8/1/2017

RESEARCH PROJECT
(BMBR5103)

WHAT MARKETING FACTORS CAN
AFFECT ON MICE TOURISM
AT HOTEL EQUATORIAL
HO CHI MINH CITY?

Student: Mai Hoang Thuy Van
Student ID: CGS 00001988
Intake: September 2015
Unit Coordinator: DBA Hung BUI


Advisor’s assessment

Advisor’s signature: ………………………
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This Master’s thesis is a part of a two-year program of Master Business Administration
at Open University Malaysia. I found that it was such an interesting and challenging for
me to have a chance working on this thesis. Looking back at the beginning, since I
started participating in the program, until this moment when I am about to finish my
final project. I realize that it was one of the longest journeys I have ever conquered.
Combining not only my focus, attempt but there is also eagerness to learn, either
theological or practical knowledge, they are all what I have gained and now expressed

in this thesis.
This paper could not have been completed without the guidance and assistance of
whom fully supported me. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to:
Dr. Bui Phi Hung, my lecturer, who always wisely encourages and advises throughout
the program.
My family, friends, colleagues and others for their valuable support and motivation,
either mentally or physically.

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Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................1
CONTENTS..................................................................................................................................................3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: ......................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 1:................................................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION: .......................................................................................................................................7
RESEARCH AIMS AND QUESTIONS:......................................................................................................... 8
Problem Statement: .............................................................................................................................................. 8
Research objectives: ............................................................................................................................................. 9
Benefits of the research ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Limitation of the research: .................................................................................................................................... 9
The scope............................................................................................................................................................ 10

CHAPTER 2:............................................................................................................................................. 11
LITERATURE REVIEW: ............................................................................................................................. 11
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 11
Supply in the HCMC hotel market ..................................................................................................................... 11
MICE Tourism: .................................................................................................................................................. 11

A Core marketing concepts ................................................................................................................................ 13
Conceptual Framework and Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 15

CHAPTER 3 .............................................................................................................................................. 16
METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................................................... 16
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 16
DATA COLLECTION METHOD ................................................................................................................ 16
Design template scale ......................................................................................................................................... 16
Research description........................................................................................................................................... 17
Data collection progress ..................................................................................................................................... 17
Statistical Tool:................................................................................................................................................... 18

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3.2 Sampling ................................................................................................................................................... 18
Target customers: ............................................................................................................................................... 18
Method: .............................................................................................................................................................. 18
Sample Size: ....................................................................................................................................................... 19

CHAPTER 4 .............................................................................................................................................. 20
Results ............................................................................................................................................................ 20
Frequencies......................................................................................................................................................... 20
Crosstable ........................................................................................................................................................... 36
FINDINGS AND PRESENTATION OF DATA............................................................................................ 43

CHAPTER 5 .............................................................................................................................................. 46
DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................................. 46
ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS ........................................................................................................................... 47


CHAPTER 6 .............................................................................................................................................. 50
RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................... 50
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 50

REFRENCE LIST .................................................................................................................................... 51
APPENDICES: ......................................................................................................................................... 53

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
According to the General Statistics Office, in the first five months of 2016,
international visitors to Ho Chi Minh City estimated 3.61 million arrivals (up 13% over
the same period last year). With dynamic development, Ho Chi Minh City becomes a
new destination for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) tourism.
Hotel Equatorial is a Malaysian hospitality chain with properties in Kuala Lumpur,
Malacca, Penang, Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City. Now, they continue to grow around
the world. Officially opened in September 1996, Hotel Equatorial Ho Chi Minh City
(H.E. HCMC) is as one of international 5 star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City. H.E. HCMC
also is recognized as a top hotel in the delivery of MICE Tourism.
The purpose of this paper was to determine the subject business situation, the
marketing factors on MICE tourism at H.E. HCMC. Thereby, the author gives some
suggestions and offers some solutions to improve operational efficiency of the business
unit for H.E. HCMC’s management team in the near future. The researches only focus
on the MICE tourism business of H.E. HCMC and propose some solutions to improve
the business efficiency of MICE tourism in H.E. HCMC.
The reasons which conduct the researcher to choose this topic are diverse, that is why
each of them will be explained in details. First of all, during our studies the authors

have never studied this specific industry, i.e. the MICE industry that is why for
personal reasons we want to go in-depth and learn by ourselves while doing this
dissertation.
As far as professional reasons are concerned, this topic was the selected one as the
researcher plans to connect our future career with this dynamic sector. As the members
of H.E. HCMC’s management team, we would like to figure out the potential market

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that enhances competitiveness with rivals. Based on the general tourism trend of Ho
Chi Minh City, this paper will analyze MICE tourism market.

