Impact of Mobile Marketing On Tourists' Behavioral Intentions: Explanation The Role of Tourism Destination Brand Equity

Success in tourism requires the use of new marketing tools to reach target segments and meet the needs of the consumers of this growing industry. This research aims to investigate the impact of mobile marketing on tourists’ behavioral intentions and destination brand equity. This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of data collection. The statistical population of the study includes tourists who have visited the cities of Isfahan and Shiraz that 293 of them were selected and examined by non-random sampling method. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed using Cronbach' alpha coefficient and its validity was confirmed by the average variance extracted. Research data were obtained through standard electronic questionnaires and analyzed using Spss22 and Smart-PLS3 software. The results of data analysis with structural equation modeling showed that mobile marketing has a positive and significant effect on tourists’ behavioral intentions and destination brand equity. It was also revealed that destination brand equity has a positive and significant effect on tourists’ behavioral intentions. Additionally, the mediating role of destination brand equity on the relationship between mobile marketing and tourists’ behavioral intentions was confirmed. According to the research results, mobile marketing as one of the new and effective marketing tools can be used specifically to promote tourism destinations and to affect tourists’ behavior. These results can be beneficial for managers and marketers of tourism destinations.