Jurnal Destinasi Pariwisata                                                  p-issn: 2338-8811, e-issn: 2548-8937

Vol. 9 No 2, 2021

Assessment For Sustainable Tourism Development In Hoi An City Using The Model Of Hilary Du Cros

Thi Xuan Dao TRUONGa,1, Huong Trang PHAMb,2, Duc Thanh TRANc,3, Made SUKANAe,4 1daottx@hiu.vn, 2trangph@vnu.edu.vn, 3tranducthanh@siu.edu.vn, 4madesukana@unud.ac.id a Faculty of Tourism, Hong Bang International University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

b International School, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.

c Saigon International University, belongs to Asia International Education Group (GAIE), Vietnam d Faculty of Tourism, University of Udayana, Bali, Indonesia.

Abstract

Considering the potential resources related to human factors, cultural heritage to develop tourism is the desire of tourism managers. The study used the Hilary du Cros method to evaluate the tourism value of the World Cultural Heritage: Hoi An Ancient Town. There are two surveyed sample groups: the first group is The Tourism Management Group with N1 = 88 and the second group is The Tourist Group with N2 = 220 to determine the points to evaluate the appeal market and robusticity in tourism exploitation at the destination of Hoi An Ancient Town. The evaluation results show that the World Cultural Heritage of Hoi An Ancient Town has a strong market attraction, high cultural value, and sustainable development, located in cell M (1.3) in the appeal matrix and cultural values/ sustainable development of Hilary du Cros.

Keyword: Tourism evaluation, Robusticity and market appeal matrix, Hilary du Cros model, Hoi An Ancient Town.

  • I.    INTRODUCTION

Hoi An Ancient Town is an ancient town located downstream of the Thu Bon River, in the coastal plain of Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, about 30 km south of Da Nang City. Thanks to favorable geography and climate, Hoi An used to be a busy international trading port, a meeting place for Japanese, Chinese, and Western merchant ships during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Before this period, there were also vestiges of the Champa trading port or mentioned along the silk road at sea. In the nineteenth century, because the waterway transportation here was no longer convenient, the port of Hoi An gradually deteriorated, giving way to Da Nang at that time being built by the French. Hoi An was fortunate not to be devastated during the two wars and avoided massive urbanization in the late twentieth century. Starting in the 1980s, the architectural and cultural values of Hoi An ancient town gradually became popular among scholars and tourists, making it one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Vietnam (Gezgin, 2017).

According to statistics from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam province, from nearly 100 thousand visitors in 1999, Hoi An tourism has become more famous as attracting nearly 5.1 million visitors (2018), more than 4.4 million visitors (in the first 9 months of 2019). Specifically, by the end of September 2019, Hoi An tourism shows through the expected statistics: 3,187,572 international visitors and 1,233,402 domestic visitors. It estimates that in the last 3 months, the number of visitors to Hoi An will continue to increase and reach 5,350,000 (an increase of 5.24% compared to 2018) but not reaching the plan of 5,678,000 in 2019 (Statistics of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism in 2019).

Effective tourism management including assessing market attractiveness, economic factors, and conservation policy/assessment is the evident truth in the management of many cultural heritage sites around the world. Many countries have significantly reduced the cost management for important heritage sites. Therefore, there will easily access to new ways to plan

trade and service management for heritage sites (Jacobs and Gale, 1994; Silberberg, 1995; Walle, 1998). However, the survival and health of the tourism economy, as well as the conservation of non-renewable heritage sites so sustainable tourism development plans, must be thought of.

The main objective of cultural heritage plans to develop sustainable tourism is to answer two questions, namely "Which are the most appropriate cultural heritage places for tourism development?" and "What is the best way to manage legacies for sustainable development?" With the hot growth in tourism as current in Vietnam has both a good sign and a worrying sign for tourism managers as well as residents of heritage destinations. How to guide tourism development while preserving heritage values at the destination in a sustainable way is what we all aspire to. Assessing the exploitation value of a destination is extremely necessary, especially the destinations are the cultural heritages that have been recognized by the world as Hoi An Ancient Town in Vietnam, thereby making plans and the sustainable development orientation for that destination.

