Iran's destination image, incremental analysis of safety and security

Abstract

Safety and security (S&S) can contribute substantially to tourists’ perceptions and decision making regarding specific destinations. From this perspective, countries, such as Iran, suffer the consequences because they are formally introduced as unsafe and insecure destinations. The present study was an attempt to analyze the function of S&S in tourists’ perceptions before and after traveling to Iran. To this end, the data were collected by a self-administrated questionnaire, and then analyzed via the structural equation modeling. Contrary to the initial assumptions, the results revealed that S&S were not of utmost importance in comparison to other factors, because tourists’ perceptions of the destination image (DI) of Iran were realistic. Moreover, the results indicated that S&S were the reflections of intergovernmental political challenges, and beyond the conventional issues. The study findings were based on the perceptions of those who had already visited Iran, but the segments of tourists that had ignored Iran as a destination remained furtive. Accordingly, such countries like Iran could lose their share of the tourism market due to the restrictive microenvironment. As a result, destination development needs profound insights into tourists’ perceptions to avoid negative impacts and the role of scale in the analysis of DI should consider beyond the destination image. In order to compensate for the deficits, the lost opportunities and the required policy making and planning can be the subjects of further research.