Designing model of the effect of tour guides in the promotion of Iran's tourism industry

Tour guides can be considered ambassadors of countries and tourist destinations, who play a significant role in ensuring the satisfaction of tourists, the image of the destination and the return of tourists. The recognition of tourist destinations is highly dependent on the performance of tour guides. This research seeks to evaluate the relationship between the role of tour guides in promoting tourism and its relationship in creating a good image of the destination and increasing the willingness of tourists to visit again in Iran. The above will be reviewed, considering the tour guides' satisfaction as a mediator. This research was carried out using the integrated technique of ISM and SEM, and data were collected from 11 academic experts and tourism sector activists and 86 domestic and foreign tourists who visited Iran's attractions and using online structured questionnaires. The results indicate a positive and direct relationship between the role of tour guides in promoting tourism and the destination's image. In addition, a direct effect was found between the promotional role of tour guides and tourists’ revisit intention. In this article, the mediating role of guided tours was also confirmed. In addition, the importance of tour guides in promoting the image of the destination and the tourist's intention to revisit has been highlighted in this study. The determined findings are expected to help improve the performance of tour guides in promoting tourism