Pathology of Iran tourism Brand Print

Destination branding is one the most challenging and attractive discussions place marketing and in the field of tourism marketing nowadays. Considering the plethora of advantages of branding concepts and activities for countries around the globe and high potentials of Islamic Republic of Iran as a tourism destination, in this paper authors have tried to assess the current situation of tourism brand and the effectiveness of branding activities in Iran based on Hankinson model (2004). To achieve the objectives of this research 102 members of Iranian DMO consisting of managers and experts in the respected subject have been questioned. Collected data were analyzed with mean comparing methods. Findings implicate that Core brand of Iran (including, brand personality, brand positioning and brand reality) has serious problems and the degree of attention to branding activities and concepts is respectively too low. Based on our findings managerial and marketing recommends are presented.