Abstract
Brand equity of health tourism is the set of assets (or liabilities) of the brand in relation to the name and symbol of the tourism destination that cause changes in the value of services and experiences that are determined there. Considering the characteristics and cultural, social and economic capacities of Iranian tourism destinations, this study tends to develop a model for brand equity in health tourism, derived from the Acker model, according to Iran's conditions and studies conducted. First, previous studies in this regard were carefully reviewed by meta-synthesis. Then the mixed method including qualitative and quantitative methods was applied. The data were analyzed using grounded theory and MAXQDA18 software and then using structural equation method and fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy AHP). Statistical population included experts including professors in the field of marketing and health tourism specialists for qualitative part, and foreign users of health tourism services of Iran for quantitative part. The results showed that hospital brand equity is directly affected by brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand loyalty, social responsibility, firm value and customer value. As a result, at the national level, investing in this sector and branding and paying attention to brand equity of health tourism can make Iran one of the best health tourism destinations in the world.
Highlights
A brand without awareness is just a word on the product
The findings show that brand equity in health services is strongly influenced by brand loyalty and perceived quality
There is a significant relationship between brand equity and brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand image, brand loyalty, firm value, customer value and social responsibility
Summary
A brand without awareness is just a word on the product. The goal of investing in advertising is to reveal the meaning of the brand and spread it as much as possible so that people can try the products offered. Aaker [1] defined brand awareness as the ability of potential buyers for recognition or recall of a brand of a particular product category. Recognition refers to correct differentiation of a brand from other brands by customers and recall refers to ability to recover brand from memory when accompanied by a guide. As one of the most diverse and largest industries in the world, is the most important source of income and job opportunities for many countries in the world. This industry is important in two main ways: first, it provides nations with familiarity with other cultures, races, ethnicities, lands, dialects, etc., and second, it is economically the source of income and currency. Tourism has become so important in socioeconomic development of countries that economists have
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