The effects of heritage image on destination branding: an Iranian perspective.

As brands are extremely influential in marketing, destinations should work to develop strong and recognizable brands for tourism to succeed in differentiating their competitive advantages over other destinations. The main purpose of this study is to identify the constituent elements of the overall image of the brand of Iran’s main heritage destinations by utilizing heritage, general, and unique images, and it proposes a model for branding Iran’s heritage destinations. The study population included 750 tourists and was conducted from August to the end of September 2013 in three Iranian historic cities. Results indicate that the heritage image and the unique image have a relationship with the general image of the destination, and that general image itself has a relationship with overall destination brand. The results also revealed that the overall destination image and brand are linked to tourists’ perceptions of the quality of the destination, and the quality itself has a relationship with tourists’ loyalty to the destination. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]