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CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION:
According World Economic Forum, Vietnam’s tourism ranked 75th out and value is 3.6
of 141 nations in the travel and tourism competitiveness Index Ranking 2015.
According to Resolution No.46/NQ-CP since July, 2015, it applied new Vietnam’s visa
policy, this country definitely granted visa waivers for an additional five countries in
Western Europe and Belarus, bringing the total to 22 countries; nine of the countries
are ASEAN countries. Therefore, Vietnam stood at 119th in terms of the visa
requirements, which is one of three International Openess’s indicators. When the
infrastructure development in Vietnam is increasingly improving the quality and
competitiveness of tourism, the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions
(MICE) is one of types tourism, usually planned well in advance, are brought together

for a particular purpose. Especially, the growth of MICE tourists is increasing every
year and Ho Chi Minh City has the potentially leading destination of MICE Tourism.
While demand for this form of tourism is increasing, there are several issues on the
supply side which must be addressed.
In Ho Chi Minh City, H.E. HCMC is one of luxury 5 star hotels that has continuously
build and upgrade facilities, implement business strategies more effectively, build
brand image and its customers. H.E HCMC locates where the borders of the city’s four
main district intersect, hence in the heart and true center of Ho Chi Minh City with 333
guestrooms and suites and many comfortable facilities such as 6 food & beverage
outlets; a world-class recreational centre with an open-air swimming pool (a swim-up
bar), gym, spa and massage services...Therefore, their purpose is doing innovation,
improving self-image to be able to stand in hospitality market. Base on the Ho Chi

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Minh City’s tourism strategy which focuses MICE tourism market, H.E. HCMC
defines this is a main market to increase customers.
Hence, this paper aims to orientate H.E. HCMC manger expanding consumers who
want travelling in combination with attending meetings or conferences by using
KOTLER'S marketing mix 4Ps. The results from this paper may be used as a guideline
the current potential of MICE in H.E. HCMC and give some recommend solutions and
strategies to expand facilities to become more competitive.
RESEARCH AIMS AND QUESTIONS:
Problem Statement:
 Development of MICE
In recent years, MICE is an elite segment of tourism linked to business tourism. With
the demands of business travelers worldwide, Vietnam is proudly to be the perfect
place for sales incentive trip, company meeting, corporate conference or business

event. Today, many famous tourist attractions in Vietnam have been listed in MICE
itineraries such as Ho Chi Minh City, Danang city, Hue, Phu Quoc island, Hue, Nha
Trang and Hanoi. In Ho Chi Minh City, MICE tourism is identified as one of four main
types of tourism should aim to develop in the future, along with shopping tourism, ecotourism and cultural tourism. According to Vietnam National Administration of
Tourism, with annual growth rate of 20% from 2005 until now, MICE tourism forms
have been considered as booming tourist industry.
 Customer behabior

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 Marketing plan
Recently, marketing is expanding drastically through a region, a locality, a nation or a
company, a business and a specific product. H.E. HCMC should take full advantage of
the tourism industry and utilize the tactics to promote the completely appealing image
towards oriented market by defining core tourim marketing. According Kotler, Bowen
and Makens (2006), H.E. HCMC’s goal is different destination of vibrant, charming
elements from other competitors.
Research objectives:
The purpose of this research is to determine the marketing factors which influence
MICE tourism in H.E. HCMC. Thereby, the specific objectives of this research
include:
1.

To study the academic literature related to the MICE industry development.

2.

To analyze the opportunities and profits of MICE tourism market in H.E.


HCMC.
3.

To examine the level of satisfaction of the MICE tourist in H.E. HCMC.

Benefits of the research
1-

To examine the potential of MICE tourism in H.E. HCMC;

2-

To provide the guideline for manager to improve MICE tourism in H.E.HCMC

tourism.
Limitation of the research:
Limitation of space: Questionnaires were distributed to visitors and exhibitors who
stay at H.E. HCMC and employees at H.E HCMC.

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Limitation of time: The survey was conducted in short period of time so the data was
collected during Sept 2016 until Jan 2017.
The scope
The scope of research is definitely desgned for the consumers staying at H.E. HCMC
and employees at H.E HCMC including: General Director & Chairman, Deputy
General Directors & Board of Directors, managers, subordinates and employees

working at H.E. HCMC. The survey scope is within H.E HCMC, which composes 700
people. Contents are factors the MICE tourism business of H.E. HCMC and proposes
some solutions to improve the business efficiency of MICE tourism.

