برند

Branding refers to the development of a name, sign, symbol, or a combination of these elements that identify a specific product and distinguish it from competitors. Today, tourism destinations utilize branding as a fundamental strategy to achieve their goals. Given the intense competition among countries and regions to attract tourists, creating a place brand is one of the key marketing strategies in this context. In fact, destination branding is considered a practical method for attracting more tourists. The Simorgh brand has been introduced as the tourism brand of Iran. This article aims to examine the dimensions of the Simorgh brand from the perspective of tourism professionals in Iran. For this purpose, the dimensions of branding have been compared with the characteristics of the Simorgh brand. This research employs a mixed-methods approach, utilizing both library research and field study methods to collect data. Additionally, the fundamental correlation technique was used to analyze the dimensions of the Simorgh brand. The research findings indicate that brand satisfaction holds the highest value, while brand awareness ranks the lowest. This suggests that, overall, tourism industry professionals in Iran have a high level of satisfaction with the Simorgh brand. Each dimension is examined and analyzed in detail, followed by recommendations for the further development of the brand.

Creativity and innovation are considered essential elements of the success of cities and part of Creative human capital. The city of Rasht has also been placed in the position of creative city due to its favorable geographical situation, numerous types of food, and various natural and historical attractions. In December 2014, it won the title of creative city of food and was nicknamed the city of foods. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to investigate the impact of the creative food city brand on the development of urban tourism. This research is descriptive - quantitative, and practical in nature. For data collection, 57 questionnaires have been completed by university professors and experts from the municipality, the city council, the Islamic Revolution Housing Foundation, and the Cultural Heritage Organization of Rasht. To analyze the data, the T-test, binomial test, Friedman, correlation, and regression were used in SPSS. The results showed that the participation index has the lowest average (2.04) among the indices. The level of people’s participation in urban plans and projects is at a low level, and the performance of urban management is also weak in this field. The highest average is related to the attractiveness index (3.03). The city of Rasht is in a favorable condition in terms of natural, historical, artistic, cultural and manufactured attractions. There is a relatively strong correlation between the indicators of the creative food city and the development of urban tourism. The index of financial support has the most impact, and the indicators of organizational structure, cultural opportunities and participation have the most negligible impact on the development of urban tourism.

Historical tourism is one of the most important parts of tourism development, and many variables are effective in developing this type of tourism. The image of the destination is one of the determining factors in the tourist's joy of historical tourism. The image of the destination is considered a multidimensional and hybrid structure and follows the attitude pattern of three elements, including cognitive, emotional, and perceptual elements. Although some research considers the destination image as a two-dimensional structure (cognitive and emotional), some claim that tourism researchers have completely neglected the third dimension of the destination image, which has a useful meaning, over the past decades. The destination image was limited to studies of its perceptual or cognitive component. Now, travelers have concerns about their inexperience in destinations and want to find the most relevant information about their stay and destination before traveling. Providing reliable information for tourist destinations intended to facilitate the highest level of tourist experience and enjoyment leads to the tendency and encouragement of tourists to destination-oriented activities and experiences, including creating positive images of the destination, visiting the destination, shopping, and recommendations. Visiting the destination to others ultimately leads to joy and satisfaction that will lead to positive economic consequences for residents of historic cities. Visiting historic sites is one of the most popular activities among tourists. This justifies the favorable position of cultural heritage tourism among the fastest-growing tourism markets. However, less research has been done on the behavior of cultural heritage tourists. In 2014, approximately 40% of international tourists were identified as cultural heritage tourists based on their participation in cultural visits or activities. Culturally, they have been considered by marketing researchers.

Since the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of validity and conflict of destination image of historical cities on the joy and resonance of tourists, in terms of purpose, it is applied, and in terms of research, the method is descriptive-survey and in data analysis using structural equation modeling has done. In order to test the hypotheses of the statistical community, tourists in Yazd from April 1 to late September 2019 have been selected. Morgan table was used to determine the number of research samples, and the statistical sample of this research was 384 people. In this study, the independent variables are perceived originality, conflict, and source credibility; the mediating variables are cognitive image, emotional image, and destination image; and the dependent variables are tourist joy and brand resonance recommendation, and 28 questions have been assigned to collect the necessary data. In inferential data analysis, Cronbach's alpha coefficient and KMO test were used to determine the internal stability of the instrument. All statistical calculations of this study were performed using SPSS23 statistical software and analyses related to structural equation modeling using AMOS23 software, and the significance level of the whole test is P <0.05.

