The Impact of eWOM on Destination Trust and Intention to Travel

Development of the internet plays an important role in expanding the concept of word-of-mouth (WOM). The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of online WOM on destination trust (here, Iran) and intention to travel. This research is a fundamental study in terms of its audiences, it is a descriptive study in terms of its purpose, and it is a quantitative survey in terms of its data collection method. The statistical population is potential European tourists using the internet and social media. After distributing the questionnaires on the selected social media, confirmatory factor analysis and a structural equation model test were performed to test the relationships among the variables. Based on the research findings, (n=246) eWOM is a trust builder tool for Iran as a tourist destination (t=5.46; p<0.01) and trust leads to travel intention (t=5.26; p<0.01). On the other hand, one of the conditions for traveling to Iran by Europeans tourists is to trust it, through eWOM (t=5.66; p<0.01).