| چکیده انگلیسی مقاله |
Introduction:
Price, as one of the elements of the marketing mix, plays an essential role in the decision-making of tourists as well as the income of tourism activists, and therefore it is essential to identify the components and factors affecting the pricing process. From the point of view of tourists, the prices are not only important in deciding the tourist destination, but after the tourist enters the destination, the price of the activities in it is one of the basic components in the formation of tourists' behavior. On the other hand, various researchers have emphasized the importance of pricing decisions on tourism profits and long-term survival of tourism companies. Also, pricing in tourism is a complex phenomenon due to features such as product instability, high investment requirements, the cost of extensive use of human resources, the uniqueness of each product, the level of competition, and the difficulty in accurately predicting demand. At the time of Covid-19 epidemic, which has adversely affected economic activities, especially tourism, and travel and tourism in many countries are considered one of the potential factors of increasing the spread and possibility of disease infection; Businesses related to tourism have faced crises and forced many to close.
In Iran, since the beginning of the spread of COVID-19, travel has been repeatedly considered a risky behavior in fueling the infection and the epidemic situation of this virus, and this issue has been emphasized through the media and relevant executive bodies. The outbreak of COVID-19 in Iran is a situation that has drawn the attention of tourism businesses to the necessity of managing the pricing process and updating the prices of tourism products, according to the current situation of the tourism market. Therefore, in the current situation, determining the relevant pricing strategies by tourism businesses to choose the appropriate pricing method for survival in the tourism market seems vital.
Background and our contribution:
In the current situation, it seems vital to determine the relevant pricing strategies by tourism businesses to choose the appropriate pricing method for survival in the tourism market. Therefore, in this paper, for the identification of pricing components, in addition to the factors in normal tourism conditions, we considered the special context of COVID-19 outbreak in Iran. Also, a model is designed to improve the appropriate pricing criteria for tourism services in Iran during COVID-19 outbreak. On the other hand, we utilized fuzzy cognitive mapping technique as well as the social network technique for modeling and quantitative analysis. This type of modeling is a useful method for problem-solving and has helped decision makers in analyzing hidden causal relationships. It also facilitated the achievement of the answer, and it draws well the mental models of people or groups that include concepts and relationships between them and are used to understand the environment or surrounding phenomena. The use of cognitive maps to solve complex and unstructured problems (with many variables and causal relationships) and to manage large amounts of qualitative data are of special use, which can show more accurate results due to the importance of the research topic.
Aim and method:
In this paper and within the framework of mixed research methodology, the process of modeling the appropriate pricing for products and services provided to tourists in Iran during COVID-19 outbreak, this research was conducted in two steps. In the first place, based on the results of the theoretical background and literature review, the basic conceptual framework of the activities and criteria for proper pricing in tourism at the time of the spread of the COVID-19 has been extracted. After performing the necessary analysis, a model provides for improvement of appropriate pricing criteria for tourism services in Iran during the COVID-19 outbreak. This adaptation to the COVID-19 context has been conducted by considering the factors and components affecting tourism pricing, using the opinions of tourism experts.
At this stage, we used the fuzzy cognitive mapping technique, and the social network technique for modeling and quantitative analysis. In this research, which was carried out by a qualitative-quantitative approach and using fuzzy cognitive mapping, we benefited from the opinions of 9 experts from different fields of tourism. Then we identified 29 pricing factors of tourism products and then by conducting semi-structured interviews, 18 factors were selected in the form of 4 dimensions. Finally, the most important components of pricing during the COVID-19 outbreak have been identified.
Research results:
The findings of the research indicate that to properly price Iran's tourism products during the COVID-19 outbreak, four components of cost coverage and loss prevention, purchasing power, survival in the tourism market and the amount of tourist demand compared to other components are more important.
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