The findings of this study showed that the creation of positive images of the destination is due to positive interaction with the local community. Zhang et al. (2014) also concluded that the perception of the destination image can be influenced by political, ideological, religious, ethnic, and cultural issues. The findings of this study showed that emotional image has more effects on behavioral goals than cognitive image. This means that emotions, contrary to the cognitive claim of the image, have a more significant impact on the emotional image; Gartner (1994) and Hudson, Ruth, Madden, and Hudson (2015) achieved similar results. The findings of this study indicated that the image of the destination has a positive and significant effect on the intention to travel to that destination. Moon, Aziz, and Boji (2018) reached similar conclusions. The results showed that destination managers and marketers can increase tourists' motivation to recommend a trip to that destination by creating a good image of the destination.

This study aimed to evaluate the presentation of a theoretical model on the relationships of variables of perceived originality, conflict, source validity, cognitive and emotional image, tourist joy, and brand resonance recommendation of a destination and the characteristics of these variables with a focus on the destination image. The results of this study showed that the source's perceived originality, involvement, and credibility have a positive and significant effect on cognitive and emotional images. Also, cognitive and emotional imagery affect the destination image. The findings showed that the destination image affects the intention of the visit and the intention of the recommendation. In fact, people who travel from a destination closer to their country of origin or region and feel close to the local people and their norms, or through the vast amount of information they obtain through the media and friends or relatives, travel to those destinations. In addition, creating positive images of the destination is due to positive interaction with the local community. Zhang et al. (2014) also concluded that the perception of the destination image can be influenced by political, ideological, religious, ethnic, and cultural issues. The findings of this study showed that emotional image has more effects on behavioral goals than cognitive image. This means that emotions affect the emotional image, contrary to the cognitive claim of the image. Gartner (1994) and Hudson, Ruth, Madden, and Hudson, 2015 achieved similar results. The findings of this study showed that the image of the destination has a positive and significant effect on the intention to travel to that destination. Moon, Aziz, and Boji (2018) reached similar conclusions, in line with the research findings showing that destination managers and marketers can increase tourists' intention to recommend by creating a good image of the destination. This study showed that focusing more on the emotional image dimension puts managers one step further in controlling behavioral goals because their feelings and emotions directly predict decisions about tourists.

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the effect of online experience of a tourism city brand on the behavioral intentions to visit the tourist attractions in Tehran. The City of Tehran, one of the world’s largest cities in the world, has numerous capacities and potentials for national and international tourism, which despite this city’s large travel volume, it has been neglected and not used. Tehran's diverse nature, rich historical backgrounds, commercial attractions, and numerous museums can help attract tourists; however, it seems that the tourism potential of this city is not used. The research method used in this study is a descriptive survey. The study’s statistical population includes foreign tourists visiting the tourist attractions of Tehran (museums of Tehran). Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics have been used with Amos and SPSS software to analyze the research data. The results showed that “online experience of the destination brand” positively affects both “brand originality” and “tourists’ intentions”. The findings of the present research can be used in order to increase the number of international tourists visiting Tehran attraction.

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact of tourism indicators on tourism development, as well as to examine the brand building of Tabriz market and the criteria and indicators that affect it. Accordingly, after conducting studies concerning theoretical and theoretical concepts, the questionnaires were designed in the first stage, and based on Gronbach's alpha test, they were assured of their reliability. These questionnaires were designed to interview statistical samples from three different statistical societies, including Tabriz marketplaces, shopkeepers, and experts. The Cochran model was used to estimate the volume of statistical samples. After interviewing the statistical samples, the data collected in the Excel software were coded and classified. Then, statistical analysis of these data was carried out by transferring these data to the SPSS software. These analyses were carried out in two sections identifying the characteristics and general characteristics of statistical samples and evaluating the indicators of independent variables. 58 indicators were evaluated in the form of four independent variables: market target image, market identity, market tourism facilities, and market differentiation and uniqueness based on the Likert scale. The results showed that for all three groups, the average effect of indices and independent variables on the branded market of Tabriz as a dependent variable is high. Based on the results of the route analysis model, it was determined that indirectly the most influential factors were related to the variables of the market tourism facilities, the distinction and market uniqueness of the market, the image of the market target, and the identity of the market. The final studies also showed that the highest total effect, with coefficients of influence of 0.446, 0.264, 0.264, and 0.17, is related to market differentiation and unique variables, market tourism facilities, market target image, and market identity.

