Assessment of tourism service quality for traditional craft villages in Da Nang city, Vietnam

Abstract

Traditional craft villages are becoming more popular as cultural tourism destinations since they preserve and represent indigenous people’s culture and lifestyles while also contributing significantly to the economy. Along with the current surge in visitors, traditional villages must improve service quality components to strengthen their attractiveness and competitiveness. To analyze the quality of tourism services given by the places, the study was done in Da Nang, a city in Vietnam’s central region with various unique traditional craft villages. In this study, the research paradigm “Importance—Performance Analysis” (IPA) was used and converted with “SERVQUAL.” A total of 120 tourists who had previously visited Da Nang’s traditional craft villages were surveyed. The findings suggest that tourists place a high value on indices showing the importance of tourism service quality, but they undervalue performance. Overall, the article advises and proposes four group solutions based on priority levels in order to improve and further expand the quality of services in traditional craft villages in Da Nang city.

Keywords:

• traditional craft villages
• TSQ
• IPA
• Da Nang city
• Vietnam

1. Introduction

Traditional craft villages are considered as cultural tourism attractions, which involve tourists being led through cultural experiences such as learning about local cultural elements, local wisdom in tourist destinations, studying historical sites, museums, studying the representation of values and living systems adopted by local communities, performing arts, and local culinary specialties (Nugraha & Lema, 2021). Traditional craft villages are increasingly reaffirming their relevance in conserving cultural values (Bahaa Eldin & Hammad, 2020), contributing to the establishment of regional cultural identity, and reflecting prominently diversity of rural and traditional life, as cultural tourism grows in popularity (Xue et al., 2021). Traditional crafts have been promoted in several nations in recent years to overcome obstacles in making and selling traditional handicraft products, particularly in export markets. A tourism village provides a natural setting with its own social, cultural, and customs, as well as lodging, food, and other tourist necessities. The establishment of a tourism village alters the lives of its residents. Expanding the tourism business without fostering traditional handicraft will be detrimental to the national economy (Hieu & Rasovska, 2017). Many traditional craft villages have become popular tourist destinations, and craft village tourism is viewed as an essential direction for improving the diversity and competitiveness of tourism products (Pham Hong et al., 2021), as well as promoting the image of countries and territories in the global tourism market (Phuc & Linh, 2019).

Service quality (SQ) plays an important role in tourism development, and SQ improvement is one strategy that many tourist destinations are currently using in order to increase their competitiveness in international tourist markets (López-Toro et al., 2010). Many researchers have examined at SQ as a precondition for corporate excellence and strategies (Arambewela & Hall, 2006; Ruiqi & Adrian, 2009). Prior studies have also shown that the quality of service impacts on the quality of business performance (Caruana & Pitt, 1997). SQ, according to Berry et al. (1988), is an important market differentiator and a formidable competitive weapon that all service firms should aspire to (Berry et al., 1988). SQ as a metric for measuring business excellence is becoming increasingly popular, not just in corporate practice, but also in academia (Jankalová, 2016). In tourism industry sector, SQ is a necessary and winning strategy for the new millennium (Augustyn & Ho, 1998). In addition, SQ strongly influenced the tourist’ satisfaction. Better SQ leads to greater customer satisfaction (Kasiri et al., 2017; Sivadas & Baker-Prewitt, 2000), and SQ, with customer satisfaction, influences customer loyalty (Cristobal et al., 2007; T.-H. Lee, 2009; Y.-K. Lee et al., 2005; Özkan et al., 2019; Puri et al., 2018; Santouridis & Trivellas, 2010). Loyal and committed long-term clients, as opposed to short-term customers, have a much greater inclination to buy more services, generate positive word-of-mouth communication, pay higher rates, and, smooth the entire service process due to the experience curve (Sugandini et al., 2017). With such a significant impact on customer happiness and loyalty, it is critical to improve the quality of tourism services to boost visitor satisfaction and increasing the probability of recruiting tourists.

