Assessing the competitive advantages of tourism potentials in Tuy Hoa city, Phu Yen province

f Science - Volume 2 - Issue 2-2020 
 207 
ij
ij j
ij
j
p
r ,
maxp
  Equation 3 
The lower element is the better. 
ij
j
ij j
ij
min p
r ,
p
  Equation 4 
With the standard of median (the average is better) 
 
 
ij 0
ij
ij 0
min p ,p
r
max p ,p
Equation 5 
Where: 
n
0 ij
j 1
1
p p
n 
  
Step 6: Calculating the internal and external scores of objects compared separately and 
determined the rating value. Rating values could be determined by two approaches: 1) 
taking the average; 2) taking the rank of the object as the rank value. In this study, we 
determined the classification value according to the first approach. 
Step 7: Calculating and comparing the aggregate value of the internal and external 
assessments and show them on the chart of quadrants. 
First, the internal and external points of the comparable objects were added and then 
subtracted from the rating value. The final value was the aggregate value of the object 
compared in the QSWOT analysis matrix. The aggregate value obtained in the range of 
-1 to +1. Subjects possess opportunities and strengths when the aggregate value was 
greater than the rating value, whereas the object was relatively weak points and 
challenges when the aggregate value was smaller than the rating value. 
ICj = Ij - IB j = 1,2,,n 
ECj = Ej – EB j = 1,2,,n 
Equation 6 
Where: 
ICj: value of the coordinates for internal evaluating of object j 
Ij: score of internal evaluating of object j 
IB: classification value for internal evaluating 
ECj: value of the coordinates for external evaluating of object j 
Ej: score of external evaluating of object j 
Nguyen Hien Than, Nguyen Huynh Anh Tuyet - Volume 2 - Issue 2-2020, p.202-214. 
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EB: classification value for external evaluating (Hsu-Hsi Chang & Wen-Chih 
Huang, 2006). 
For comparison on a quadrant plot, the ordinate (y) was specified for the external 
environment location (opportunities and challenges). The abscissa axis was defined for 
the internal environment (strengths, weaknesses). 
3. Research result and discussion 
3.1 Analyzing strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities of tourism 
development in Tuy Hoa city 
Strengths 
Advantage of geographical location, traffic 
Advantage of diverse marine resources 
Many beautiful natural landscapes (bays, lakes, 
mountains) 
Many historical cultural relics, landscapes 
Warm climate throughout the year 
The increasing number of accommodations and 
tourism services 
Tourism advertise is focused 
Weaknesses 
The operation effectiveness of the tourist spot is 
not high 
Environmental protection in tourist destinations 
has not been paid attention 
There are no specific tourism products 
Some monuments, famous landscapes are in 
danger of degradation and abuse 
Tourism infrastructure has not met the demand 
Human resources for tourism are still lacking and 
weak 
The provincial People's Committee funding for 
tourism development is limited 
Linkages among sectors are not yet 
comprehensive 
Special traditional festivals have not been paid 
attention to promote tourism development 
Cling and dragging tourists 
Oppotunities 
Travel demand is on the rise 
The effectiveness of tourism management of the 
local Goverment is increasingly improved 
The number of visitors is increasing 
Investment in building tourism infrastructure is 
focused 
Threats 
Competition from other localities 
Demand for tourist attraction are getting higher 
and higher 
The global and domestic economic situation is 
facing many difficulties 
Awareness on sustainable tourism development of 
the community and businesses is low 
Thu Dau Mot University Journal of Science - Volume 2 - Issue 2-2020 
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Attracting the attention of many investors 
Transportation system to key tourist sites and 
destinations has been built 
3.2 QSWOT matrix for analyzing the competitive advantage of tourism in Tuy Hoa 
City and surrounding areas 
Based on the SWOT matrix and tourism information of nearby areas, it was possible to 
determine factors used to compare the tourism potential between Tuy Hoa city and 
surrounding areas. The vicinities having high competitiveness with Tuy Hoa city 
accompanied by Quy Nhon city, Hue city, Da Nang city, Nha Trang city and Phan Thiet 
city Table 3 to Table 5. 
