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Word of mouth (WOM) is becoming recognized as an important form of promotion and an important source of information influencing consumer's attitudes and purchase behavior. WOM is especially important in the tourism industry, whose intangible products are difficult to evaluate prior to their consumption. The purpose of this paper is to survey the effect of WOM on tourists' decision for travelling to an Islamic destination.

Data were collected through a field research among 224 inbound tourists who have visited Isfahan as an Islamic destination, and the data were analyzed using regression and correlation. Additionally, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applicable for the inference relationships between tourist characteristics and using WOM. The survey period was from June 2 to June 29, 2010.

Two findings have been concluded in this survey. First, WOM affects the decision of tourists for travelling to Isfahan. Second, nationality, gender, purpose of trip, and previous experience of travelling were associated with using WOM among prospective tourists.

Managers should develop complete understanding of WOM and try to stimulate WOM about destinations among tourists, because most tourists are influenced by information from informal sources.

The paper shows that customer‐oriented tourism programs improve the numbers of inbound tourists to a particular destination.

In an environment in which there has been a reduction in consumer trust of both organizations and advertising, as well as a decrease in television advertising, word of mouth (WOM) offers a way to obtain a significant competitive advantage. WOM is especially important in the hospitality and tourism industry, whose intangible products are difficult to evaluate prior to their consumption. When WOM becomes digital, the large‐scale, anonymous, ephemeral nature of the Internet induces new ways of capturing, analyzing, interpreting, and managing the influence that one consumer may have on another. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of electronic WOM (eWOM) on a tourism destination choice, using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Further, an effort was employed to determine the effect of past travel experience on using eWOM and TPB constructs.

A structural equation modeling procedure was applied to the examination of the influences of eWOM on attitudes towards visiting Isfahan, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and travel intention. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilised in order to analysing the relations between these constructs and past travel experience. The research model was tested empirically using a sample of 296 inbound tourists who had experience within the online communities and travelled to Isfahan during the period of research.

Findings indicate that online WOM communications have a significant impact on attitudes toward visiting Isfahan, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intention to travel. In addition, travel experience has a significant impact on using eWOM and TPB constructs.

The paper suggests that eWOM activity is more complex than previous research has argued. Managers should consider various eWOM facets and try to motivate tourists for participating in online travel communities and to build online travel communities with characteristics such usefulness and ease of use.

There has been a lot of marketing research on eWOM but none has focused on covering eWOM in tourism industry and its impact on tourism destination choice by adding new dimension of eWOM to the theory of planned behavior. This paper seeks to fill this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to identify tourists ' concerns about perceived risks while travelling to the Islamic Republic of Iran, investigate whether such risks are in any way mitigated by a traveler ' s prior experience with the Islamic destination, and determine the impact of individual factors on tourists ' perceived risks.

The study examined survey data of 258 international tourists during their visit to Isfahan, Iran. Confirmatory factor analyses and analysis of variance were utilised, in order to find measurement models for each of the constructs and to analyze the relations between these constructs and individual factors.

The results reveal that visitors had concerns about physical, financial, and psychological risks. The results also show that respondent ' s individual characteristics such as gender, nationality, frequency of visits, and purpose of visit influenced their perceptions of risk. However, age and length of stay did not have significant impact on perceptions of risk. Respondents visiting friends and relatives were more likely to perceive Iran as safer than those on business or holiday. In addition, repeat travelers tended to have a more realistic perception about risks than did first-time travelers. The study ' s findings add to the literature by offering more insight on tourist perceptions of risk in travelling to Islamic destinations.

Sampling was one of the limitations identified in this study. The fact that convenience sampling was used meant that results were not immediately transferable to other Islamic destinations. The study could be replicated at other visitor attractions in Islamic destinations perceived to have high risks, in order to gain insight into the effects of perceived risk on visitation and visitor behaviour.

The contribution of the research is to broaden the understanding of tourists ' concerns in travelling to Islamic destinations and the role frequency of visits, gender, nationality, and purpose of visit play for marketers when providing inbound tourists with facilities.

Word‐of‐mouth (WOM) has been recognized as one of the most influential resources of information transmission. Advances in information technology and the emergence of online social network sites have changed the way information is transmitted. This phenomenon impacts consumers as this easily accessible information could greatly affect the consumption decision. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which e‐WOM among consumers can influence brand image and purchase intention in the automobile industry.

Measurement items are adapted from existing scales found in the marketing literature. Academic colleagues reviewed the items for face validity and readability. The scales are evaluated for reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity using data collected in a survey of Iran Khodro's prospective customers in Iran. A structural equation modeling procedure is applied to the examination of the influences of e‐WOM on brand image and purchase intention. The research model was tested empirically using a sample of 341 respondents who had experience within online communities of customers and referred to Iran Khodro's agencies during the period of research.

The paper found that e‐WOM is one of the most effective factors influencing brand image and purchase intention of brands in consumer markets.

The paper outlines ways to promote a brand effectively through online customer communities, as well as general tips for website and forum moderators for facilitating such presentation in a manner useful to the members of their online communities. While there is a substantial research stream that examines the branding of consumers goods and an increasing literature on product brands, little is known about brand image in the context of online communications. This paper extends existing measurement of brand image to a new setting, namely e‐WOM.

This paper provides valuable insight into the measurement of e‐WOM, brand image, and purchase intention in the automobile industry and offers a foundation for future product branding research.