According to the further literature, the evaluation of tourism service quality (TSQ) will provide management with a foundation on which to improve the destination’s quality. However, assessment of TSQ is complicated since it is predicated on how the traveler feels. Many studies and various evaluation models have focused on the quality assessment of tourism services. In which, the SERVQUAL scale, established by Parasuraman et al., is the most widely used measure of SQ (Asubonteng et al., 1996). On the other hands, many studies measure the quality of tourism services using a combination of other models, such as the Systematic Literature Review and Keyword Network Analysis (Park & Jeong, 2019); the seconded confirmatory factor analysis (Narayan et al., 2008); fuzzy gap analysis (Ho et al., 2015), and a Grey Correlation Analysis (Ho et al., 2015) etc. These studies also confirm the wide range of elements that influence the quality of tourism services and the importance of developing an appropriate assessment model for individual destinations. Despite these significant advancements in a destination’s TSQ assessment, there have been very few studies analyzing visitor satisfaction based on an assessment of the importance and performance of TSQ in traditional villages. The evaluation of SQ in craft villages will add to the theory of evaluation for cultural destinations while also fostering the growth of craft village tourism. Therefore, this paper focuses on examining a system of evaluation criteria by comparing the importance—the performance of TSQ indicators in particularly in Da Nang city, where a growing number of traditional craft villages are being utilized for tourism development. The goal of the article was to: (1) identify the TSQ indicators that visitors care about; (2) examine the perceived gaps in the roles that TSQ plays; and (3) identify the attribute role that requires management intervention to improve visitor satisfaction in traditional villages in Da Nang city.

To achieve these goals, the article is organized in the following way. The first section provides literature review, background information about the research model in which the current study was conducted, as well as a statement of the specific research topic. In section 2, we’ll go through how to use SERVQUAL and the IPA model for data collection on questionnaire surveys, as well as how to discuss them. Finally, there are conclusions for the TSQ.

2. Literature review

2.1. Cultural tourism and traditional craft villages

Cultural tourism is a paradox from several perspectives, and is now the most popular form of special interest tourism (Brooker, 2016; Buhalis et al., 2006). Some researchers defined cultural tourism as a tourism market for those who choose to travel according to their lifestyle or intelligent tourism-tourism linked to the increasing desire of tourists to learn something new while traveling: this makes it a form of educational-cultural tourism (Richards & Richards, 1996). Cultural tourism is a significant topic in leisure history and sociology, and it is related to cultural geography and studies of cultural motilities, cultural identities, and the link between societies at various stages of development. Cultural tourism, according to some authors, encompasses both urban and rural tourism (Brooker, 2016; Raţă, 2013). Cultural tourism is a sub-category of tourism that relates to forms of culture in the urban and rural areas of a region or country, and it is defined as a movement of people to cultural sites far from their usual place of residence in order to absorb knowledge and cultural experiences (González Santa-Cruz & López-Guzmán, 2017). Tourist interested in culture may seek exposure to local behaviors and attractions, to different ways of life or vestiges of vanishing lifestyle. With heritages, the term “heritage and cultural tourism’ refers to that segment of the tourism industry that places special emphasis on heritage and cultural attractions. In less developed areas, heritage and cultural attractions may include traditional religious practices, handicrafts and cultural performance (Leslie & Sigala, 2005). ACTARC defines the resources involved in cultural tourism as: a) archaeological sites and museums; b) architecture (ruins, famous buildings, whole towns); c) art, sculpture, crafts, galleries, festivals, events; d) music and dance (classical, folk, contemporary); e) drama (theatre, films, dramatists); f) language and literature study, tours, events; g) religious festivals, pilgrimages; i) complete (folk or primitive) cultures and sub-cultures (Cristobal-Fransi et al., 2020). From this perspective, traditional craft villages are crucial resources and a significant part of cultural tourism.

Traditional craft villages, which offer a wide range of cultural potential, are relatively additional tourist attractions that have opened up opportunities for cultural and historical tourism growth. Traditional craft villages, according to B. V. Vuong, are centers of craft production with master artisans and many traditional craft households, as well as the same craft progenitor and production management rules to keep and inherit professional secrecy to cooperate in producing and selling their products in small and medium scale (in (Hieu & Rasovska, 2017)). Many studies on cultural tourism and community-based tourism in craft villages highlight the unique role of traditional craft villages in raising tourists’ awareness and understanding of local community cultural values, contributing to the preservation of historical and cultural values, and achieving sustainable tourism development goals (Bahaa Eldin & Hammad, 2020; Hieu & Rasovska, 2017; Mokoena, 2020; Moswete et al., 2015; Pham Hong et al., 2021; Zeppel, 2002). Based on the above, recommendations are that local people should be encouraged to take part actively in development and to establish a community-based cultural village for tourists, from which they can get actual benefits (Moswete et al., 2015).

2.2. Tourism service quality and tourist satisfaction

In tourism, SQ plays a significant role in enhancing tourist satisfaction (Al-Ababneh, 2013). TSQ is defined as the suitable service offered by travel service providers to meet the needs of tourists, or the discrepancy between visitors’ perceptions and expectations of the specific travel services provided by the travel provider (Bhat, 2012). The TSQ includes tour guide services, infrastructure or transportation accessibility, and tourist attractions such as products and accommodation (Rahmiati et al., 2020). Quality is created in tourism by providing exceptional services in terms of hospitality, courtesy, efficient lodging, food, and recreation facilities (Gallarza et al., 2016). SQ directly affected tourist satisfaction throughout destination facilities, destination accessibility and destination attraction (Al-Ababneh, 2013). Particularly, there is a significant relationship between accommodation SQ, hospitality, entertainment, transportation, taxi SQ and overall satisfaction (Latiff & Imm, 2015). Therefore, continuously improving the quality of tourism services is one of the most essential ways to boost visitor happiness (Madar, 2019).

