Comparative study of the process of tourism destination image changes before and after travelingCase Study: Tabriz metropolis image

The tourism destination image is one of the most important and debatable topics in marketing research in the tourism industry.Because, it influences both the choice of travel destination and the future behavior of tourists.Despite the importance of this concept in the development of the tourism industry, the subject of the image in studies of Iranian tourism has not received notable attention.Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the tourist images from Tabriz metropolitan before and after their trip.The research was conducted by descriptive-analytical and survey methods. In this regard, a well-defined questionnaire was used to collect the data.The study analysis has been done by using descriptive statistics analysis, one-sample t-test, paired t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient method(s).The results of this study showed that visiting of Tabriz city caused a significant positive change in the tourist image.There is also a significant positive correlation between tourists' image with their willingness to re-travel to this city.Recreation, leisure activities, and visiting of tourist attractions were the most effective motivations for traveling and choosing of Tabriz as a travel destination.The important point in conjunction with the ways of getting information of the tourist’s destination is that the significant development of social Medias operate as new forms of word of mouth advertising alongside its traditional form (friends and acquaintances) in producing the tourist's previous cognition and images prior to their trips to the our case study.The results of the present study would be beneficial for image management and tourism development activities of Tabriz metropolitan.