TABLE 3. The internal factors impacting on the development of tourism potential 
Subjects Factors Unit Code Indicator 
type 
Travel 
resources 
Advantage of diverse marine resources Scale I1 + 
Many beautiful natural landscapes Scale I2 + 
Many historical cultural relics, landscapes Scale I3 + 
Attractive tourism spot Scale I4 + 
Natural 
condition 
Advantage of geographical location, traffic Scale I5 + 
Warm climate throughout the year 
0
C I6 +/- 
Tourism 
effectiveness 
Serving quality Scale I7 + 
Tourism products are not plentiful Scale I8 - 
Tour guide qualifications are poor, not enthusiastic yet Scale I9 - 
Infrastructure 
Number of accommodation facilities and tourism 
services 
Facility 
I10 + 
Rate of urban water supply % I11 + 
Tourism 
operation 
and 
development 
Tourism advertise is focused Scale I12 + 
Cheap goods Scale I13 + 
Human attitude Scale I14 + 
Annoyed by street vendors Scale I15 - 
The habit of indiscriminate littering of Vietnamese 
people 
Scale 
I16 - 
Linkage among sectors Scale I18 + 
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TABLE 4. The external factors impacting on the tourism development 
Subjects Factors Unit Code Indicator 
type 
Competition 
Tourism competitiveness Scale E1 + 
The number of tourists Scale E2 + 
Tourism 
environment 
policy 
The interest level of investing in construction of 
tourism infrastructure 
Scale 
E4 
+ 
The effectiveness of the Government on tourism Scale E5 + 
Transportation system to tourist areas and 
destinations is invested and upgraded 
Scale 
E6 
+ 
Tourism 
environment 
Awareness on sustainable tourism development of 
the community and businesses 
Scale 
E7 
+ 
According to Noga Collins-Kreiner and Geoffrey Wall (2007), the aspects of the 
tourism potential of Tuy Hoa city was built in related to social, cultural, economic, 
infrastructure, political, geographic and environment. The internal subjects of tourism 
Tuy Hoa included travel resources, natural condition, tourism effectiveness, 
infrastructure and tourism operation and development. The external factors in term of 
weakness and threats of Tuy Hoa city were competition, tourism environment policy 
and tourism environment. Based on "Results of tourist expenditure survey in the period 
2003 - 2015" by General Statistics Office (General Statistics Office, 2017), QSWOT 
analysis for tourism development advantages of Tuy Hoa city and neighboring cities 
were calculated and the results were shown as follows: 
TABLE 5. QSWOT analysis for tourism development advantages of the regions 
QSWOT Group 
Tuy 
Hoa 
Phan 
Thiet 
Nha 
Trang 
Quy 
Nhon 
Hue Da Nang 
Tourism resources 0.31 0.35 0.39 0.27 0.31 0.33 
Natural condition 0.07 0.07 0.08 0.08 0.07 0.08 
Tourism effectiveness 0.06 0.11 0.11 0.06 0.11 0.08 
Infrastructure 0.08 0.10 0.14 0.08 0.13 0.12 
Tourism operation and development 0.19 0.20 0.20 0.19 0.20 0.21 
Internal evaluating value 0.72 0.82 0.92 0.68 0.83 0.82 
Competition 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.07 0.10 0.12 
Tourism business policy 0.30 0.52 0.56 0.39 0.50 0.56 
Tourism environment 0.20 0.24 0.28 0.20 0.28 0.32 
External evaluating value 0.54 0.84 0.96 0.66 0.88 1.00 
Internal evaluating coordinate value -0.08 0.02 0.12 -0.12 0.03 0.02 
External evaluating coordinate value -0.27 0.03 0.14 -0.16 0.06 0.19 
Thu Dau Mot University Journal of Science - Volume 2 - Issue 2-2020 
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Figure 2. Internal and external evaluating factors in Tuy Hoa city and other cities 
The results of the QSWOT analysis showed that Tuy Hoa was advantages of internal 
factors comparing to neighboring localities such as Quy Nhon. However, compared to 
other localities such as Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, Hue, and Da Nang, the internal factors of 
Tuy Hoa was lower scores. Although the internal factors of Tuy Hoa were higher than 
Quy Nhon, but he external factors (opportunities and challenges) of Tuy Hoa were lower 
than Quy Nhon and other localities. This showed that Tuy Hoa city was the potential of 
tourism, but was not grasped and overcome challenges. For more specifically, we could 
saw at the point histogram of the evaluating coordinate value (Figure 3). 
