The Role of Tourist Experience in the Tourism Destination Image of Isfahan

Tourist experience can affect many of tourist attitudinal and behavioral aspects such as tourism destination brand image. This is why the present study aimed to study the effect of tourist experiences on the tourism destination brand image. For shit purpose, Isfahan City was selected case study. The statistical population of this study includes inbound tourists who have traveled to Isfahan in November of 2017. A sample of 300 tourists has been selected from this population. The sampling method was convenience sampling. A self-administrated questionnaire has been used for collecting the research data. This questionnaire that has been developed based on literature review includes 22 items for measuring research variables. The validity and reliability of questionnaire were investigated and confirmed. The validity and reliability of questionnaire were measured through content validity and Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient. The coefficient was 0.841 for our questionnaire which confirms reliability of questionnaire. The research data were analyzed through SPSS and AMOS. The findings revealed that all dimensions of tourist experience (sensory, affective, intelligent, and behavioral) influence all dimensions of tourism destination brand image (affective, cognitive, and conative) significantly. Another part of our findings showed that both affective and cognitive tourism destination brand image influence conative tourism destination brand image significantly. Finally, empirical suggestion and limitations have been presented.