With a history of attracting French tourists since the 19th century
and particularly during the colonial period, Vietnam has re-emerged
as one of the most popular Asian destinations for the French. A
number of factors augur well for a further increase in visitation.
As a former colony, Vietnam has nostalgic appeal for many French
visitors. After the release of the films L' lndochine, L 'amant, Le
Cyclo, Papaye Vert, and the documentary-drama Dien Bien Phu in
1993, France became the main tourism source market for Vietnam. As
the ethnic composition of France has changed, the French are
interested in learning about cultures generally and Asian cultures,
in particular. The prospect of discovering new destinations and
cultures encourages them to travel long-haul. They are quality
conscious and culture loving, and prefer to use their own language
when traveling overseas, favouring their own cuisine even though
they do enjoy the cuisine of the host countries .Travel to Vietnam
offers the prospect of fulfilling a number of their preferences.
Another attraction for French tourists is that Vietnam is a member
of the Francophone Community. Since 1988, the French legacy has
experienced a resurgence with the renovation of colonial-style
properties and restaurants. Tourists have been impressed by the
French-style architecture, accommodation and cuisine that is
available. Despite Vietnam's long history of contact with France,
Vietnamese service providers are relatively ignorant about Western
countries, their people and their values. Up to now Vietnam's
tourism authorities have paid little attention to the role of
cultural understanding in the tourism development process and
Vietnam's overseas tourism promotions have given minimal
acknowledgement of the cultural characteristics of source markets
including those conducted in France. Servicing French tourists is
likely to be a challenge for Vietnamese service providers because
of the substantial differences between the respective host and
guest cultures and rules of behaviour. International tourism
generally involves a cross-cultural component, particularly in the
case of encounters between tourists and service providers. If it is
accepted that the cultural values of Western travellers are
different, it seems reasonable to conclude that the Vietnamese
service providers need to consider the effect of this cultural
dissimilarity on touristahost mutual perceptions and social
interaction in the intercultural service encounters. An
understanding of areas of potential tourist dissatisfaction may
assist the service providers to anticipate prospective negative
perceptions and to address them, thereby contributing to overall
holiday satisfaction, and improve the prospects of repeat
visitation. It is common for destinations to attract visitation
from different source countries and cultures. Nonetheless, consumer
behaviour literature on cross-cultural perceptions and interaction
have been largely limited to homogeneous sample populations from
Western countries. Furthermore, until now there are no published
studies have specifically examined touristahost service encounters
interaction and mutual perceptions in the context of Vietnam as a
holiday destination. Consequently, this research has both practical
and academic significances. From the theoretical perspectives, this
study provides an augmented comprehension on Argyle's, Rokeach and
SERVQUAL models. From the practical standpoints, this study offers
service managers and marketers a heightened understanding of
cross-cultural awareness for improving customer satisfaction. It
acclaims an evidence base that can guide provision to meet the
needs of international tourists with particular reference to the
impact of rules of behaviour on touristahost service encounters
interaction. It accentuates the effect of cultural backgrounds on
tourists' perceptions towards and satisfaction with service
quality. By this means, it applies the empirically based models to
development related challenges confronting the tourism sector in
the cross-cultural settings for designing appropriate strategies
with the aim of gaining a competitive advantage. Keywords: French
Guests, Vietnamese Hosts, Cultural Values, Rules of Behaviour,
Interactions, Satisfaction, Service Attributes and Performances.
General
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