Figure 3. Distribution of internal and external factors of competitive advantages of 
tourism in Tuy Hoa city and surrounding spots 
Nguyen Hien Than, Nguyen Huynh Anh Tuyet - Volume 2 - Issue 2-2020, p.202-214. 
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Comparing the internal factors between Tuy Hoa and Quy Nhon, Tuy Hoa was more 
profitable in tourism resources than Quy Nhon. Other factors (infrastructure, natural 
conditions, tourism effectiveness, tourism activities and development) were not much 
different. However, it can be seen that Quy Nhon was better competitiveness and 
tourism policies than Tuy Hoa. Thus, developing tourism and exploiting tourism 
potentials of Tuy Hoa city needed to promote taking advantage of the capabilities and 
make full use of maximum opportunities from the outside as like recommendation from 
Keivan Saeb, Razieh Jafari Hajati, and Shiva Rezai (2012). Because of the 
neighborhoods of Tuy Hoa such as Nha Trang (very strong competitiveness) and Quy 
Nhon (more competitive), Tuy Hoa needed to develop tourism that was unique and 
specific. 
Figure 4. Compare internal factors of Tuy Hoa city 
and Phu Yen 
Figure 5. Compare external factors of Tuy 
Hoa city and Phu Yen 
Tuy Hoa city is located in an area with many advantages of beautiful natural landscapes, 
nature, rivers winding around Truong Son mountain range, creating many beautiful 
lagoons, bays and pools. Monuments and landscapes are such as Nhan Tower, Da Rang 
River, Da Rang Bridge, many pagodas like Ho Son, Hoa Son, Minh Son, Khanh Son, 
Bao Tinh, Bao Lam, Kim Cang, Da Ban Tourist Areas, Chop Chai Mountain, Wind 
Afternoon Tourism, Tuy Hoa Beach, Ganh Da Dia, Han dam ...Currently, Tuy Hoa has 
not exploited all its opportunities and strengths to develop tourism. According to Dijana 
Oreski (2012), an effective marketing promotional strategy was the best solution could 
have been implemented to plan for tourism development. 
4. Conclusion and recommendation 
Conclusion: SWOT analysis is very important in the process of tourism development. 
In this study, a Quantified SWOT analysis pattern has been achieved. Tuy Hoa's 
comparative advantages for tourism development are lower than those of other localities 
although Tuy Hoa's tourism resource advantage is very large (higher than Quy Nhon). 
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Sea and cultural tourism is one of the strong fields in Tuy Hoa city. The result of the 
study indicated that although Tuy Hoa city has a variety of the great potential for 
tourism development, it has not exploited and taken advantage of this strength. The 
results of QSWOT analysis showed that Tuy Hoa city still has many barriers due to 
internal weaknesses and external threat factors of tourism potential. This is the 
restriction that the tourism industry of Tuy Hoa city needs to be overcome to increase 
the tourism competitiveness with the neighbor regions. In this work, we were quantified 
internal and external factors affected to tourism development of Tuy Hoa city but we 
did not assess the tourist values of Tuy Hoa city. This was the limits of our study. 
Recommendation: Tuy Hoa should promote investment policies to attract tourism 
development and needs to focus on developing resort tourist in combination with 
cultural tourism. In this study, we were focused on the tourism potential of Tuy Hoa 
city, the landscape and exploration value of Tuy Hoa city weren’t mentioned. The 
landscape and exploitation value assessment of Tuy Hoa should be conducted in the 
future to clarify the quantitative value of the tourism potential in Tuy Hoa city. 
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