Nowadays, holding diverse festivals and events is a significant way of attracting tourists. Events are among the most exciting and fast-growing industries, dealing with leisure, trade, and tourism. Focusing on the variable knowing the brand of tourism festivals, perceived quality, and the image of the brand of JashnvarehGolabgiriKashan (Rosewater-making Festival of Kashan), the study endeavored to explore the impact of the reputation of a brand on the sense of destination place. Kashan has many potentials for attracting tourists as it is close to the major populated cities of Iran. The statistical population of the applied survey was all domestic and foreign tourists visiting the Rosewater-making Festival of Kashan. The participant were selected using purposive sampling. The results of testing the hypotheses showed that the components of the reputation of a brand have positive significant relationship with the perceived quality and the image of the brand of Kashan city.The results showed as well that knowing about the brand of roe-water making festival of Kashan impact significantly and positively the awareness of the event, and that in turn, shows that knowing about a festival may approve the relationship and communication with tourists. If a brand is introduced appropriately, it can make the festival successful and make participants more satisfied. The study showed that the variable “trustability of Rose-water making Festival of Kashan” impacts significantly and positively the awareness of the festival.

Due to the expansion of the tourism industry in the world and the many capabilities and capacities of Iran to attract tourists, the current information and statistics indicate the unsuccessful performance of this industry in Iran. One of the main reasons for that is not taking the expectations and preferences of tourists entering Iran seriously and not trying to increase tourists' satisfaction. The purpose of this study is the effect of tourist satisfaction on the to become famous of the tourism destination brand using the mediating variable of business tourist satisfaction in the post-corona world. The independent variables of this research are destination integration, travel economics, work experience, and self-confidence. The mediator variable is tourists’ satisfaction, and the dependent variables are word-of-mouth advertising and the desire to revisit the destination. The research method is a descriptive survey applied in terms of purpose. The study’s statistical population includes Asian tourists who have traveled to Tehran. Based on the available sampling method and Cochran's formula, 384 people were selected for the study sample. Statistical analyzes were performed using the structural equation method and SPSS and Amos software. To determine the causal relationship between the variables using the structural equation model and significance levels to test the hypotheses p_value of less than 0.05 was considered. The results of this study include 12 hypotheses that, except for two hypotheses, the rest of them have been confirmed.

The world of tourism has a multi-purpose function that can be used as one of the strategies for developing economy, reducing the dependency of the country's budget on oil, creating employment, raising morale and so on. To this end, different countries and cities are trying to take a step towards tourism and economic development by creating and developing an urban brand. In this regard, the present study seeks to investigate the role and impact of urban branding model in order to expand tourism in Gilan province. The statistical population of the present study includes professors and experts in the field of business-tourism involving in this field. In this study, the interview was used to collect data and finally the data were analyzed using the data theory approach in three stages of open, selective and axial coding with MaxQDA software. Finally, 682 semantic units, 171 concepts, 38 categories were identified which were defined in the form of 6 factors.

