AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CAVE TOURISTS’ MOTIVATIONS AND SATISFACTION: THE CASE OF ALISADR CAVE, IRAN

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine empirically the motivation of tourists in a geotourism context and also the relationships among the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and destination satisfaction for cave tourists in Alisadr Cave, Iran. The research conceptual framework was constructed, based on previous theoretical and empirical studies. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 400 respondents to collect the primary data. Descriptive statistics, Friedman test, Factor analysis, Pearson’s Correlation Analysis and Multiple regression were conducted to answer the research questions. As a result, enjoyment, relaxation, novelty seeking and escape were the major intrinsic motivations. In addition, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations had directly positive influences on tourists’ satisfaction in Hamadan.

Keywords

• Show cave
• cave tourism
• geotourism
• satisfaction
• motivations
• selfdetermination theory
• Iran