2.3. Measure tourism service quality

Customer expectations before consumption and consumer experience after consumption are the foundations of SQ performance (Hill, 1986). Customers’ SQ expectations were investigated by Parasuraman, who concluded that the variations between customers’ expectations and actual experiences are due to service providers’ capacity to meet consumer expectations. SQ, according to Zeithaml (1988), is a cognitive quality of a product or service. The quality of a service is derived from the quality of a physical product (Parasuraman et al., 1994; Zeithaml, 1988). Service features are undetectable when compared to physical objects, and production and sale occur at the same time (Gabbott & Hogg, 1994). Customers take part in co-production as service is provided, (Parasuraman et al., 1985) established customer views of SQ systems and proposed the notion of the SQ model. These perceptions are based on the disparity between customer service expectations and experienced service. There were ten SQ dimensions identified. These factors account for the difference between what clients expect and what they get. In addition, SQ dimensions assess the link between different SQ models. In 1985, (latitude and longitude on the continentin (Dawson et al., 2020) simplified SQ measurement. The 10 dimensions were whittled down to just five. They also created the SERVQUAL model, which comprises 22 SQ components and their dimensions: tangible, dependability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. SERVQUAL, which was first introduced in 1988 by Parasuraman et al. as a technique of measuring SQ, today has a wide range of applications in service science.

Following the proposal by Parasuraman et al. (1985) to examine the performance of a service mode, subject SQ measurement has become a developing trend, gaining both academic and practical interest. Customer expectations before consumption and consumer experience after consumption are the foundations of SQ performance (Johnson & Mathews, 1997). The SERVQUAL scale, established by Parasuraman et al., is the most widely used measure of SQ (Wong Ooi Mei et al., 1999).

With the SERVQUAL scale, Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) expanded TSQ in particular. Martilla and James (1977) proposed IPA beside the SERVQUAL SQ model (Martilla & James, 1977). This analysis tool is frequently used to assess SQ. The IPA method is a performance evaluation technique that measures the level of service variables between importance and satisfaction in the service innovation process, according to (Esmailpour et al., 2020). According to (Lo et al., 2012), the IPA method assesses consumer importance and enjoyment, and generates unique product relationships based on technological priorities.

IPA is a paradigm that assesses the quality of tourism services based on differences in visitor perceptions of the importance and service provider performance (I—P gaps). The IPA is calculated by comparing two criteria for the quality of tourism services. Specifically, the relative relevance of quality attributes and quality attribute performance. According to a study by (Barsky, 1995), the achievement of the results of implementing of TSQ should be compared to their importance, and low-importance quality features have a minimal impact on visitors’ overall perception. If the quality trait is extremely important to them, it will have a significant impact on their perception. IPA also allows the researcher to calculate the properties of the sample based on the average values (Mean). Each of the derived attribute values will be represented on the 04 zone graph on this basis. The IPA is represented graphically on a grid divided into four quadrants, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. IPA model.(Source: Martilla & James, 1977).

Its findings will show the priority order of quality qualities so that actions may be taken to improve them. Table 1 shows the four quadrants of IPA and their implications.

Table 1. Quadrant and implication of IPA

Quadrants	Implications
Quadrants I Concentrate Here	Respondents believe attributes are very important, however, performance levels are relatively low. This indicates that enhancement efforts should be focused on this area.
Quadrant II Keep up the good work	Respondents believe attributes are very essential, and the organization appears to do well in these activities. Keep up the fantastic work, is the message here.
Quadrant III Lower priority	Low importance and low performance are associated with these attributes. Although performance levels in this cell may be poor, managers should not be too concerned because the traits in this cell are not seen as particularly important. On this low-priority cell, just a small amount of resources should be spent.
Quadrant IV Possible overkill	This cell comprises low-importance qualities that affect the organization’s performance; managers should regard current efforts on these attributes to be superfluous/unnecessary.

(Source: Martilla & James, 1977)

3. Research area and methods

3.1. Research area

The study was carried out in Da Nang city in Vietnam (Figure 2). The city has a total natural land area of 1,283.42 km², with urban districts covering 241.51 km² and rural districts covering 1,041.91 km². On the East Sea, Da Nang city comprises of a land area and an archipelago. Its latitude and longitude on the continent are 15 55’ to 1614’ N and 10718’ to 10820’ E, respectively (Da Nang E-Portal, 2022).