  • II.    WORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE OF

HOI AN CITY

The ancient town of Hoi An today is a special example of a traditional urban port in Southeast Asia that preserves intact and thoughtful. Most of the old houses are traditional architecture dating from the 17th century to the 19th century, allocated along the narrow streets. Located in the middle of townhouses, belief and religious constructions demonstrate the process of formation, development, and decline of the urban area. Hoi An is also a land of many imprints of cultural mixing. Chinese guilds and temples are located next to traditional Vietnamese townhouses and French architectural houses. In addition to cultural values through architectural works, Hoi An also preserves a diverse and rich intangible culture. The daily life of the old town residents with customs, religious activities, folk art, cultural festivals is still being preserved and developed.

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Hoi An is considered a living museum of architecture and urban lifestyle.

With outstanding values, at the 23rd meeting in late 1998 (December 4), the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized the ancient town of Hoi An as a relic world cultural production, based on two criteria:

  • i)    Hoi An is a striking physical expression of the combination of cultures across periods in an international trading port.

  • ii)    Hoi An is a typical example of a perfectly preserved traditional Asian urban port.

  • III.    RESEARCH METHODS

The Hilary Du Cros assessment model (Cros, 2001) was first introduced to tourism and cultural managers on tourism exploitation assessments. The author's model is very complex and complete, as it evaluates the tourism industry, the field of cultural heritage management, as well as the value of cultural assets to meet the needs of visitors.

In addition to quantitative methods, numerical expressions, descriptions, and sometimes graphical representations represent the value of a resource to be assessed. Hilary Du Cros (Cros, 2001) introduced the process of evaluating tourism destinations/tourism products with rates through two aspects: tourism and management, specifically as follows:

Tourism aspect: assessed through variables: Market appeal of cultural assets and product design needs. Conclusion on the sub-indicators of market appeal of culture to the tourism industry: low attraction from 0-20, average attraction from 21-40, high attraction from 4160.

Aspect of cultural heritage management: assessed such as cultural heritage, cultural assets, and sustainability. The conclusions on the sub-indexes in the management area are as follows: low sustainability from 0-20, average sustainability from 21-40, high sustainability from 41-60.

Based on the evaluation score, a matrix of "Market appeal / Robustness" with 9 boxes was established. The plots are marked with M (i, j) (i, j = 1, 2, 3) for each cultural asset (Table 1).

The meaning of each cell in the matrix is:

М (1,1): Indicators of high value sustainability and low market attractiveness.

М (1,2): Indicators of high value sustainability and attractiveness of the average market.

М (1,3): Indicator of high value sustainability and high market attractiveness.

М (2,1): The sustainability indicators are of medium value and the attractiveness of the market is low.

M (2,2): The sustainability indicators have average value and attractiveness of the average market.

М (2,3): The sustainability indicators are of medium value and high market attractiveness.

М (3,1): Indicators of low value sustainability and low market attractiveness.

М (3,2): Indicators of low value sustainability and attractiveness of the average market.

М (3,3): Indicators of low value sustainability and high market attractiveness.

Table 1. Matrix of market appeal and robustness according to Hilary du Cros method

Robustness

41-60

M(1,1)

M(1,2)

M(1,3)

21-40

M(2,1)

M(2,2)

M(2,3)

0-20

M(3,1)

M(3,2)

M(3,3)

0-20

21-40

4-60

Market appeal

Source: Cros, H. (2001)

  • IV.    RESEARCH RESULTS

Research sample description

Tourism management group description

Samples were taken by the online survey method, time to conduct the survey is 3 weeks (from February 1, 2020 to February 20, 2020). The interviewees were tour guides, private tourism business management, state tourism business management, and local government management at the destination (Hoi An). The number of tourism management group samples is 88. The collected data is processed and has the statistical description (Table 3) as follows:

Gender: there are 40 females (45.5%) and 48 males (54.5%).

Age Group: 23 to 28 years old group has 16 people (18.2%); 29 to 35 years old group has 24 people (27.3%); 36 to 45 years old group has 36 people (30.9%); 46 to 55 years old group has 12 people (13.6%).

Education Level: College has 4 respondents (4.5%), university has 59 people (67%), postgraduate has 25 people (28.4%).

