Typologies of Inbound Tourists Who Visited Isfahan

Abstract: Growth of every tourism destination depends on its development plan and one of the factors which determine the quality and success of a plan is its logicality. A tourism development plan should preparewith emphasis on its target market; who are they and what are their needs and wants? The purpose of this study is to identity inbound tourists' motivations for tourists who visited Isfahan. Exploratoryfactor analysis was used to identify the items which explain the motivation of each similar group. The results of exploratory factor analysis identify six main motives for traveling to Isfahan. These motives arecoercion, cultural, shopping, leisure, adventure and hygiene. The relationbetween demographic variables andtourists' motivationsalso has been examined. As a result a significant relation was found between tourists' nationality and their motivational level for hygiene.Sex, also was a variable which had significant relation with motivational level of tourists who visited Isfahan. Finally useful suggestions ispresented for tourism planners and marketing professionals