A Model of Destination Branding For Isfahan City: Integrating the Concepts of the Branding and Destination Image

The paper reviews the literature on destination branding, destination image and reasons for revisiting and recommending. The branding of destinations has gained popularity among city in recent years. The current study aims to develop and test a theoretical model of destination branding, which integrates the concepts of the branding and destination image. Specifically, the current study examines the relationships among brand associations (i.e., cognitive, affective, and unique image components), brand image (i.e., overall image of a destination), and tourists’ future behaviour. For this purpose, an empirical test was conducted in Isfahan city, which proved that successful destination branding was necessary to overcome its lack of clear destination image. The target population of this study was 190 domestic visitors, who stayed in the center of Isfahan.The results confirm that overall image is influenced by three types of brand associations and is considered a critical mediator between brand associations and tourists’ future behaviour. In addition, unique image had the second largest impact on the overall image formation, following the cognitive evaluations. The limitation of this study concerns the season of data collecting. It would be better to collect data in Iranian New Year vacation (Nowruz).