.

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Chapter 2:
LITERATURE REVIEW:
Introduction
The literature notes the importance and value of using evaluation research. This paper
will review some articles about the tourism literature as well as MICE literature. Based
on the review of literature, marketing factors affecting on MICE tourism at Hotel
Equatorial HCMC are identified. After the literature has been developed, the researcher
created the research model for this research.
Supply in the HCMC hotel market
The number of international visitors to Ho Chi Mih city accounts for 55 percent of the
nations total, generating 40 percent of total tourism value and accounting for 10
percent of the city GDP.
Ho Chi Minh city is home to 1,819 hotels of which 118 are 3-5 star ones with 14,700
rooms.
MICE Tourism:
Tourism industry is identified that enterprises and organizations involved in facilitating
travel and activity away from individual’s usual environment. Actually, the tourism
industry got two types of tourism including eco-tourism and traditional tourism. Ecotourism combines between preserving the natural world and sustaining the well-being
of the human cultures that inhabit it (Mowforth and Munt, 2003), vice versa traditional
tourism doesn’t promote environmentally friendly travel. The MICE sector is only a

one part of the tourism industry; it is a highly desirable part to develop. The MICE
sector is widely acknowledged to be a high yield component of the tourism industry
(Lau, Milne, & Johnston, 2005). MICE travellers generally have greater spending

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power than other travellers, spending around twice as much per day as other types of
travellers (Rogers, 2003). During 2003 international MICE visitors to Australia spent
on average $483 per day, over 5 times the amount of other visitors, enabling their total
expenditure to reach an average of nearly $1000 more per trip than other visitors
(Deery, Jago, Fredline, & Dwyer, 2005).
As tourism industry has developed as MICE Tourism in Vietnam has become more
recognized; “Lo i hình du l ch MICE t i Vi t Nam” of Nguy n Thu Trang in 2013 said
that MICE will be huge “gold mine” in Vietnam tourism industry if this country be
developed the advantages and be controlled the existing difficulties. Nguy n Thu
Trang (2013) explained that MICE tourism is an up and coming sector and a major
revenue contributor to the tourism industry in Vietnam. Therefore, HE HCMC needs to
be developed and promoted MICE industry. Infrastructural facilities accessibility, to
accommodation, to venues needs to be of international standard and quality.
In 2009, David M. Pearlman & Lindi Mollere wrote “Meetings, Incentive, Convention,
and Exhibition Evaluation Practices: An Exploratory Study among Destination
Marketing Organizations” talk about a lack of understanding regarding the processes
involved in conducting formal evaluations and also reflect the value of developing and
implementing a quality evaluation program. David M. Pearlman & Lindi Mollere also
give some solutions such as several live demonstrations be developed to persuade forprofit and not-for-profit destination marketing organization of the value of
implementing a formal quality program of evaluation.
Pavit Tansakul (2008) note that the potential of Convention and Exhibition center in
Bangkok and the level of satisfaction of the international MICE tourists with

convention and exhibitions center and its facilities in Bangkok.

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A Core marketing concepts
This researche reviews a core marketing concepts (Kolter, al. 2006) below:
 Needs, wants and demands
The human needs are prerequisite of form marketing concepts because when
consumers make a decision where they should stay in their holiday, the basic necessity
is foodstuff, accommodation, safety, entertainment and relaxtion. After their aspection,
the human wants are a next form of expression of needs including culture and
individual dignity. H.E. HCMC is attracting more clients when hotel understand their
wants and needs. The latest element is demand. When people have many wants, but
limited budgets for satisfying all the services, they must pick out the best choice
fulfilling their money. With consumer’s financial plan and H.E. HCMC promotion,
they could spend their trip in a five-star luxury and status hotel of Hotel Equatorial Ho
Chi Minh City.
 Products and services
According Pine & Gilmore (2011), when people buy service, they purchase a set of
intangible activities carried out on their behalf, however when they buy an experience,
they spend to enjoy a series of memorable events that company stages engage them in
an inherently personal way. Therefore, for tourist destinations, hotels, travel
companies, destination management companies, restaurants involved in the tourism
and hospitality industry, travelers can share the travel experience when they return
back home. It is a key for developing the business, image and marketing strategies of
the organisation. As the service oriented industry, Hotel Equatorial Ho Chi Minh city
(HE HCMC) always offer best services because when consumers travel either for
leisure or business purposes, they are looking for an experience that will be different


