The Role of Virtual Spaces in Getting Acquainted and Creating an Image in the Mindof Foreign Tourists Traveling to Iran (Case Study: Tehran)

The main objective of this research is the role of virtual spaces in the familiarity and mental image of foreign tourists traveling to Iran. This research is in terms of its purpose and in terms of collecting descriptive-survey information. The statistical population of this study is foreign tourists visiting Iran. A sample of 200 individuals was considered as a sampling method and the Standard Mang and Choi Questionnaire (2016) were distributed among these individuals. To analyze the data, SPSS and PLS software were used. The results showed that Web surfing and the use of social networks have a significant effect on emotional evaluation. The results also showed that the use of social networks and emotional assessment has an impact on the mental image of foreign tourists, but web browsing does not affect the mental image of foreign tourists.