Perceived Image of a Country and Its Influence on Tourist's Intention

The aim of this study is to measure perceived Image of Iran as a tourism destination. For this purpose، the members of couch-surfing virtual community (www. couchsurfing. com) considered to participate in the study. This virtual community has different members from all over the world. In this virtual community، members share their previous travel experiences and discuss about different destinations، before traveling to those destination. The data of the study was gathered by using convenience-sampling method and the sample included Non-traveled people who were eighteen years of age or elder. In July - August 2013، 620 respondents participated to the study while they have visited the virtual tourism community. In this study، exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was conduct to extract and validate dimensions of perceived Image in relation to Iran as tourism destination. The results of study showed that the construct of perceived Image include affective and cognitive dimensions. Non-traveled tourists perceive affective Image of Iran، positively. The results revealed that Iran has a poor cognitive Image. In addition، Overall destination Image of Iran influence on tourist''s intention to traveling to Iran.