How Can Social Responsibilities Contribute to Brand Equity: Evidences from Isfahan City (Published)

Currently, tourism destinations differentiate themselves from other competitors through different factors such as social responsibilities. The reason is that doing social responsibilities results in many considerable outcomes such as tourist satisfaction, loyalty, and etc. This is why the present study aims to investigate the effect of tourism destinations social responsibilities on their brand equity. This study is practical and descriptive research from research goal and methodology perspectives respectively. The statistical population of this study includes foreign tourists who have traveled to Isfahan in the third season of 2016 and also have visited Naghshe Jahan Square in this city. A sample of 200 tourists was selected from this population randomly. For more certainty, 210 tourists were surveyed. A researcher-developed questionnaire was used for collecting the research data, which consists of 40 items. The validity and reliability of questionnaire were measured by Content and Construct Validities and Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient respectively. The results of Content and Construct Validities and Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient revealed that the questionnaire is a valid and reliable data-collection instrument for our purpose. The research data were summarized and analyzed by using both descriptive and inferential statistics in the SPSS and LISREL respectively. The findings showed that tourism destination social responsibilities affect tourism destination awareness, perceived value, perceived quality, image, and loyalty significantly; perceived value affects tourism destination loyalty significantly; tourism destination image affects tourist loyalty significantly; perceived quality affects tourism destination image and loyalty significantly. 

Keywords: Brand Equity, Brand Image, Social Responsibilities, Tourism Destination, brand loyalty

City Branding: Exploring the Brand “Beirut” As a Tourism Destination in the British Market (Published)

In this study, the Beirut brand is evaluated in the context of British consumers. Tourism and Destination Branding Tool was used in determining the questionnaire. Accordingly, questionnaire was designed and distributed to randomly chosen 383 British people. Sample size was achieved through using sample size calculator over the internet.  However, only 100 questionnaires were totally filled by the participants and therefore, only those were included in the analysis. Descriptive statistics were used just as it is used in STCRC study. In this perspective tourists’ general expectations from the short and long term holidays were determined and compared with the results of experience gained in Beirut. Findings showed that British people mostly look for fun and entertaining places which also have a good accommodation. In long holidays they also look for good restaurants and sport facilities. Nevertheless, Beirut is found by them as far below compare to their expectations. In fact, they were not satisfied with their stays in Beirut and not willing to come back to the city in the future. This result also showed itself in the drop of the tourist coming to the city. In this context number of preventive measures should be taken by the government urgently to correct this situation.

Keywords: Beirut, Brand Image, City Branding, Tourism