Or tourism environment has a positive relationship with the quality of tourism services.

H3: The higher the security and order factor is rated, the higher the quality of tourism services in Phu Yen province. Or security and order has a positive relationship with the quality of tourism services.

H4: The higher the tourism and entertainment activities factor is rated, the higher the quality of tourism services in Phu Yen province. Or tourism and entertainment activities have a positive relationship with the quality of tourism services.

H5: The higher the Service Capacity factor is evaluated, the higher the quality of tourism services in Phu Yen province. Or Service Capacity has a positive relationship with the quality of tourism services.

CHAPTER 2 SUMMARY

In chapter 2, the author provides a theoretical basis to summarize the research content and introduces some models commonly used to measure service quality, which are the Groonros service quality model, the SERVQUAL service quality scale and the SERVPERF service quality scale. Based on the SERVPERF theoretical model and tourism activities in Phu Yen province, the author proposes a research model and hypotheses to be tested for 5 factors affecting the quality of tourism services, including: Tourism environment; Facilities; Service capacity; Tourism and entertainment activities; Service capacity.

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