Factors influencing weekend travel destination choice: A study in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Nowadays, weekend travel is gradually gaining people's attention due to societal impacts, with the desire to improve health, relax, rest, and entertain after days of exhausting work. Therefore, the development of weekend travel is a strategy of interest to managers and leaders, leading to intense competition among destinations. Although it has been long established worldwide, weekend travel in Vietnam has only recently gained popularity, primarily among young people. Therefore, researching the factors influencing the decision to choose weekend travel destinations is significant in developing strategies for this type of tourism. The research results show that the choice of weekend travel destinations by Ho Chi Minh City tourists is driven by various internal and external factors. Among them, internal motivations, income, convenience in the trip, the image of the destination, etc., are factors rated highly by tourists. There are significant differences in some internal and external factors according to age groups. Model testing and research hypotheses indicate that 66.4% of destination choices are influenced by the proposed factors in the model. Among them, the destination image has the most significant impact, followed by income, internal motivations, and distance. The remaining factors in the model have low or no impact on the satisfaction and commitment to return to weekend travel destinations for Ho Chi Minh City tourists.