“Don ca tai tu Nam bo” music scape: tourists' experiences and return intentions

Abstract

The study aims to fill a knowledge gap in music tourism within Vietnam by focusing on the traditional “Đờn ca tài tử Nam bộ” art form. The music mechanism that connects tourists to music destinations is still in its nascent stage. Therefore, it explores how the integration of music scape and tourist experience is argued to provide a new perspective for interpreting return intention through the lens of the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework. Primary data was collected using a non-probability convenience sampling method via an online survey, yielding 212 valid respondents. The data was analyzed and tested using the PLS-SEM structural model. The research results indicate that the model explains 69.1% of the variance in return intentions. The factors of music presence (beta = 0.318) and music volume (beta = 0.293), along with music preference (beta = 0.410), all positively impact tourist experience. Conversely, music congruence has no significant influence. Additionally, all three types of experience positively affect return intention, with education experience being the strongest predictor (beta = 0.414).