Abstract

This quantitative study identifie factors affecting tourist perception in the context of rural tourism in Ca Mau province – the southernmost province of Vietnam, belonging to the Mekong Delta. In which, local culture, infrastructure and marketing communication has positive relation with tourist perception, while services & entertainment has negative relation. The research produced 400 structured questionnaires to collect data on these factors in Ca Mau, and found that there is a significant influence on tourist perception in rural tourism sector, which 58% changing in tourist perception is explained by the independent variables. The regression equation is set as: Y = 1.423 + 0.343X1 – 0.082X2 + 0.273X3 + 0.189X4 (Y= Tourist Perception; X1= Local Culture; X2= Services & Entertainment; X3= Infrastructure; X4= Marketing communication)