Urban branding is a valuable tool for cities to effectively manage domestic and foreign opportunities and turn them into competitive advantages. In an increasingly globalized world, cities are increasingly competing to attract businessmen, investors and new citizens to their area, many of these areas use branding techniques to distinguish their identity from others. Or this method is used to have a unique offering. Urban brand is the city's stable reputation and nature, showing its special value and has a competitive advantage. Cities and countries need to take advantage of this process to survive in today's competitive world and stability of their competitive advantage. Urban branding is a new topic in the field of urban studies and the history of branding is about two or three decades ago. The present study seeks to identify the potentials and constraints that this city faces in utilizing its urban branding capabilities and to identify priorities for planning and orientation of urban branding. To this end, the research hypotheses are that: Maragheh is in a desirable position in terms of (economic, social, cultural and environmental) urban brand. And the second hypothesis is that there seems to be a significant difference between the components of the urban brand in Maragheh. Evaluating these hypotheses will determine not only the status of each component for urban branding, but also the components that are most strongly correlated with urban branding. Now, given the importance of this issue, one of the most important means of distinguishing and recognizing the city's reputation is to create urban branding. One of its most important goals is to capture factors contributing to economic growth such as purchasing power, investment, product capability and city-wide innovation. The results of the one-sample t-test for the first hypothesis show that the average social component in Maragheh is 2.718, which is smaller than the baseline (3.00), indicating an undesirable status of the components. Is a social brand; Also, the P-value obtained (1.00) is greater than the alpha at the significance level of 0.5 With 0.95 confidence, it can be concluded that the social component of the urban brand in Maragheh is not favorable. One of the main reasons for the poor status of the social component is the low level of cooperation of urban managers with the private sector, low participation of people in the implementation of urban plans, high poverty in some neighborhoods, etc. The calculated average for the economic component is 2.931 which is smaller than the base number (3.00). The P-value (0.998) was also greater than the alpha at the significant level of 0.7. It can be concluded with 0.95 confidence that the economic component of the urban brand in Maragheh is not favorable. One of the main reasons for the low economic component is the low level of domestic and foreign investment in the city, the low quality and quantity of business centers and Concerning cultural components, since the median value 3 is within the confidence interval (2.989–3.161 / 161), with respect to the P value (0.44) that is smaller than the alpha at the level of 0.7. As a result, the successor assumption is accepted. then, that the cultural components of the brand in Maragheh are in good standing. One of the main reasons for the desirability of the cultural component is the city's historical presence, the presence of 300 recorded monuments, and . The average environmental component of the brand is 3.505, which indicates a higher value than the baseline (3.000) and the condition is favorable and Null hypothesis is rejected. The obtained p-value (0.00) is also smaller than the alpha at the level of 0.5, thus the successor assumption is accepted. Therefore, it is concluded that the environmental component of the brand in Maragheh is in good condition. The main reasons for the high environmental footprint are: favorable climate and pollution, being a paleontological indicator of the world's fossil paradise, having many springs, being a city garden. The test results for the second hypothesis show that the p-value obtained is (0.000) which is lower than the alpha level of 0.05 which means that there is a significant difference between the brand components in Maragheh. Next, Tukey's test is used to examine the details of this difference. Which shows that the socio-economic components do not differ significantly. Environmental component and cultural component There is a significant difference between them and other components. he results of linear regression showed that social component has the highest affinity to urban brand and economic component is in the second place of correlation and cultural component is in the third stage and the environmental component is in the lowest position. This research is done based on descriptive-analytic and documentary-library studies, as well as field studies (questionnaire and interview), and the type of this research is applied. In this regard, for each of the studied components, the indicators and descriptors were designed and attended by experts in Delphi Method in the form of multi-stage questionnaires. The provided questionnaires were given to the statistical community by a panel consisting of 15 experts from Maragheh city in different specialties. The obtained data were analyzed by Mini-Tab software. Validity of the questionnaires was confirmed by the professors. Cronbach's alpha method was used to reliability evaluation of measure instrument, which indicates the data is reliable (0.93). One sample t-test was used to investigate the first hypothesis of research and to identify the status of the components of urban brand. One-way ANOVA and Tukey's test were used to examine the significance of differences between components of urban brand. Then, using linear regression, correlation between components and brand was obtained.

