Assessment of the Factors Influencing Motivation for Tourist Destination Choice with Emphasis on Rural Attractions in Dessert Areas

Travel motivation is considered as an important factor in tourist behaviors towards destination choice. This study aims to explore tourist motivations – particularly pull motives - for selecting desert destinations. The research has been focused on the tourist villages of Khur and Biabanak County, namely Mesr, Bayazeh and Garmeh, as the study area. The research was conducted with a descriptiveanalytical method based on surveys, and questionnaires and interviews made up our main tools in data collection. Here, the statistical population consists of those tourists having visited this region in 2014. With respect to the large size of the statistical population, a sampling method was applied. Data gathered by the questionnaire was processed using SPSS statistical software and either Friedman non-parametric test or path analysis was utilized depending on the data type and purpose. Results suggest that, in general, there are strong tendencies towards traveling around villages in desert areas, noting the great potential of tourist attractions in the rural district studied for attracting tourists as well. Findings, moreover, indicate that also each different attraction in the study area has different attractiveness such that, based on results obtained through path analysis, sociocultural attractions have the biggest impact on the associated variable (motivation) whereas educational attractions – due to specialization and its specific tourist type – make the smallest.