Abstract
This study explores the factors influencing sustainable tourism development in Phu Tho province, after its administrative merger with Vinh Phuc and Hoa Binh provinces from July 1, 2025. Grounded in the Triple Bottom Line framework (economic – social – environmental) and the 2017 Vietnam Tourism Law, the study addresses a notable research gap in the northern midland and mountainous region, which faces challenges related to infrastructure disparities, resource conservation, and benefit distribution following administrative restructuring. The proposed research model incorporates six influencing factors, including restructuring policies and management, inter-regional infrastructure, cultural and ecological resources, tourism service quality, human resources, and marketing promotion. Data were collected from 496 valid questionnaires administered to tourists, local communities, and tourism-related businesses and analyzed using the PLS-SEM approach with SmartPLS software. The results indicate that the model explains 77.4% of the variance in sustainable tourism development, with restructuring policies and governance and tourism service quality exerting the strongest positive effects, followed by inter-regional infrastructure, human resources, cultural and ecological resources, and marketing promotion. The study provides a localized empirical model, recommending policy synchronization, service quality improvement, green infrastructure investment, and community training to sustainably exploit tourism potential, while supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for tourism policy planning in Vietnam’s mountainous provinces.
Keywords: Sustainable tourism development, Phu Tho province, Administrative merger, Cultural-ecological resources, Policy restructuring, PLS-SEM.
JEL classification: Z32, Q01, R11.
DOI: 10.63767/TCKT.37.2026.166.177
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Ban biên tập Tạp chí Kinh tế & Quản trị Kinh doanh
Phòng 514, Nhà điều hành, trường Đại học Kinh tế & Quản trị Kinh doanh
Địa chỉ: Phường Tân Thịnh, thành phố Thái Nguyên
Email: tapchikt-qtkd@tueba.edu.vn; Điện thoại: 0208.3903373
