An Investigation of Determinants of Satisfaction of Foreign Tourists and Level of Loyalty in Isfahan as a Tourism Destination Brand

Tourism Destination Branding is relatively one of the new strategies to attract tourists. Although this approach has been introduced earlier in the field of marketing، it is possible to apply its potentials to tourism places and destinations as well. Branding of tourism destinations is an effective tool for marketing because brand can give identity and personality to the destination and can distinguish it from other tourist destinations. Among the factors considered in branding are satisfaction and loyalty tourism. In this research، we attempted to empirically examine tourist satisfaction and loyalty according to the model of “Consumer-Based Brand Equity for a Tourism Destination”. This research is based on a survey carried out on 100 foreign tourists who visited Isfahan in 1392. The results of the research show that tourist awareness and recognition of Isfahan and the Image of Isfahan as a tourism destination among tourists has an important role in the perceived quality of tourist services. On the other hand، the image which tourists have in their minds and recalling it، not directly but through perceived value and perceived quality has an impact on tourists'' satisfaction. Tourist satisfaction has a strong relationship with tourist loyalty in destination that represents with likelihood of revisiting or recommends Isfahan to others. All in all، this research shows that it is possible to apply the model of “Brand Equity” as an organized framework to understanding effective mechanisms on satisfaction and loyalty of tourist.