Introduction 

Vietnam, with its rich culture and natural beauty, is a global tourism and events powerhouse (Thoi, 2022). This Southeast Asian nation has a diverse landscape, from lush rice terraces and verdant mountains in the north to beautiful beaches along its extensive coastline.

The Imperial City of Huế, Hoi An, and numerous temples and pagodas throughout the country showcase a rich history (Tuyen, 2023).

In contrast, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City's bustling streets show Vietnam's rapid modernization and economic growth (Jamme, 2020). Vietnam's cultural diversity enhances its appeal as an events destination, in addition to its natural and historical attractions. 

The essay will critique Vietnamese tourism and events stakeholder management. It will examine the difficulties of aligning local communities, government agencies, tourists, and businesses. These challenges will be overcome by use of viable strategies.

This essay is aimed at understanding what makes Vietnam’s tourism industry a vividly developing one. Moreover, it offers some stakeholder management techniques for responsible development of this industry.

Concepts and Theories (Critical Discussion)

Modern business nowadays requires efficient stakeholder management. Particularly, in the sectors of tourism as well as events (Schimperna et al., 2021). Stakeholder engagement constitutes identifying relevant stakeholders and conducting necessary activities for engaging them in specific activities that could be affected by their business or project.

There are many tourism and event “stakeholders” like local communities, government agencies, tourists, environmental groups, businesses as well as service providers. Proper stakeholder management is necessary for sustainable and responsible development of these fields where emphasis is put on balancing economic growth against social and environmental issues.

One model in this perspective is Freeman’s “Stakeholder theory”, which argues that an organization’s success hinges on how organizations relate with their stakeholders (e.g., shareholders, employees, consumers, providers, and society) (Schaltegger et al., 2019). Freemans’ conception considers more than just the interests of shareholders for it involves recognising and proactively taking care of every stakeholder’s requirements and expectations.

This theory applies to destination management, especially in culturally diverse and dynamic Vietnam, where tourism and events have many effects. These sectors impact local cultures, economies, and environments. Stakeholders’ relationship management holds great importance in Vietnam because the state is a tourism-driven economy (VU et al., 2021). Such actions include maximizing tourists’ needs and satisfaction, while at the same time ensuring that the local communities gain through tourism, cultural heritage is preserved and environmental impacts are minimised.

The application of stakeholder theory in tourism and events management is complex (Wojewnik-Filipkowska et al., 2021). In most instances, stakeholders do not share the same priorities or demands. Economy-oriented government or private investors might emphasize on the growth of economy and infrastructure while locals prefer preservation of culture and tradition. The two parties may be environmentalists who value conservation and tourists seeking memories but are resource intensive.

This complexity is added by Vietnam’s diverse cultural heritage, income inequalities, and unprecedented growth. Balancing tourism promotion for economic development and natural and cultural preservation is a difficult task (Dunets et. al., 2019). It entails vast local context and understanding of stakeholders. These complex relationships are well understood and managed using stakeholder theory.

Finally, Freeman’s theory offers an effective model of engaging with the stakeholders, but it has to be tailor-made to address the issues and possibilities that are inherent in the event and tourism industry of Vietnam.

Therefore, it is necessary to appreciate stakeholders’ point of view as well as make them part of the process. The implementation of participatory tourism planning and development in local communities enhances the level of cultural and natural resource preservation as well as improves equity. These theories have to be tailored according to local conditions in order to achieve success.

Context including the destination (Vietnam)

In the past few decades, the tourism industry in Vietnam has experienced rapid growth and become one of the major pillars sustaining the national economy (Tung, 2020). The country’s tourism industry, fuelled by the culture, beautiful areas and increasing reputation as being safe and cheap, earns income and jobs for residents.

Vietnam has many attractions, from Ha Long Bay's stunning natural beauty to Hanoi and Hue's rich history and culture (Loan, 2019). Culinary experiences and vibrant festivals draw backpackers and luxury travellers to the country.

Vietnam's tourism sector relies on diverse stakeholders (Nguyen et al., 2020). The industry's strategic direction depends on national and local government policy, infrastructure, and regulation.

Tourism directly affects local communities, which provide services and cultural experiences that make tourism authentic. Foreign and domestic tourists drive demand with their diverse needs and expectations.

From large hotel chains and tour operators to small local businesses and artisans, businesses drive the sector. Finally, environmental groups promote sustainable tourism and the preservation of Vietnam's natural resources to ensure the industry's long-term viability and environmental responsibility.

Tourism, while good for the economy, presents stakeholder management challenges in Vietnam (Nishitani et al., 2021). As tourism strains natural resources and infrastructure, sustainable development is paramount.

Waste management, water scarcity, and natural site degradation are becoming more pressing, making it difficult to balance economic growth with environmental protection. Cultural preservation is equally important. Tourists and commercialization threaten Vietnam's rich cultural landscape by diluting and commodifying local cultures (Quang et al., 2022).

Commercialization worsens economic disparity because tourism revenue often benefits large businesses, leaving local communities with marginal gains. Tourism's financial benefits should be distributed fairly to reduce socio-economic inequality and local discontent.