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and memorable. Day by day, after customers stayed at HE HCMC, they always keep a
positive image of this hotel in their hearts.
 Markets
The definition of market is common at present. When travelers want to seek out the
details about their upcoming trip. In the market of a variety of travel agencies, sellers
supply the market with information. Traditionally, travelers who decide to travel would
consult a travel agent (Sheldon, 1997). However, now they also use technology in their
travel planning via social networks such as TripAdvisor, Agoda.com, Facebook,…
Nowadays, because travelers are sharing experience and knowledge about their prior
travel and swiftly dispensing over the social networks, so HE HCMC apply it to be
attracted more customers and work on their satisfaction and loyalty.
 Exchange transactions and relationships
When certainly satisfying the service, guests decide exchange marketing by gaining a
chosen piece from somebody by offering something in return. Travelers could spend 80
USD to Hotel Equatorial Ho Chi Minh city for a single room and they could get one
night for the use of if. In other thing, relationship marketing plays the essential idea to
a greater extent. Marketers attempt to build up strong relationships by providing best
quality services with fair prices. The marketing orientation is no longer increasing the
profit on the individual transaction.
 Value, satisfaction and quality
Customer satisfaction is the target to desire to obtain. “Researching Customer
Satisfaction & Loyalty: How to find out what people really think (market research in
practice) by Paul Szwarc in 2005 explained customer satisfaction that customers judge
an organization’s products or services in light of their experience with that


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organizations or products, as well as by comparison with what they have heard or seen
about other organizations or products. Applying to HE HCMC, if the consumers are
satisfied with their services, it means stay longer, choosing to use more services and
recommending it to others.
According to Valarie A. Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman, Leonard L. Berry (1990),
consumer expectations depend on three main aspects including word-of-mouth
communication, personal needs, and past experience. Thus, HE HCMC applies a
beneficial marketing tool for word-of-mouth because when their guests have already
experienced their service, they will recommend this hotel to their friends and family.
Another, when consumers request personalized service, HE HCMC always control
misunderstanding that leads to poor appreciation of the service or unsatisfactory
service. With the last aspection, when tourists travelled HE HCMC where previously
enjoyed high quality service, they will have at least the same expectations when it
returns to this hotel.
Conceptual Framework and Conclusion
The literature review focused on different perspectives, to serve as a foundation for
understanding MICE tourism at Hotel Equatorial. After reviewing MICE tourism,
consumer satisfaction and travel experience, the 6Ps framework will be the marketing
mix for MICE tourism at HE HCMC. It calls upon marketing professionals to decide
on the product and its characteristics, set the price, decide how to distribute their
product, and choose methods for promoting their product. They also need to consider
people (employees and customers) who are involved in the service delivery process,
how to package the product and service, what kind of programming to offer to the
customers, and who you would like to partner with to generate more sales
The next chapter will present the research design and methods chosen for this paper.


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CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
In this chapter, the main target information is to find what marketing factors affect on
Mice tourism in H.E HCMC.
 From quantitative research (2 types of questionnaires)
 From qualitative research (3 types of in-depth interviews).
 From secondary research of the literature in this area as a result of the contributions
of other authors.
DATA COLLECTION METHOD
Design template scale
There are four variables in this study and each of them has separate set of questions.
There are five questions that were used to measure the variables of the above study.
Each interview lasted about 30 minutes. The survey was constructed open-ended
questions and yes or no questions.
Five questions guiding the interview protocol were:
1- Is your first staying at H.E HCMC?
2- Where did you hear about H.E HCMC?
3- What are the most important aspects of H.E HCMC for MICE tourists?
4- What are necessary services in H.E HCMC for the MICE segment?
5- Do you plan to come back?
6- How many often are you travelling for MICE purpose?

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Research description
Sample size n>= 10K where K is observation parameter (Vicente and Miguel).
Minimum size of sample size is 9*20= 180, so the stage of research conducted
consisted of a survey which was distributed to 700 respondents. The questions were
designed around the research objectives. The questionnaire was standardised for all
respondents.
The researcher was able to reduce the misinterpretation of the questions by aiding
respondents, thus limiting errors (Saunders et al. 2007).
Data collection progress
The survey for this research designed and distributed directly and sent email to current
and old customers with calculated quantities of 700 surveys.
The questionnaire was first developed in Vietnamese and then translated into English,
adopting a back-to-back translation procedure (Chapman & Carter, 1979). Both
English and Vietnamese questionnaires were utilized. With the support of General
Manager, the staffs were able to approach consumers to conduct the survey. Each
consumer was treated as one respondent. Questionnaire completion took around 30
minutes, with response rates ranging from 75% to 98%.
Progress:


