ارائه الگوی بازآفرینی برند ملی سوریه در حوزه گردشگری

Aim and Introduction: The unpredictable and uncontrollable crises at different levels of business lead to the emergence of the concept of re-branding, which can help in rebuilding brands in any subject, place, and time at any level of activity. Nation branding of places at the national level, which known as countries, needs to be explained due to its side effects on the micro levels of political, economic, cultural, social activities, etc. As a country with a historical, cultural, political background and a strategic and attractive geographical location for tourists in West Asia due to its involvement in the civil war crisis, Syria is a case in point for the issue of re-branding at the national level. Some researchers have stated that there is a lack of studies and theoretical gaps in identifying the appropriate components, strategies, and marketing initiatives for destinations suffering from a long-term negative image. Therefore, the present study conducted with the aim of identifying components and explaining them in a nation's re-branding pattern in the tourism industry.
Methodology: The present study in terms of purpose; is practical and qualitative in terms of exploratory method. The strategy used is the classical Grounded Theory Approach. At the same time, from the perspective of the data collection method, this research has been done in the form of library and field studies using in-depth unstructured interview tools. The statistical population of the study consists of managers, experts, professors, and relevant researchers in the field of branding, marketing, tourism management in Syria. The statistical population of the study consists of managers, experts, professors, and researchers in the field of branding, marketing, tourism management in Syria. A purposeful judgmental and snowball approach to the point of information saturation used. Therefore, thirteen experts identified as the statistical sample of the research and participated in the interview process.
Findings: Findings showed the most important components of the nation's rebranding pattern in the field of tourism, including the seven-component process "improving the context, formation, crisis impact assessment, stakeholder management, restoration, relocation, and evaluation". Findings showed that the strategy of nation rebranding requires acceptable stability in environmental and contextual factors of the country such as political stability, safety and security, and reducing conflict. In the first place, identifying and formulating the structure of the staff responsible for planning and implementing  nation-rebranding strategy, determining tasks and missions, and identifying relevant stakeholders are important factors in the success of the nation rebranding strategy. Success in the nation's rebranding strategy also requires the analysis of internal and external factors to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that lead to an understanding of the image of Syrian tourism in the minds of target market audiences. Based on this analysis, a remedial plan is proposed that includes defining a strategic vision, identifying target markets, learning from the experiences of similar countries, redefining brand identity, and building national brand awareness by emphasizing success stories in the war, and funding. the effective nation rebranding of Syria requires ensuring the integration and coordination of communication and marketing strategies in order to successfully reposition the Syrian national brand. finally, a successful nation rebranding program requires continuous evaluation of the performance of all points of contact with the new national brand.
Discussion and Conclusion: The research showed that before starting the project of nation rebranding, the government should make progress in "improving the context of the country" as a precondition. Syria in general (both in the tourism sector and in other sectors) needs to pass laws and find quality mechanisms to attract investment and restore the trust of national and foreign investors (especially the Syrian diaspora networks) as a Prerequisite is the reconstruction and rehabilitation of destroyed infrastructure. Establishing an institution or organization that is responsible for managing the nation's brand as a whole is an important factor in the success of the nation's rebranding strategy. The success of a national rebranding strategy also depends on identifying target markets. In the case of Syria, we can focus on things like restoring traditional markets, targeting the markets of friendly countries like Iran, Russia, and China, and developing appropriate communication strategies. The National Brand Reconstruction Headquarters must define a new identity and transfer it to target markets locally and globally. To achieve this goal, there are several options, including historical and cultural tourism, religious tourism, dark tourism, adventure tourism, and so on. In order to raise national brand awareness locally and internationally, Syria can emphasize its success stories in the war, such as the victory over ISIS, the defeat of terrorism, or the cradle of civilizations and religions, and so on. These variables: Promotional activities, cost leadership strategies, inviting ideological leaders, journalists, bloggers to visit Syria showed  the key roles, contrary to what has been portrayed in the foreign media about the situation in Syria, and the use of national brand ambassadors (such as sports, artistic, cultural, etc.) also play an important role in reflecting the country's personality and the positive traits that the nation wants to highlight. Event marketing, through the organization and financial support of cultural, artistic, and music festivals, play an important role in correcting and modifying the bad perceptions of the place. Activation of diaspora networks, in addition to financial benefits (foreign direct investment and individual transfers), has the potential to create a reputation for the mother country. Nation brand evaluation also has a significant impact on learning, correcting assumptions, and taking corrective action to address performance issues. The nation rebranding pattern provides a comprehensive guide and constructive guidance to the managers and nation branding professionals to develop a coherent Syrian brand recreation program in the field of tourism at the national level in order to reconstruct or alter the negative image. One of the limitations of the present study was the lack of access to a wide range of Syrian tourism industrial experts due to the current critical situation in Syria.