Analysis of the Brand Equity in the Urban Tourism Destination (Case study: Marivan City)

Marivan city is a notable example; although there are various touristic destinations in Marivan, no effective practices have been done in the area of its brand equity. Regarding, focus on the brand equity of tourism destination is of the most importance. Several ingredients and indices form the brand equity that their impression and correlations are still in doubt in the studied area. Thus, the present paper aims to answer the question of what is the link between the key ingredients of tourism destinations and their impressions. The research is applied research in terms of goal. Therefore, a structural equation modeling (SEM) technique by means of a partial least square orientation was carried out using Smart-PLS to examine the link between the research ingredients. Results show the coefficients of direct effect of perceived quality on brand awareness, brand awareness on loyalty, brand image on loyalty and brand image on awareness was 0.326, 0.326, 0.649 and 0.662, respectively. Moreover, the coefficient of the indirect effect of brand image on loyalty as well as perceived quality on loyalty were 0.215 and 0.106, respectively. With regard to the given structural modeling, the most total effect, 0.864, was found for the brand image. Brand image and perceived quality, with total effect coefficient of 0.326 and 0.864, respectively, directly and indirectly, anticipate 0.92.5 and 0.92.9 (%) of the total variance of brand awareness and loyalty. The effective solutions have been suggested to improve the situation of brand equity at Marivan.