Figure 2. Location of Da Nang city, Vietnam.

Da Nang city is located in Vietnam’s central region that connects three UNESCO World Heritage sites such as Hue Citadel, Hoi An Ancient Town, and My Son Sanctuary. The city offers many advantages for developing a wide range of types and goods. The system of charming traditional villages, such as Non Nuoc Stone Village, Nam O Chili Village, Cam Ne Village, and others, is one of the locality’s advantages. These traditional villages are not only popular tourist destinations, but they also hold a wealth of cultural and historical significance, representing local people’s social lives over millennia. Tourists and travel companies have paid close attention to craft village tourism in recent years, adding to the diversification of tourism products in the city. Thousands of visitors, especially international tourists, are welcomed each year (Da Nang Office of Tourism, 2020), thanks to the efforts of local governments to invest in infrastructure and services (Figure 3).

Figure 3. The numbers of international tourists visiting to Da Nang annually.

Source: Da Nang Office of Tourism—Information

The Figure 3 indicates that the number of international visitors coming to Da Nang city has accelerated. In 2019, international tourists to Da Nang totaled 3.5 million, increasing 22.5 percent from the same period last year and accounting for 40.7 percent of all arrivals. The city has developed a variety of initiatives showcasing local craft villages and their products via the internet and at tourism events, realizing the value of craft village tourism.

However, the truth of tourism development in Da Nang in recent years also reveals that the level of tourism services in these traditional artisan communities remains uniform, and that investment remains dispersed and inefficient. Although the products of traditional villages are of high quality, their competitiveness is moderate, and only a few have achieved national and worldwide recognition. Many municipalities have failed to establish adequate methods and rules for the development of craft villages, and have placed little emphasis on tourism-related infrastructure and services. In addition, craft products will face fierce competition in the next years as a result of globalization and worldwide integration (Da Nang Office of Tourism, 2020); thus, villages must constantly improve the quality of tourism service, build their own unique products in order to become well-known brands.

3.2. Research methods

The goal of this study was to look into the quality of service in a village, a major tourist attraction in Da Nang city, Vietnam. This will point the way toward bettering the catering industry and, as a result, improving TSQ. As a questionnaire survey, this uses IPA and the SERVQUAL scale created by Parasuraman et al. (1988) with five SERVQUAL dimensions. SERVQUAL’s five dimensions were used and transformed to change the questionnaire. Tangibles, responsiveness, reliability, assurance, and empathy are the dimensions. In contrast to past research, on the third level, there are 23 variables encoded as Q1-Q23 into Tangibles, responsiveness, reliability, assurance, and empathy (Table 3). A discussion with five professionals with at least three years of experience working in the tourism business in Da Nang is used to review and adapt the indicators and questionnaire to verify the questionnaire’s reliability and validity. Based on this, a preliminary questionnaire was created and evaluated with twenty tourists. After revising and re-designing, the official questionnaire research is certified. Its findings will show the priority order of quality qualities so that actions may be taken to improve them. Figure 4 depicts the research method.

Figure 4. Research process.

Table 2. Demographic characteristics of respondents in Da Nang’s traditional craft villages

Variable	Sample size (n)	Percentage (%)
Gender Male Female	63 57	52.5 47.5
Age 17 and less 18–30 31–55 55 and over	7 66 42 05	5.8 55.0 35.0 4.2
Education Secondary College Tertiary	7 14 99	5.8 11.7 82.5
Employment Student State employees Business Farmers, workers Unemployment	36 47 27 6 4	30.0 39.2 22.5 5.0 3.3

