Evaluation of marketing resources for hotels in the world's second-largest religious metropolis during the COVID-19 pandemic

The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the survival and income of many businesses, especially those active in the hospitality industry, is very evident. The tourism industry has been severely affected by this crisis. Religious tourism has also faced a major crisis due to the closure of many hotels in the world's religious cities. Therefore, in such a situation, it is necessary to pay attention to the factors that lead to the creation of competitive advantage and hotels survival. One of the most important of these factors is marketing resources. Marketing resources improve business performance by creating competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to rank marketing resources for hotels in the world's second-largest religious metropolis (Mashhad in Iran) during the COVID-19 pandemic. five attractive marketing resources were selected for this purpose. To determine the weight of marketing resources and rank them, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and the fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) techniques have been used. According to the obtained results, market innovation capabilities have the first priority among other resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. This finding indicates the great importance of innovation capabilities and the provision of unique new services by hotels during the COVID-19 era. The results of this study can be considered to improve the performance of hotels in the religious city of Mashhad during the COVID-19 pandemic and similar crises.