Representation of the Destination Image of Iran on Social Media Case study: TripAdvisor

The tourism industry is rapidly adapting to new conditions and the growth of online and smart technologies. Since user-generated content provides relevant data to find out about the image of a destination among tourists, this study aimed to investigate the status of Iran’s destination image on TripAdvisor, one of the most popular online tourism platforms. The study adopted a quantitative content analysis research method. To cover different opinions, two important parts of this website, namely Things to Do and Iran Travel Forum, were considered as the statistical population in the three-year period from 2019 to the beginning of 2022. Multistage random cluster sampling was used, and coding was done by coders based on the compiled codebook. The content of TripAdvisor social network was analyzed in three cognitive, emotional, and behavioral dimensions. The findings indicated that potential foreign tourists are most concerned about Iran’s infrastructural affairs, especially transportation, visa, currency exchange, and sometimes hosting business services. Signs of insufficient information, lack of access to up-to-date and comprehensive information online, contradictions in available information, and instability of procedures in the field of visa issuance and transportation services can also be seen in these contents. Although users considered Iran’s tangible heritage and historical and cultural attractions very attractive, the connection of these attractions with the human and social attractions of contemporary host society had brought a double surprise and attraction.