Table 3. Cronbach Alpha and corrected item-total correlation

Variables	Groups	Meaning	Importance		Performance
			Cronbach Alpha	Correc-ted Item-Total Correlation	Cronbach Alpha	Corr-ected Item-Total Correlation
Q1	Tangibles	The scenery in villages is clean and beautiful.	.850	.711	.914	.441
Q2		Craft villages have clean public buildings.	.851	.701	.869	.784
Q3		Artifacts on display are vivid and diverse, bearing the characteristics of the craft village	.845	.733	.860	.838
Q4		Staff dressed politely, uniformly, decent.	.878	.537	.898	.593
Q5		Craft villages have neat and easy-to-observe galleries	.839	.767	.857	.856
Q6		Photos, movies, banners, and other media concerning artisan villages are presented in a visually appealing and colorful manner.	.861	.646	.860	.841
Q7	Reliability	The information on the settlements is presented in a simple and comprehensive manner.	.757	.821	.803	.771
Q8		The village’s historical re-enactment models are visually appealing and fascinating.	.704	.843	.805	.774
Q9		The village has rich traditions to learn, as well as numerous distinct cultural and historical qualities.	.679	.851	.866	.617
Q10		Villagers have a deep understanding of history and culture and have reliable explanations	.760	.819	.821	.736
Q11	Responsibility	Staff/guides were thoughtfully welcomed.	.893	.572	.835	.824
Q12		Staff and townspeople are eager to assist guests.	.821	.769	.849	.794
Q13		When guests require help, the staff and villagers are eager to assist them.	.794	.832	.905	.680
Q14		Visitors’ difficulties are immediately resolved by staff and guides.	.828	.753	.849	.788
Q15	Insurance	Visitors’ safety on the grounds is ensured.	.894	.798	.907	.843
Q16		Visitors’ food safety is ensured.	.900	.769	.900	.879
Q17		Visitors are impressed with the service manner.	.910	.722	.900	.878
Q18		Staff ensure the service process.	.894	.804	.923	.760
Q19		The staff explains in a straightforward and understandable manner.	.886	.837	.929	.739
Q20	Empathy	Throughout the trip, staff is always attentive to visitors.	.864	.819	.850	.865
Q21		The staff is aware of what travelers require.	.864	.823	.865	.831
Q22		The inhabitants are always friendly with their visitors.	.864	.827	.874	.804
Q23		The Craft Village is open all year, making it easy for tourists	.911	.685	.916	.672

A survey was done to determine the elements that influence the quality of tourism service provided by popular traditional craft village in Da Nang city. To measure TSQ, the researchers employed a questionnaire survey approach. The rating system is based on the Likert five-point scale, which has five scales: agree strongly, agree, neutral, disagree, disagree strongly, and disagree strongly, with 5 points, 4 points, 3 points, 2 points, and 1 point. The study divided into 5 scales with each interval having a value of 0.8 to evaluate the mean value at both the importance and the performance of the criterion on this basis. Higher scores indicate a higher level of capability or involvement in the particular dimension, whereas lower points show a lesser level of capability or involvement. By being asked to measure the elements affecting the TSQ in Da Nang city, a random sampling approach was adopted. 150 visitors to the village were included in the sample. Finally, we received 120 questionnaires with complete answers, meeting the research object criterion with an 80 percent yield rate. Table 2 shows the demographic characteristics of the respondents.

4. Finding and discussion

4.1. Testing the reliability of the scale of criteria for TSQ in traditional craft villages

Cronbach’s alpha coefficient aids in ensuring uniformity of essential elements in each dimension. According to Byrne (1994), a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of over 0.7, and Corrected Item-Total Correlation over 0.3 implies reliable reliability. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is above 0.7 in the reliability analysis of the studied model, and important elements of each dimension conform to the content, indicating that the results are reliable. Table 3 shows the testing of Cronbach alpha and Corrected Item-Total Correlation for SQ measurement criteria.

The reliability assessment of the importance scale in the Table 2 reveals that the general scales and the component scale both have Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients greater than 0.7, and the coefficient of correlation turns the total greater than 0.3, indicating that these scales meet the standard for carrying out KMO inspection steps.

The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) is evaluated using a KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) coefficient. KMO is used to assess the suitability of factor analysis. A KMO value greater than 1.0 is appropriate for factor analysis, while if it is less than 0.5, the factor analysis is likely to be inconsistent with the data. Variables having transmission factors less than 0.5 will be excluded, with the process halting when Eigenvalue exceeds 1.0 and the total disparity exceeds 50%. (Gerbing & Anderson, 1988). The result of KMO is shown in Table 4.

Table 4. KMO and bartlett’s test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy.		.854
Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity	Approx. Chi-Square	2109.031
	df	253
	Sig.	.000

Table 4 demonstrates that KMO = 0.854 < 1 and > 0.5, factor analysis is acceptable with the research dataset. Eigenvalue = 1.029 > 1 and extracts 5 groups of components that provide the best information summary. Total margin of error = 73,565 percent shows that the EFA model is adequate. Thus, the five factors accounted for 73,565 percent of the variation observed.