Management group: there are 49 respondents in the tour guide (a55.7%), the management of private tourism business has 23 people (26.1%), the management of state tourism business has 4 (4.5%), local government management at the destination has 12 people (13.6%).

Table 2. The description of statistic sample “Tourism management group”

Demographic

Frequency

Percent

Female

48

54.5

Gender

Male

40

45.5

23-28

16

18.2

29-35

24

27.3

Age Group      36-45

36

40.9

46-55

12

13.6

College

4

4.5

Education      University

59

67.0

Level

Postgraduate

25

28.4

Guide tour

49

55.7

Private

23

26.1

tourism

business

Management   management

Group          State tourism

4

4.5

business management Local

12

13.6

government

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Demographic          Frequency Percent

management

Tourist group sample description

Samples were taken by the online survey method, time to conduct the survey was 3 weeks (from February 1, 2020 to February 20, 2020). The interviewees in this group are tourists who have been to Hoi An Ancient Town. The number of samples in the tourist group is 210. The collected data is processed and has the statistical description (Table 3) as follows:

Gender: 75 respondents are male (rate is 35.7%), females have 135 (64.3%).

Age Group: 18 years old to 22 years old group is 34 people (16.2%), 23 to 28 years old group is 55 people (26.2%), 29 to 35 years old group has 55 people (26.2%), 36 to 45 years old group has 40 people (19.0%), 46 to 55 years old group has 19 people (9.0%), over 55 years old group has 7 people (3.3%).

Education Level: College has 10 people (4.8%), University has 145 people (69.0%), Postgraduate has 55 people (26.2%).

Income Level: Under 5 million VND group has 55 people (26.2%), 6 to 10 million VND group has 105 people (50.0%), 11 to 15 million VND group has 5 people (2.4%), more than 15 million VND group has 45 people (21.4%).

Period traveled to Hoi An: "6 months ago" has 50 people (23.8%), “1 year ago group” has 55 people (26.2%), “2 years ago” has 85 people (40.5%), “over 2 years” has 20 people (9.5%).

Table 3. The description of statistic sample “Tourist group”

Demographic

Frequency

Percent

Female

75

35.7

Gender     Male

135

64.3

18-22

34

16.2

23-28

55

26.2

29-35

55

26.2

Age Group   36-45

40

19.0

46-55

19

9.0

Over 55

7

3.3

College

Education

10

4.8

University

145

69.0

v         Postgraduate

55

26.2

Less than 5 million VND

55

26.2

6-10   million

Income    VND

105

50.0

Level        11-15 million

VND

5

2.4

More than 15 million VND

45

21.4

6 months ago

50

23.8

Period      1 year ago

55

26.2

traveled to  2 years ago

85

40.5

Hoi An      More than 2

years ago

20

9.5

Results of the assessment of the cultural heritage value of Hoi An Ancient Town

Travel aspect

Market appeal

In this field, sub-indicators are scored from 0 to 5.

The study uses sub-criteria evaluated from Malinic and Stevanovic (2015), including 13 criteria. The scores are summed up and the destination's market appeal estimated by Cros (2001) is as follows: low appeal (020), average appeal (21-40), appeal high (41-60). The sub-indicators are calculated with the evaluation points (Table 4) as follows:

Table 4. Assessment results of market appeal indicators of the cultural heritage of Hoi An Ancient Town

Assessment criteria

Mean

Environment.

4.1

Famous, known by many domestic and foreign tourists.

4.64

Important national symbols.

4.07

There are many stories to tell.

3.86

Different from festivals in other localities.

3.9

Originality as well as the uniqueness of the travel value at the destination.

4.26

Complement to other travel products.

4.05

Tourism activities in the area.

4.21

Associated with cultural values.

4.31

Accessibility.

3.1

The availability of transportation from a residential center.

4

Close to of other heritage attractions.

1.8

Available service.

4.31

Total score

50.61

Environment (bad from 0-1, normal from 2-3, good

is 4, excellent is 5): The harmony between natural and artificial, happy atmosphere of visitors at festivals. This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 4.1: Good.

Famous (not 0, a little is 1-3, very famous is 4-5): is known by many domestic and foreign tourists. This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 4.65: Excellent.

Important national symbols (none are 0, having potential 1-3, had: 4-5). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 4.08: Yes.