INTRODUCTIONCurrently, in most developed countries, the development of rural tourism is realized through creating brands for rural tourism destinations because tourism brands pave the way for competition between different service sectors; however, in a broader context, it competes with other tourism destinations for attracting more tourists and investment, and providing better services, employment, etc. In fact, rural tourism is a valuable source of employment and income generation that could be an important tool for socio-economic development of rural communities. Today, rural tourism is an invaluable source of job creation and income generation, which can serve as an important vehicle for social and economic development in rural communities. Thus, the creation of a unified brand for rural tourism and systematic planning of rural managers in the selection of suitable branding projects can prepare the ground for the promotion of sustainability in economic, social, environmental, physical, and structural domains.
METHODOLOGYThis study is an applied one whose data are collected using a descriptive-survey method. The population consists of rural households in Binalood county. According to the most recent data, there were approximately 9263 rural households in Binaloud county. Based on Cochran formula, the sample size was comprised of 166 out of 4663 households, and as table 1.0 shows, the sample households were selected from nine villages including Jagharq, Abardeh-Oliya, Kang, Dehbar, Gorakhk, Abardeh-Sofla, Zoshk Neighborhood, Hesar, Sarasiab, Azghad and Zoshk. Households were the unit of analysis in this study, and the respondents were the units of observation. The required data were obtained using a questionnaire filled out by household members. The questionnaire designed by the authors of the study was the main research tool to collect data and asses the variables. Data processing and analysis were conducted using SPSS software package. For data analysis, descriptive and analytical statistical methods were employed. The validity (i.e., face validity) of data gathering tools was confirmed by experts. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which showed the questionnaire was reliable (r=0.78).
DISCUSSIONTo analyze the impact of tourism on social sustainability of rural settlements, the path analysis test was used. The results were analyzed in three stages (outputs). In the first stage, 13 independent variables were included in the equation, with a regression analysis explaining 35% variation in the dependent variable (i.e., social sustainability). In this context, the variable of appropriate infrastructure with a coefficient of 0.364 had a significant impact on the dependent variable. Therefore, in the second stage, the “appropriate infrastructure” was treated as the dependent variable and seven other variables, which had high level of significance, were incorporated as independent variables.
The results suggest that variables included in the regression analysis explained more than 14% of the variation in the dependent variable (i.e., appropriate infrastructure) with the variable of accessibility of tourist facilities (a=0.359) leaving the greatest impact on the dependent variable. In the third stage, tourism facilities were treated as the dependent variables and other variables were treated as independent variables. Thus, variables included in the regression analysis explained 7% of the variation in the dependent variable (i.e., tourism facilities). Finally, tourism development remained as the last variable.
CONCLUSIONIn this study, the effects of rural tourism brand factors on social indicators of rural settlement were investigated. There is a significant positive relationship between the creation of a tourism brand and social sustainability in most rural areas under study. That is, the development of rural tourism brand can lead to the sustainability of rural areas.
Finally, the results of path analysis showed that the independent variable (i.e., rural tourism brand), in addition to its direct effects, had a number of significant indirect effects on the social sustainability of rural settlements as well. In this context, the variable of tourist facilities, besides its direct effects, could indirectly influence sustainability through variables such as access to appropriate infrastructure. Similarly, the variable of tourism development could exert indirect effects on variables like appropriate infrastructure and tourism facilities.
On the other hand, entrepreneurship and employment variables also had significant indirect effects on sustainability. Finally, the independent variable factors (e.g., tourism brands) were ranked according to their impact. Out of eight variables analyzed in the regression equation, the variables of tourism facilities (0.472), appropriate infrastructure (0.364), and tourism development (0.169) had the greatest effect on social sustainability. However, the effects of factors such as education, artistic importance, existence of tourism-related job opportunities, tourism assets, accessibility, investment, natural potentials, cultural significance, and entrepreneurship on sustainability were identified as the least important factors in the path analysis though they are different from other equation variables.

Tourism, after the automotive industry, petroleum and chemical products, is the fourth largest global manufacturing and manufacturing industry. Unlike its rivals, the company is classified as a "service." Countries are involved in creating or introducing tourist attractions and attracting tourism to agents. It depends on many. Iran, according to the UNESCO World Statistics Organization, is among the top ten countries in terms of tourism assets. However, the share of our country in attracting tourists and the resulting revenues has a significant difference with the potential of this area, which has many obstacles and challenges. This paper states that one of the main obstacles and threats to tourism in Iran is the representation of Iran's image in the minds and perception of tourists from Iran as a tourist destination due to the structural conflicts of Iran's foreign policy with the hegemony world. Therefore, the need for reform and reconstruction this image is constructed using available tools, a precondition for facilitating the attraction of tourists in our country, especially the Persian Gulf. This paper tries to validate the proposed idea by using the documentary and librarian method and discourse-perception approach.