The rotation matrix (Table 5) reveals that the groups of factors have not altered since the initial model, including group (1): Q1-Q6, group (2): Q15-Q19, group (3): Q11-Q14, group (4): Q20-Q23, and group (5): Q7—Q10. Table 4 also reveals the impact values of these factors on the individual group. In particularly, the factors coded as Q5 and Q3 have the highest effect value in the group of tangible factors (with .746 and.744 respectively); Q18 and Q19 are among the assurance elements (respectively .791 and .786). Q20 and Q22 are the variables in the empathy factor group with the highest impact value (.842 and .822). Q12 and Q13 have the highest effect values (.852 and.844) in the group of attitudes and responsibilities. Finally, in the group of reliability variables, variables like Q9 and Q10 have the biggest impact in the group, with.792 and.699 respectively. When compared to the original model, the EFA test revealed that majority of the components converged. According to the model, these variables will be examined thoroughly. These factors will be analyzed according to the IPA model to find out the importance and implementation level of TSQ in craft villages in Da Nang city.

Table 5. Rotated component matrix

	Component
	1	2	3	4	5
Q5	.746
Q3	.744
Q1	.737
Q2	.730
Q4	.721
Q6	.611
Q18		.791
Q19		.786
Q15		.736
Q16		.734
Q17		.716
Q20			.863
Q21			.832
Q22			.817
Q23			.783
Q12				.852
Q13				.844
Q14				.758
Q11				.711
Q9					.792
Q10					.699
Q7					.663
Q8					.536

Extraction Method: PrincIPAl Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization

4.2. The importance and performing TSQ

In this study, the IPA model was used to clarify tourists’ views on the importance and performance of criteria for measuring the quality of tourism services in Da Nang’s traditional craft villages. The results of this are shown in Table 5.

Table 6 above shows the ranking of the importance (I)-performance (P) level and the gap value (P-I) based on the mean scores.

Table 6. Importance—performance analysis for TSQ in Da Nang’ traditional craft villages

Variables	I	Ranking	P	Ranking	Gap value (P-I)
Q1	4.30	8	4.09	7	−0.21
Q2	4.36	5	3.69	21	−0.67
Q3	4.39	4	3.82	15	−0.58
Q4	4.21	13	3.88	12	−0.33
Q5	4.31	7	3.73	19	−0.58
Q6	4.24	11	3.70	20	−0.54
Q7	3.99	21	3.89	11	−0.10
Q8	4.25	10	3.80	17	−0.45
Q9	4.08	20	4.79	3	0.72
Q10	4.14	17	4.83	2	0.68
Q11	4.21	13	4.83	1	0.63
Q12	4.15	16	4.76	5	0.61
Q13	4.28	9	3.75	18	−0.53
Q14	4.10	19	4.78	4	0.68
Q15	4.45	2	3.95	9	−0.50
Q16	4.53	1	3.81	16	−0.73
Q17	4.43	3	3.94	10	−0.48
Q18	4.34	6	4.07	8	−0.28
Q19	4.14	17	4.54	6	0.40
Q20	3.98	22	3.62	22	−0.36
Q21	3.98	22	3.51	23	−0.48
Q22	4.17	15	3.84	13	−0.33
Q23	4.23	12	3.83	14	−0.39

For importance level, the table reveals that the means of the components in the TSQ are largely in the “Important” and “Very important” categories, with 14 and 9 criteria respectively. This indicates that tourists in Da Nang’s traditional villages place a high value on quality standards for tourism services. This also can be explained as visitors who visit always expect to receive high-quality tourism services when they arrive at their locations. As a result, they regard the value of these aspects as high (Otto & Ritchie, 1996).

The most valued importance criterion according to the responses is Q16 (Food safety) with a mean of 4.53, followed by “Property safety” criteria (Q15 with 4.45). It is clear that the safety component is given the highest priority in visitor evaluations (Tasci & Boylu, 2010). When taking part in events, visitors are continually emphasizing the necessity of protecting the safety of both property and food. In reality, prior studies on the quality of tourism services have confirmed safety characteristics that are always highly recommended by tourists. Pizam et al. (1997) claimed that most tourist select their destinations not only on the basis of price and destination image, but most importantly, on personal safety and security. According to the findings of Dwyer et al. (2009), safety and security are among the fundamental requirements for the success of tourism development at the destination level. Related to food safety issues, Maclaurin (2004) indicates that food safety was of secondary importance to respondents with frequent travelers more willing to discount the use of food safety in their travel decisions. Impraim et al. (2018) highlights that customers of the chosen restaurants were extremely happy with how strictly the restaurants adhered to food safety standards. Therefore, the study also makes the suggestion that restaurants in tourism cities should encourage their staff members to engage in professional training programs in order to gain more knowledge for the goal of implementing food safety in the restaurant industry. The safety of a location is generally a major consideration when choosing a travel destination and is a significant aspect to consider when evaluating the caliber of tourist services.

