Multicriteria Evaluation of Tourism Potential in the Central Highlands of Vietnam: Combining Geographic Information System (GIS), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA)

Huong T.T. Hoang, Quang Hai Truong, An Thinh Nguyen and Luc Hens
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Huong T.T. Hoang: Faculty of Geography, University of Sciences, Vietnam National University (VNU), 10000 Hanoi, Vietnam
Quang Hai Truong: Institute of Vietnamese Studies and Development Sciences, Vietnam National University (VNU), 10000 Hanoi, Vietnam
An Thinh Nguyen: Research Institute of Resources and Climate Change, Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment (HUNRE), 10000 Hanoi, Vietnam
Luc Hens: Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2400 Mol, Belgium

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: Tourism potential provides an indication for the tourism development opportunities of regions and sites. This paper deals with a multicriteria evaluation of the tourism potential in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The study area is located in the Southeast Asian monsoon tropical climatic zone, and offers both natural and cultural tourism resources. GIS-based cost distance analysis was used to calculate the travel time along the road and using other transportation networks. Then an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to determine a weighting coefficient for each criterion in multicriteria evaluation. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was processed next to AHP, allowing combination of the internal and external tourism potentials of the considered sites. Both AHP and PCA approaches were based on a certain number of alternatives, and take multiple criteria and conflicting objectives into consideration. The results show that the Central Highlands have considerable potential for tourism development at 99 potential eco-tourism sites and 45 potential cultural tourism sites. However, the region is now faced with poor tourism infrastructure with low external potential. An improvement of tourism infrastructure, service quality, and strengthened linkages with other tourist sites is indicated to diversify the tourism products and increase the attractiveness of regional destinations.

Keywords: multicriteria evaluation; tourism potential; GIS; AHP; PCA; Central Highlands; Vietnam (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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