In recent years, the practice of branding and marketing has become extremely popular within the context of destination. The concepts of destination image and destination marketing are closely interrelated. The ultimate goal of any destination is to influence possible tourist-travel-related decision making through marketing activities .A strong image and brand of the destination may amplify different aspects of social capital which in fact grants to the society.
Ultimately, a destination brand manifests an image (or lack of) in tourists’ mind. Moreover, both academicians and practitioners have recognized that destination image (DI) is not static but altering .the importance of DI represents the necessity of theoretical and practical contemplation in the studies agendas of researchers and authorities of tourism.
This study intends to focus on Tabriz brand which has distinctive architecture. This particular architecture is referred in many academic sources as Azeri architecture. The other purpose of this study is to analyze strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of Tabriz brand which inevitably will reinforce this brand systematically and strategically
In order to utilize strategic branding of Tabriz practically, we went through SWOT- AHP using external and internal factors which have been affecting branding of this city; the factors considered for this procedure ranked by experts corresponded to the questionnaires provided by the authors. Finally, according to the strengths, weakness, opportunity and threats of Tabriz branding, some strategies have been reflected in this paper.
Discussion and Tourism organizations attempt to identify their branding because of a recognized brand added tangible values to intangible tourism services. Two approaches or scenarios should be distinguished. First is the strategic approach: changing an image of the place while changing its actual reality. This method facilitates the problems solving procedure in the destination, this kind of facilitation presenting in problem shooting reduces the problem existing in the cities and in fact augment tourism and marketing . The second approach is cosmetic which attempts to provide a different image of the place without changing anything in the context of place but making up the place decoratively delightful and presents a cosmetic portrait of the destination; by the latter method the problems do not seen are not seem to be solved or managed.
Analyzing the image management of Tabriz by SWOT-AHP model Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and threats was determined. The main strengths of image management of Tabriz refer to historical identity and unique historical and cultural spaces, Authorities strong will to develop tourism, being in specific geographical location. Main Weaknesses are people’ tendency in replacing western forms and patterns to the traditional local ones , Lack of attention to the local architecture schools in recent developments, and Lack of plan for urban branding. Most important opportunities for Tabriz destination image management is Emphasis on tourism development in 5th development plan of Iran, Emphasis on cultural-Iranian development in 5th development plan of Iran. Finally, most important threats are associated with Globalization and debilitation of local identity of Iranian cities, Media propaganda against Iran.
Geographical distances which lead to deterioration of city images specialty Islamic cities, can be improved by strengthen unique brand of cities. By making spaces according to the human and cultural content of contexts; sense of place will be reinforced and Islamic cities will have distinctive brands.

In the perspective of contemporary tourism industry, development of destination brand has changed to a strategic instrument throughout the world due to the increasing competition of tourism destinations. Having a successful tourism brand can be quite effective in increasing the competitive advantage of destination, attraction of tourists and as a result, increase of incomes arising from tourism industry and national economy boom. However, studies in the field of brand and special value of destination brand have remained at the beginning of its way. In this way, the present research has been prepared based on the evaluation of domestic tourists of the special value of tourism destination brand of Baneh border city. Statistical population includes the tourists of Baneh city in summer 2016. Friedman and Single Domain T tests were used to analyze questionnaire data. The results showed that four aspects, namely loyalty, awareness, image and perceived quality affect the special value of tourism brand of Baneh city. Considering the Friedman test in parallel with ranking the aspects of special value of tourism brand of Baneh border city, loyalty, awareness, perceived quality and finally, image of tourists are ranked first, second, third and fourth, respectively.

