Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management

Traveling Motive and Its Application in Tourism Market Segmentation: Evidences from Isfahan
Bahram Ranjbarian, Mohamad Ghafari, Omid Oshrie

Abstract
The present study tried to identify and analyze the travel motives of the domestic tourists who had visited Isfahan. The statistical population of the study consists of the domestic tourists who visited Isfahan in the first season of 2014. A total of 1000 tourists were selected randomly as sample members. In order to collect the data, a self-administrated questionnaire with 40 items was used. Exploratory factor analysis, one sample Ttest, and the test of the goodness of fit are the statistical methods used for analyzing the data and identifying the travel motives among the domestic tourists. The study identified eight motives for traveling to Isfahan. These include cultural-historical motives, visiting relatives and friends, shopping, family attendance, leisure, low-cost travel, visiting urban attraction, and security motives. Although strict scientific criteria were adhered to throughout the research, it clearly has its limitations. This study, like all empirical research work, has certain limitations which affect the evaluation and generalization of the results. As it is mentioned before the tourist motives for visiting a specific destination depends on the destination features, cultural values as perceived by the tourists which may change over the course of time. Therefore, itis advisable to replicate this research in other settings and compare the results. There are few studies that segment the service markets.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jthm.v5n1a8