Characteristics related to employee such as Q17 (Service style), Q18 (Knowledgeable staff), and Q13 (Assistant response) are also important, according to the above table, with scores ranging from 4.28 to 4.43. This finding continues to support the crucial part that human resources play in determining the caliber of tourist services, and it is in line with many ideas put up in earlier research. The attitude and capacity of personnel in business services are vital in providing services and generating a direct impression on visitors (Dhar, 2015). Tourists will receive excellent service from service providers who are well-trained and have a positive attitude. In contrast, tourists will receive poor treatment, harming the reputation of craft communities. Acording to Kusluvan (2003), employee attitudes and behavior are crucial for organizational success in service organizations in general and the tourism and hospitality industries in particular. The service attitude of the staff has a large impact on visitor satisfaction, while timely assistance from the staff to solve problems that arise during the trip brings a lot of sympathy from visitors (Alhelalat et al., 2017). As a result, when visiting tourist destinations, tourists frequently have high expectations for staff-related characteristics.

In important assessment, there are three criteria in the group with the lowest value in the importance of assessment, two of which are in the group of “empathy” factors, including Q20 with a mean of 3.98 and Q21 with a mean of 3.98. According to Tucker (2016), empathy in tourism has both positive and risks effects (Tucker, 2016). In their research, Yim King Wan and Man Cheng (2011) also show that empathy is an element that needs to be improved in service quality at world heritage sites which including traditional villages (Yim King Wan & Man Cheng, 2011). In the study of traditional villages in Da Nang city, because most tourists prefer privacy when self-organizing, the factor of “empathy” is less valued than other factors. For tourists traveling on tour or on business trip, the tour guide has provided the information related to the destination. Because the foregoing information has been researched in preparation or provided by the travel agency in the guided tour, the information about the destination (Q7) is of little interest.

For performance level, the table findings reveal that the average value ranged from 3.51 to 4.83 for execution, with most of the criteria that tourists evaluate at the “High” level. This shows that the elements associated with the quality of tourism services in Da Nang city’s traditional craft villages have not yet matched tourist expectations, and that numerous constraints must be overcome and improved. There are three “high” criteria: Q11 (Attentiveness), Q9 (Village resources), and Q10 (Deep understanding). Employees are also related to factors with a high value, such as Q12 (Enthusiasm attitude), Q14 (Gentle attitude), and Q19 (Presentation skills), which have an average value of 4.54 to 4.79. The implementation’s lowest value factors are Q2 (Public toilets), Q20 (Attention), and Q21 (Awareness). This is because public restrooms in craft villages have yet to be invested in and are therefore unresponsive to customers (Da Nang Office of Tourism, 2020).

Only five components, Q9, Q10, Q14, Q11, Q12, and Q19, have a positive P-I coefficient (+) at the performance level. The common thread running through these five criteria is that the importance is high, yet the level of implementation is high to very high, owing to the attitude and professionalism of the workers at the artisan village tourism sites. Resources and indigenous communities are also present. It is undeniable that a positive first impression created by the staff’s attitude and professionalism is a critical aspect in improving the image and happiness of visitors.

For the gap P-I in assessment of TSQ, the table above also shows the difference between importance and performance through the P-I coefficient. Most indicators with P-I coefficients have negative values (-), ranging from −0.1 to −0.73. This means that the performance level of most of the TSQ factors is less compared to the importance level. Based on the results in the table and figure above, it can be seen that, while visitors place a high value on the TSQ qualities (ranging from 3.98 to 4.21), most of the criteria perform similarly is lower, ranging from 3.51 to 3.95.

In which, the P-I coefficient with the highest negative value is Q16 (food safety; −0.73), followed by the factor Q2 (Public toilets; −0.67). As analyzed, visitors rank these two criteria highly, yet the quality of implementation is low, resulting in a high negative value for the P-I coefficient. The P-I difference < 0 indicates that several indices of TSQ in traditional artisan villages in Da Nang have not yet satisfied the expectations and expectations of tourists, according to Barsky (1995). Customers’ food safety is not guaranteed due to a variety of factors. In fact, many of the restaurants and food and beverage establishments that have opened in the artisan village’s core areas are still small and lack the equipment to ensure food safety and hygiene (with a hygienic area). Separate, there is a clean eating space, the crew does not use gloves when preparing, and so on). Food traders, mostly, do not know where their products come from and buy them from traditional markets. When clients eat at these establishments, they feel psychologically insecure. Besides, as mentioned, the toilet system has not yet ensured the hygiene factors.

4.3. Priority level of tourism service quality

This study, based on the IPA model, demonstrates the priority of TSQ based on examining the importance and implementation of TSQ criteria (Figure 5).

Figure 5. IPA graph.

The Figure 5 illustrate IPA graph with four zones with differing degrees of development emphasis. Detailed list is shown below.

