Analysis of tourists' mental image with emphasis on creative tourism (Case study: District 12 of Tehran)

From the point of view of strategic resource، based approach, achieving sustainable competitive advantage can be achieved through intangible assets and capital, of which organizational reputation and mental image are the most important of these assets. Mental image is interpreted as a concept of a tourist place that remains in the mind of the tourist using associations. Unfortunately, most studies have considered the mental image of tourist destinations as a cognitive assessment (estimation), only a small number of studies have used both cognitive and emotional components in understanding the overall image of the destination. In general, it is important to consider the cognitive and emotional components of the destination image. Today, a suitable environment is one of the basic indicators and criteria in choosing tourist destinations, which can include all the material and spiritual effects of the human environment (Amanpour et al., 2017). This issue has received less attention in our country. The subject of this study is District 12 of Tehran, this district is central in Tehran. Region 12 is one of the important tourism centers as a valuable and unique capital of historical antiquity, the existence of valuable cultural and religious monuments in the national and international territory and with excellent conditions and is known as one of the major tourism centers in Iran and the world. This study examines the mental image of tourists with emphasis on creative tourism by considering and enumerating the concepts that exist in the mental image literature and the development of creative tourism.