1st Sept- 5th Sept: prepare, design 700 surveys and list the recipients



5th Sept – 30th Oct: send survey



30th Oct – 30th Nov: guide and support survey respondents how to input


answer


1st Dec – 12nd Dec: receive the feedback surveys

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

12nd Dec – 20st Dec: check all received surveys



20th Dec – 25th Jan: analyse the data

Results Send: 700 / Received feedback: 670
Invalid and devalue: 0 / Valid and value: 670
Statistical Tool:
The tool that was used to measure the quantitative and qualitative data is SPSS version
23 software (copyright cotent IBM). The collected data was then analyzed through
Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique.
Key dependent variables explored and any resulting outlying data was considered for
elimination. Precision Reports analysts tabulated and cross tabulate key dependent
variables with primary independent variables. Chi-square test was performed to
ascertain any statistically significant differences between 02 segments.
3.2 Sampling
According to Malhotra (2010) a sample is defined as the people who provide the

relevant information to answer the research objectives. The following stage describes
the sampling strategy used.
Target customers:
The target customers can be defined as: gender, age, country of origin, position in the
company and frequency of travelling for MICE purposes.
Method:
Non-probability was chosen as not every element of the target customer has a chance
of being selected because the inclusion or exclusion of elements in a sample. The

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researcher has chosen quota sampling, as it is the most sophisticated non-probability
technique.
Sample Size:
The total amounts of 700 questionnaires were distributed. 670 copies were answered.
The results were gathered by face-to-face interview with the respondents and sending
via email.

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CHAPTER 4
Results
Frequencies
+ Gender:
Respondents were asked to define the gender age group, with a number of 409 males
and 261 females, making it 61,05% to 38.96%.

Table 1: Gender
Valid
Frequency

Cumulative

Percent Percent

Percent

Valid Female 261

39.0

39.0

39.0

Male

409

61.0

61.0

100.0

Total


670

100.0

100.0

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+ Age group:
The majority of the respondents were five different age group: from 18 to 25, from 26
to 35, from 36 to 45, from 46 to 55 and over 56 years old. The results are following:
Age Group
Valid
Frequency

Cumulative

Percent Percent

Percent

13.3

13.3

13.3

26-35 176


26.3

26.3

39.6

36-45 250

37.3

37.3

76.9

46-55 115

17.2

17.2

94.0

56+

6.0

6.0

100.0


100.0

100.0

Valid 18-25 89

40

Total 670

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+ Country of origin:
The results are presented the information about the country of origin of the
respondents. The majority of the respondents were originally from Singapore and
Malaysia.
Country
Valid

Cumulative

Frequency

Percent Percent

Percent


13

1.9

1.9

1.9

Australia

26

3.9

3.9

5.8

Belgium

15

2.2

2.2

8.1

Brazil


16

2.4

2.4

10.4

Cambodia

27

4.0

4.0

14.5

Canada

20

3.0

3.0

17.5

China


54

8.1

8.1

25.5

Denmark

23

3.4

3.4

29.0

France

7

1.0

1.0

30.0

Germany


6

.9

.9

30.9

Valid Argentina

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Hungary

9

1.3

1.3

32.2

India

10

1.5


1.5

33.7

Indonesia

24

3.6

3.6

37.3

Iraq

8

1.2

1.2

38.5

Italy

19

2.8


2.8

41.3

Japan

13

1.9

1.9

43.3

Korea

10

1.5

1.5

44.8

Malaysia

65

9.7


9.7

54.5

Myanmar

5

.7

.7

55.2

New Zealand

23

3.4

3.4

58.7

Philippines

36

5.4


5.4

64.0

Poland

5

.7

.7

64.8

Russia

4

.6

.6

65.4

Singapore

76

11.3


11.3

76.7

Taiwan

27

4.0

4.0

80.7

Thailand

47

7.0

7.0

87.8

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Turkey


5

.7

.7

88.5

10

1.5

1.5

90.0

United States

22

3.3

3.3

93.3

Vietnam

45


6.7

6.7

100.0

Total

670

100.0

100.0

United
Emirates

Arab

+ Position
Position
Frequenc

Valid

Cumulative

y

Percent Percent


Percent

67

10.0

10.0

10.0

Employee

104

15.5

15.5

25.5

Management

185

27.6

27.6

53.1


164

24.5

24.5

77.6

Top management 150

22.4

22.4

100.0

Valid Consultant

Middle
management

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