Research on the Development Strategies of Rural Tourism in Bac Lieu Based on TOWS Analyses and the AHP Method

In recent years, rural tourism is a new tourism development trend in the world. It is very important to identify opportunities, challenges, strengths, and weaknesses for rural tourism development. This is the basis for proposing development strategies to contribute to promoting the effectiveness of rural tourism activities. The objective of this study is to identify opportunities, challenges, strengths, and weaknesses in rural tourism in Bac Lieu province and determine the importance of rural tourism development strategies. Using the TOWS (threats, opportunities, weaknesses, strengths) analysis of rural tourism and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine the importance of the proposed strategies, research results show the priority strategies for rural tourism development in Bac Lieu province in the following order: promote exploitation of rural tourism activities; develop infrastructure, material and technology, and human resources; build a model of rural tourism development; promote and advertise tourism; conserve natural resources and protect the environment; and attract investment capital to create attractiveness of tourist destinations.