- Quadrant I (Concentrate Here): includes with Q2 (Public toilets), Q3 (Exhibitions), Q5 (Exhibition room), Q6 (Documents), Q8 (Display model), Q13 (Problem solving ability), Q15 (Property safety), Q16 (Food safety), and Q17 (Style serving). Tourists consider the factors allocated in this quadrant to be very important, but their application in craft villages is still lacking. These are tangible features, particularly the channels of items presented in artisan villages, which are still limited and boring. The aspects of visitor safety and fast resolution of questions, as examined, are also factors that need to be improved. As a result, the villages must devise ways to encourage investment, with an emphasis on increasing the SQ of these aspects.

- Quadrant II (Keep up good work): comprises of 2 attributes: Q1 (Village landscape) and Q18 (Service process). Tourists consider these qualities to be vital, and the artisan village has done a good job of implementing them. The graph, however, also reveals that these elements are close to quadrant I. As a result, the villages must maintain and promote these assets while also investing in their improvement.

- Quadrant III: (Lower priority): consists of 6 elements: Q4 (Costume), Q7 (Destination information), Q20 (Attention), Q21 (Awareness), Q22 (Sympathy), Q23 (Favorable pick-up time). Tourists do not place a great value on these features, and the level of implementation in craft villages is still modest. As a result, artisan communities do not need to pay too much attention to these factors and should limit their resource utilization. However, the components Q4, Q22, and Q23, based on the graph and reality, are asymptotically near to the value of quadrant (I) and play a key role in determining the quality of pre-tax profit.

- Quadrant IV: (Possible overkill): comprises of 6 factors: Q9 (Resources), Q10 (Deep understanding), Q11 (Attentiveness behavior), Q12 (Enthusiastic attitude), Q14 (Gentle attitude) and Q19 (Presentation skills). Tourists consider these characteristics to be of minor importance, but the craft village’s implementation is excellent. The village management board should put this resource to better use by concentrating on other qualities.

5. Conclusion and recommendations

The study depicts the situation and factors influencing the quality of services in Da Nang’s traditional craft villages. The findings revealed disparities in opinions of the importance and degrees of performance of tourism quality assessment criteria among 120 tourists who visited the craft villages. Tourists value most of the important requirements because they have always expected high-quality services when visiting traditional craft villages. However, despite their relevance, the above criteria’s performance is mostly lower than the importance levels. The study also shows the significance of human-related elements in evaluating tourism services in traditional craft villages. Employee-related factors such as friendly attitudes, prompt assistance, and the ability to serve politely are highly regarded and practical. On the other side, aspects related to safety, such as factors insuring the property’s safety and food safety, are highly valued. The number of these factors is highest in four areas, indicating that the quality of tourism services in artisan villages should be enhanced in many areas.

In terms of theoretical contributions, the study proposes a set of 23 criteria for evaluating the quality of tourism services in traditional artisan communities. These criteria are based on the unique characteristics of traditional craft villages in comparison to other cultural attractions, and they ensure the continuation of the evaluation criteria developed by Parasuraman et al. (1985) for the evaluation of service quality in general. The evaluation criteria system, as well as the evaluation process in traditional villages in Da Nang city based on the operation of quantitative models such as IPA and SERVERQUAL, can be considered a suggestion to apply in other traditional craft villages, given that research on service quality assessment in handicraft villages has received little attention.

Based on the research results, the article proposes some following recommendations to further improve the quality of tourism services in craft villages.

- It is necessary to focus on investing in the public infrastructure system, such as toilets, galleries, information display, etc. Furthermore, the safety of both the food and the property for guests requires extra consideration. Craft village managements must take steps to maintain security and order in tourism operations, including improving inspection and monitoring of food safety and hygiene activities, and responding quickly to situations of tourists being injured;

- The issues about employee should to be contemplated. To strengthen the professional abilities of the staff, vocational training classes should be provided to artisans in the village. And to guide and train local communities to participate in activities, it is required to design a strategy and organize training; The village management board should collaborate with the local community to protect and preserve the craft village’s historic values and landscapes, which visitors respect for their execution;

- In order to introduce craft communities, the managements should use a variety of materials. This can be accomplished by collaborating with local organizations, departments, and university libraries to provide more scientific and trustworthy papers. Concurrently, create more eBook’s, banners, or a system of welcoming and easily visible reading cabinets in the region to access the craft village’s products and services to make it easier for people to access these information channels;

- Annual surveys and evaluations of tourists’ satisfaction with the quality of tourism services in traditional craft villages should be conducted by the local administration; The village management should use a variety of modern evaluation methodologies to alter and build solutions in response to guest comments to fix problems linked to SQ./.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this research.