There are many stories to tell (none are 0, having potentials 1-3, had: 4-5): There are many legends and myths, historical sources, events, and folk traditions that allow to awaken the curiosity curious of tourists. This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 3.875: Potential.

Different from festivals in other localities (poor from 0-1, relatively from 2-3, the difference is 4, extreme difference is 5). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 3.55: Relativity.

Originality as well as uniqueness of the tourism values at the destination (no absolutely: 0, having potential: 1-3, had: 4-5): historical value, architectural value, humanistic value, etc. This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 4.23: Yes.

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In addition to other tourism products (not absolutely: 0, potential:1-3, had: 4-5): many tourist destinations can visit around the destination. This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 4.04: Yes.

Tourism activities in the area (almost none: 0, in a range of 1-3, many from 4-5): guides, souvenir shops, tourist information...This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 4.215: Many.

Associated with cultural values (not absolutely: 0, partly: 1-3, completely: 4-5): history, architecture, religion, cuisine, education, etc. This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 4.315: Absolutely.

Important factors when designing a travel product

Accessibility (not allowed: 0, restricted access: 1-2, easy access to all destinations: 3-4): infrastructure, roads, distance to stations, yards bay, harbor, etc. This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 3.45: easy access to all destinations.

Availability of transportation from a residential center (very far/hard to reach 0, accessible 1-2, excellent accessibility 3-4). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 4: Excellent accessibility.

Close to of other heritage attractions (very far: 0, the relative distance:1-2, within walking distance to nearby spots: 3). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 1.85: Relative distance.

Available services (very few:0, there are: 1-2, many: 3-5, a lot of: 5): hotels, restaurants, health care services, etc. Hoi An ancient town in research is 4.315: many available services.

The total score of the market appeal indexes is 50.61 which means the attractiveness of the destination market for Hoi An Ancient Town is currently high (low attractiveness 0-20, attractive average 21-40, attractive high 41-60).

Aspect of cultural heritage management

In this field, sub-indicators are scored from 0 to 5. The study used sub-criteria evaluated from Malinic & Stevanovic (2015), including 16 criteria. The scores combined and the market appeal of destinations are estimated according to Cros (2001) as follows: low/unsustainable cultural values from 0-20, average sustainability values from 21-40, and high sustainability values from 41-60. The sub-indicators are calculated with the following evaluation points:

Importance of culture

Aesthetic value (low: 0, average: 1, high: 2). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 1.86: High.

Historical values (low: 0, average: 1, high: 2). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 1.78: High.

Educational values (low: 0, average:1, high: 2). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 1.9: High.

Scientific value (low: 0, average:1, high: 2). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 2: High.

Social values (low: 0, average: 1, high: 2). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 1.87: High.

Uniqueness (common is 0, less common is 1, rare is 2, unique is 3). This evaluation index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 2.5: Rare

Representative (weak is 1, representation is from 23, very high is 4). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 3.46: High.

Sustainable

The sensitivity of tourism value (very sensitive: 0-1, slightly sensitive: 2-3, insensitive: 4): the age of the

structure, the capacity of the destination, the ability local financial support for festivals, etc. This index for Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 2.99: Slightly sensitive.

Ability to support the restoration and maintenance of the government (weak: 0, relatively: 1, good: 2-3, excellent: 4). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 3.55: Excellent.

Management plan (no plan:0, in the preparation: 14, already: 5): development goals, development plan. This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 3.65: In the preparation.

Monitoring and regular maintenance (weak: 0, normal: 1-2, good: 3-4, excellent: 5). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 3.53: Good.

Investment potential (weak: 0, normal: 1-2, good: 3-4, excellent: 5). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 3.73: Good.

The ability of the visitors to adversely affect the physical condition of the travel values (the big probability: 1, likely: 2-4, the small possibility: 5). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 3.74: Likely.

The ability of visitors to adversely affect the local community (the large probability: 1, likely: 2-4, the small possibility:5). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 3.6: Likely.

The possibility of modification hurts the physical condition of the travel values (the large probability:1, likely: 2-4, the small probability: 5). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 3.75: Likely.

The possibility of revision hurts the local community (the large probability: 1, likely: 2-4, the small possibility: 5). This index of Hoi An Ancient Town in the study is 3.64: Likely.