Another challenge involves providing for meaningful community participation. Local community representatives are frequently drowned out by major corporations that end up dominating the process of tourism planning and decision making. Lastly, the industry encounters the issues of policies and regulations.

Good governance takes into consideration of stakeholders’ interests, it responds effectively to seasonality, it maintains fair prices while ensuring the safety of tourists.

For long-term development of tourism in Vietnam, a broad and comprehensive strategy of responsible stakeholder management should include protection of the environment, maintaining cultural richness, ensuring equality to all social classes, involving communities, building a sound legal system. Therefore, this will build on Vietnam’s tourism industry and make it a major economy booster again.

Reflective Analysis

Both my experience and the seminar insights have shed light on complexities involved in stakeholder management in Vietnams tourism and event industry. The different tourist destinations in Vietnam included Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Long Bay, and Hoi An which revealed the complex multi-stakeholders’ relationships and problems.

One of my most moving experience was visiting Hoian-a city that tries to preserve its UNESCO heritage site-the ancient town, while serve to tourists. Tourism leads to development of numerous small businesses and workshops operated by the local community. In this regard, it supports Freeman’s Stakeholder Theory that requires one to look at the interests of several stakeholders like local communities.

The seminar case study of Ha Long Bay illustrated the environmental challenges arising out of quick tourist arrival. Government, environmental, and local business cooperation is necessary for sustainable tourism (Roxas et al, 2020). Thus, this provides an element of collaboration and complexity in supporting the concept of stakeholder management.

Other mind opening episode was Hanoi Tet Festival. This was a tourism destination as well as a local celebration of cultural significance. At this point, tourism intertwined with local cultures showed that there was the need to address the issue of cultural sensitivity in an event’s management. Certainly, tourism stakeholders ought to emphasize on local traditions.

In the community-based tourism workshop of the seminar, we discussed enabling the local communities to engage in the tourism development in Sapa. This participatory approach for distributing tourism benefits under stakeholder theory and responsible management of heritage and environment issues.

In relation to Vietnam, after using these theories it is obvious that the state needs to advance economic development through tourism but preserve the cultural and natural inheritance of the state. In these policies, they should be able to strike a balance for these inter-linked interests. Nevertheless, these policies should be informed by the needs and perceptions of the local communities and businesses.

There is the need for management of visitors and for adopting sustainable practices for overtourism at Ha long Bay (Kieu, 2023). By way of stakeholder cooperation, such alternative destinations could be created as to offload the traffic in over-visited regions. For conservation of the traditions, the community should have a stake to safeguard, promote it while depicting its reality.

Therefore, my experiences and seminar outlines show that managing the stakeholders for tourism and events sectors is complicated in Vietnam. They stress on the issue-based positioning which entails the economic growth accompanied by the conservation of culture and environment whereby various views of stakeholders are considered.

Conclusion

The studies of stakeholder relationships that have been carried out on the Vietnamese tourisms and events sector have made a number of suggestions. To begin with, Vietnam’s economy hinges on its tourism industry featuring cultural and natural assets. The sector comprises of the government, local communities, businesses, tourists, and the ecological organizations that have differing stakes and effects.

According to Freemans Stakeholder Theory, sustainable and ethical tourism development involves striking a balance among various competing interests of this multiple group. There are problems of the environmental deterioration, cultural conservation, economic imbalance, and communal involvement in the tourism of Vietnam (Tien et al., 2021). This means that stakeholder management should be all-inclusive in order to address these concerns.

The findings therefore prove that stakeholder management has got an important bearing on Vietnam’s tourism development. For sustainable tourism in Vietnam, the industry should adapt to sustainably protect Vietnam’s natural and cultural heritages as well as share equitably the economic incentives for growth. However, this insight highlights a stakeholder-focused approach in tourism management which incorporates the principles of empathy, sustainability, and collaborative learning for professional development.

After reflecting, the following recommendations are made to improve stakeholder management in Vietnam:
Government needs to support green tourism, minimize pollution and create equal profit for all participants. Therefore, they should limit tourists within sensitive areas and publicize off-the- beaten-track destinations to avoid the overtourism effects. The involvement of local communities in tourism planning and decision making (Thetsane, 2019). The tourism should however be community-oriented thereby involving locals to offer services while preserving their culture.

Sustainable tourism should be prioritised. Stakeholders like tourists should also be taught responsible tourism (Burrai et al., 2019). Promotion of sustainable transportation, eco-friendly lodging and waste management. Focus upon diversity and promote less known tourist destinations in an attempt to ease congestion around popular spots. It relieves pressure in over-visited regions, thereby ensuring that gains are spread across wider geographical areas.

Provide stakeholders forum for regular communication and co-operation. This will help in identifying the challenges and the opportunities and assist us design effective sustainable tourism strategies. Therefore, Vietnam’s tourism future should be based on a well-balanced and inclusive stakeholder management. These should ensure that tourism remains essential and economical to Vietnam’s economy and society while enhancing professional work in this dynamic sector.

 

Top Management Samples

References 

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