Prioritizing the factor weights affecting tourism performance by FAHP

Abstract

The allocation of limited resources to effectively promote tourism is one of the most important issues in the tourism industry, especially in tough economic times. This paper seeks to investigate the relative importance of the key factors affecting tourism performance by applying the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method. Specifically, the paper identifies the factors and sub-factors of the hierarchical structure from the literature relating to tourism performance. The framework based on the AHP method is then proposed to determine the relative weights of the factors and subfactors in contributing to tourism performance. An application case related to the Vietnamese context is used to illustrate the proposed framework. The results of this study consolidated the tourism theory and suggested recommendations and solutions for the Vietnamese tourism industry. The proposed framework could be used by a group of decision-makers to achieve a consensus, as well as deal with uncertainty in the decision-making process. The findings of the study may serve as a tool for assistance for planners in improving the efficiency of tourism performance. © 2013 Do and Chen.