Assessing Brand Equity Indicators in Tourism Destination in Order to Plan Tourism Branding; Case Study: Mariwan City

In most undeveloped countries, there are cities that have a variety of tourism attractions but no appropriate branding has been performed for them. Hence, the tourism development opportunities of such cities have been left unused. Mariwan is one of these cities that this research has been conducted with the aim of explaining the indicators of brand equity in tourism destination and providing efficient solutions for branding the city of Mariwan. The research question is related to the status and desirability of brand equity indicators and tourism planning requirements in Mariwan. Accordingly, the type of research is applied and its method is mixed (quantitative-qualitative). Findings show that the desirability of the indicators of "brand image" and "loyalty" components indicate the existence of capability and possibility of tourism development in Mariwan, but poor performance and the undesirability of infrastructures, accommodation, informing centers, attention to tourists and the indicators of the brand awareness component have blocked and limited the field of tourism development. Therefore, it can be concluded that the weakness of the mentioned indicators shows the Mariwan tourism brand equity in an undesirable and inefficient way, and for tourism branding, the requirements and solutions presented in this research should be considered.

Keywords:

Brand Equity , Tourism Destination , Tourism Branding , Mariwan City