Exploring residents' support for integrated casino resort development: a new gaming destination in Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Integrated casino resorts have presented themselves as key strategic gaming destinations in many countries. Several countries including Vietnam have developed integrated casino resorts to attract tourists and to stay competitive. To achieve sustainable success, residents’ perceptions should be considered in strategic planning and execution of gaming destinations. This study explores residents’ perceptions of integrated casino resorts and how these perceptions are extended for identifying conditions influencing residents’ support in gaming destination development. A newly developed gaming destination, the Grand Ho Tram Resort and Casino in South Vietnam, was chosen as the research site. Semi-structured in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted for data collection. NVivo was preliminarily used for thematic analysis and content analysis was further undertaken for analysing and interpreting the data. Favourable social and economic returns were found as necessary conditions to secure residents’ support. Efforts in improving cultural and environmental well-being of residents should be promoted to elicit residents’ support for sustained gaming destination development. Given residents’ perceptive insights into impacts of significance to them, the findings will be beneficial for strategic planning and execution of gaming destinations and future tourism development.

KEYWORDS:

• Integrated casino resorts
• casino tourism
• gaming destinations
• residents’ support
• Vietnam

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by RMIT University Vietnam [grant number 15-2018].

Notes on contributors

Anh Thu Nguyen

Anh Thu Nguyen is a Lecturer at RMIT University Vietnam. Her research interests are digital marketing, sustainable consumption, sustainable tourism and sustainability education.

Wanniwat Pansuwong

Wanniwat Pansuwong is a Lecturer at University of South Australia. His research interests centre on entrepreneurship, innovation, and destination management.

Robert McClelland

Robert McClelland is a Professor at RMIT University Vietnam. He is Deputy Dean of School of Business and Management. His research interests are service quality and management.