Table 5. Assessment results on the aspect of managing cultural heritage in exploiting cultural heritage in Hoi An Ancient Town

Assessment Criteria               Mean

Aesthetic value1.72

Historical value1.76

Educational value1.8

Scientific value2

Social value1.74

Uniqueness2

Representative3.91

The sensitivity of tourism value2.89

Ability to support the restoration and maintenance of the government.

Management plan3.64

Regular monitoring and maintenance3.33

Investment potential3.6

The ability of travelers to adversely affect the physical condition of tourist values

The ability of visitors to adversely affect the local

3.59 community

The possibility of modification hurts the physical condition of the travel value

The possibility of amendment hurts local

3.6 communities

Total score 46.78

The total score of sub-indicators for cultural

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heritage management is 46.78. It means that Hoi An Acient Town destination has a sustainable value (low sustainable value: 0-20, average sustainable value: 21-40, and high sustainable value: 41-60).

Table 6. Matrix of market appeal and robustness of the cutural heritage Hoi An Acient Town according to Hilary du Cros method

Robustness

41-60

M (1,1)

M (1,2)

M (1,3)

21-40

M (2,1)

M (2,2)

M (2,3)

0-20

M (3,1)

M (3,2)

M (3,3)

0-20

21-40

4-60

Market appeal

After evaluating all indicators, we can see that Hoi An Ancient Town is belong to cell M (1,3), meaning that it has high value of culture/ high sustainability and high market appeal.

  • V.    CONCLUSIONS

The potential for developing cultural heritage tourism in Hoi An Ancient Town is extremely high, because historical and cultural values of the destination that brings visitors, this is also a destination having many festivals. The festival attracts visitors every year such as the full-moon festival of Hoi An (Flower Festival), Lantern Festival, Ba Thien Hau Flower Festival, etc.

The survey results show that the environment, landscape, and the atmosphere at Hoi An Ancient Town are highly appreciated. This proves that heritage management as well as the safety for visitors to visit and participate in the festival are very good. Due to the historical value as well as good heritage preservation conditions, Hoi An Ancient Town is now a famous destination in the world, known by many tourists. Moreover, the density of the heritage in the old town is concentrated and suitable for visitors who can easily walk while visiting or moving, this is a huge competitive advantage with other destinations in the area field. It can be said that Hoi An Ancient Town deserves to be a World Cultural Heritage and is also the pride of Vietnamese people in general and Quang Nam people in particular.

Tourism, culture, and the reciprocal relationship between these two areas become more important when planning for sustainable development. This important thing is to improve communication with local communities; emphasize greater investment in the construction of transport infrastructure, public utilities, and tourism infrastructure; small and old accommodation units or are in a state of deterioration, etc. They need to upgrade and improve.

The cultural heritage value is a potential important tourism resource that has not fully valued yet, especially in Vietnam in general or the heritage in Hoi An in particular. To achieve that, active coordination of the organizations is necessary, above the activities of the Tourism Organization of Quang Nam Province, the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, the local government of Quang Nam province, as well as other tourist organizations.

REFERENCES

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Gezgin, U. B. (2017). Tourist Psychology and Sociology: A Case Study of Hoi An, Vietnam. Journal of Tourismology,            3(2),            14–22.

https://doi.org/10.26650/jot.2017.3.2.0002

Jacobs, J, Gale, F. (1994). Tourism and the Protection of Aboriginal Cultural Places. Special Publication Series No. 10, Australian Heritage Commission: Canberra.

Malinic, V., & Stevanovic, S. (2015). Tourist valorization of anthropogenic tourist values of the Municipality Lazarevac. Researches Reviews of the Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management, 44–1.

Silberberg, T. (1995). Cultural tourism and business opportunities for museums and heritage places. Tourism Management 16(5): 361-365.

Walle, AH. (1998). Cultural Tourism. A Strategic Focus. Westview Press: Colorado.

https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ph%E1%BB%91_c%E1 %BB%95_H%E1%BB%99i_An. Access 20th Feb, 2020.

http://www.vhttdlqnam.gov.vn/index.php/nghien-c-u-tim-hi-u-v-nganh/du-l-ch/th-ng-ke-du-l-ch. Access 20th Feb, 2020.

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