Objective: This study uses Structural Equation Modelling to determine factors influencing complaint intention and the relationship between complaint intention and word of mouth intention of foreign tourists in Vietnam.

Method: The research model was tested through these following steps: Cronbach’s Alpha - scale credibility test, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Analysis (SEM). The data are collected by face-to-face survey with 203 tourists from different countries and who has, at least, visited more than 2 destinations in Vietnam.

Results: The research results show that factors affecting complaint intention of tourists are: the perceived value of complaint, perceived likelihood of success of complaint, attitude towards complaints, politeness and involvement. Amongst them, the perceived value of complaint has the strongest impact on complaint intention. Furthermore, the relationship between complaint intention and word-of-mouth intention is proven. A number of solutions are provided to help enterprises working in tourism services get more valuable and useful comments from tourists to contribute to improving their service quality in particular and Vietnam’s tourism in general.

Conclusions: The research has shown that there are 5 factors affecting the complaint intention. Amongst them, 4 factors: the perceived value of a complaint, perceived likelihood of a successful complaint, attitude towards complaint and involvement have a positive effect on the complaint intention; while politeness affects the complaint intention negatively.