Exploring tourists' revisit intention: Drivers and barriers in their decision-making process

The primary aim of this thesis is to investigate the factors, key drivers and barriers influencing a tourist’s decision to revisit Iran. In doing so, this research explores the complex relationship between Iran’s post-visit image, the primary tourist motivations, perceived risks, cultural contact and uncertainty avoidance in tourists’ decision-making processes. Theoretically, this research is grounded in the destination choice model, with the interplay of Iran’s destination image, push and pull factors which suggests that travel decisions are driven by internal socio-psychological factors (push) and external destination attributes (pull), and perceived risk. This study extends this theory by integrating Hofstede's cultural dimensions, particularly cultural distance, and uncertainty avoidance, to understand how cultural differences and uncertainty after Iran’s 2022 crisis affected tourist revisit intention. Methodologically, this research utilised a qualitative method, involving 25 semi-structured interviews conducted with European cultural tourists who have visited Iran. The study adopted a pragmatic approach, to better understand the complex factors influencing tourists' decision-making process. The data was analysed using abductive thematic analysis. A key finding of the study was the significant impact of "Taarof," a complex social etiquette in Iranian culture, on tourists' decision-making, which might be confusing and distressing due to the different cultural backgrounds of the tourists. This finding extends the understanding of how deeply- rooted cultural practices can influence tourists' experience and their decision-making processes. The study also reveals that while the 2022 political crisis in Iran increased uncertainty, many participants' positive experiences with informal hospitality reduced such concerns. This interplay between 1) the favourable image of Iran and its cultural attributes and 2) visitors’ decision to postpone their revisit until they can ensure stability and minimise unpredictability, offers further insights into tourist revisit intentions post-crisis, which have multiple implications for destination marketing theory and practice.