Today, for a variety of reasons, communities create brands. One of the most important reasons for creating tourism brands is to make a location seem attractive for tourists and encourage them to spend more time in an area and raise the residents’ standards of living. In this study, the factors affecting the formation of a rural tourism brand are examined from the perspective of experts and university professors. This study is an applied research conducted in a descriptive-analytical method. A major part of the data was collected through field studies, interviews, and filling out questionnaires by 30 experts active in the area together with 42 rural managers. The findings of the study based on the results of fuzzy hierarchical analysis showed that among the three factors, the economic factors with impact coefficient of 54.6 % had the highest effect, and physical-environmental factors with the impact coefficient of 16.7% had the lowest impact on creating rural tourism brand. There was a little difference between the results acquired from the experts of the organizations and the academics about the impact of the above factors. With the aim of identifying villages suitable for creating tourism brand, we applied TOPSIS technique, and proposed Jagharq village as the most appropriate rural area for creating rural tourism brand. We also identified 10 other rural areas as capable of creating tourism brands. According to the findings, the following guidelines are recommended: to introduce and advertise certain products of the rural areas in urban areas, to pay special attention to entrepreneurship in rural areas, to provide tourism facilities in rural areas, to restore cultural elements, and to give special attention to restoration of past cultural elements, customs and traditions.
This study aims to identify the rural areas having a high capacity and potential ­for creating brands and symbols and the role of symbols in improving the quality of life in villages of the study areas. Therefore, this study seeks to provide an appropriate response to the following question: What are the most important factors affecting the creation of tourism brands in villages of the study area? In addition, we try to identify the villages suitable for developing tourism brand in the study area?
To use a methodology, we mean to utilize the principles and frameworks that will guide the research. Clearly, the research methodology will be different based on the type, purpose and subject of the study. This study is an applied quantitative study benefiting field works for data collection and is based on descriptive- survey analysis. The data were collected through documentary research and field works. In documentary method, the researcher takes notes from books and documents and could be used in all scientific researches. We mainly tried to find the information and the results of previous relevant studies, so that we may find a general framework for topics discussed in this research through reviewing the literature of the study.
To investigate the factors affecting the formation of a rural tourism brand, we used Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and then ranked the villages of the study area through Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS).
Discussion and Results of ranking 14 indexes, using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) showed that three indexes of ‘availability of specific products in the villages’, ‘presence of entrepreneurs in the villages’ and ‘capital investment in rural areas’, with the impact coefficients of 14.2, 13.6 and 13.4 % respectively ranked first to third. With regard to rankings based on 14 indexes, there was a significant difference between the views of experts from departments and organization and university professors, to the extent that university professors believed that three indexes of ‘availability of specific products in the villages’, ‘presence of entrepreneurs in the villages’ and ‘capital investment in rural areas’, with the impact coefficients of 14.2, 41.1 and 14 % respectively ranked first to third. However, the experts from departments and organization believed that ‘availability of specific product in the countryside’, ‘cultural significance’ ‘and presence of entrepreneurs in the villages’ with the impact coefficients of 14.6, 14.3 and 12.8 % respectively ranked first to third. The availability of tourism facilities and the ‘use of tourism potentials’ in rural areas with the impact coefficients of 2.3 and 1.7 percent, were ranked last and penultimate by experts and university professors.
Based on exploratory studies, factors affecting rural tourism brand were in three categories: economic, social and physical-environmental ones among which, according to experts’ views and utilizing Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP), economic factors with the impact coefficient of 54.6 % had the maximum impact on recognition of a rural environment as a tourism brand. Among the 14 indexes affecting tourism brand, availability of particular products in a village with the impact coefficient of 14.2 % and presence of entrepreneurs in rural environment with impact coefficient of 13.6 % ranked first and second in affecting the recognition of a village as a tourism brand.
The results showed that Jagharq village, given to its attractions in economic, social and physical- environmental fields has had the minimum distance from the positive ideal in TOPSIS method, and was identified as the most suitable village for creation of rural tourism brand.

Nowadays, brand is one of the most valuable assets of the organizations. Due to the competitive environment of the world today, the necessary of having a strong brand is increasingly felt by organizations. Creating competitive advantage and simplify the decision making for customers are the advantages of having strong brand for organizations. Brand image is one of the main components of the brand. Having a strong brand image would cause to make strong brand in the market for the organizations. Although a lot of researchers are studying this concept until now but there is a lack of researches that reviews the theories and concepts simply. Therefore this article reviews the researches of brand image until now and introduces concept, components and measuring methods of Brand Image.

Brand equity is one of the instruments that can be used in measuring effectiveness of the brand. It is important in service industries such as tourism. This is why that the present study was aimed to identify brand equity dimensions for tourism destinations. The statistical population of this study includes the marketing and tourism professors and authors that have specialty in brand equity. A sample of 200 professors and authors has been selected from this population through convenience sampling method. In order to collect the research data, a self-administrated online questionnaire has been developed and then sent to the sample members. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire has been examined and confirmed in this study. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) is the statistical method that has been used for extracting dimensions of tourism destination brand equity. The findings of this study identify nine dimensions for tourism destination brand equity. These include perceived quality of human relations, perceived attractions of tourism destination, perceived popularity of tourism destination, perceived convenience in tourism destination, perceived value of tourism destination, personal awareness of tourism destination, tourism destination loyalty, and perceived satisfaction of tourism destination.

Development of tourism activities in the target areas of different aspects of social, economic and ecological matters is important In this regard, governments and planners are now trying to do a lot of development activity. Hence, there are different requirements for the development of tourism activities as one of the requirements of the software program in order to plan for tourism development in destination areas. These requirements can be examined in aspect of different dimensions, body image, perceived quality and loyalty.. Each of these dimensions is a different variable. Ramsar tourist destination due to the position and benefit from ecotourism attractions such as the sea, green forest and villages has special importance in the eyes of tourists. In this context, the main goals of this paper are, with emphasis on of brands in the tourism destination is listed in Ramsar. This research is a descriptive - analytic data collection questionnaire the collected data were analyzed using SPSS software the results show that there are differences between dimensions. and in the three dimensions of brand, awareness, mental perception and loyalty average is higher than average differences between the average is lower than the average in perception.