Nguyen, Kieu T.T., Murphy, Laurie, Chen, Tingzhen, and Pearce, Philip L. (2023) Let's listen: the voices of ethnic villagers in identifying host-tourist interaction issues in the Central Highlands, Vietnam. Journal of Heritage Tourism. (In Press)

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Abstract

Host-tourist interaction is a core attraction of ethnic tourism. Yet both parties may confront challenges in such interactions because of different cultural backgrounds. This study aims to investigate host-tourist interaction issues in Vietnam’s Central Highlands by adopting a qualitative approach wherein 31 semi-structured interviews were conducted with villagers. Results find that villagers interacted with domestic tourists mostly in private houses, tourist attractions and facilities, and on tours. In such settings, the content of interactions varied from low to high intensity. Derived from the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) theory [Pearce, W. B., & Cronen, V. E. (1980). Communication action and meaning. Praeger], verbal (language) and non-verbal behaviour and cultural patterns were the greatest interaction difficulties. While interaction difficulties occurred across different settings, higher intensity interactions resulted in more positive outcomes. This study enriches the existing knowledge on interaction between ethnic hosts and domestic tourists in the intra-national context. The interpretive theoretical and methodological utility of CMM provided insight into interaction difficulties, and opportunities to facilitate positive interactions in ethnic tourism development. Further implications for villagers, tourists, local policymakers, and tour operators were suggested to build long-term sustainability of the host-tourist relationship in the Central Highlands.

Item ID:	80623
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1747-6631
Keywords:	Host-tourist interaction; physical settings and content; difficulties; interaction quality; Central Highlands; Vietnam
Copyright Information:	© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Projects and Grants:	JCU Postgraduate Research Scholarship (JCUPRS)
Date Deposited:	05 Oct 2023 00:42
FoR Codes:	35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3508 Tourism > 350899 Tourism not elsewhere classified @ 60% 35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3508 Tourism > 350801 Impacts of tourism @ 40%
SEO Codes:	13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1304 Heritage > 130403 Conserving intangible cultural heritage @ 50% 11 COMMERCIAL SERVICES AND TOURISM > 1104 Tourism services > 110402 Socio-cultural issues in tourism @ 50%
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