Wellness tourism motivational factors in hot springs of Mazandaran province: The case of Ramsar and Lavij hot springs

Wellness tourism is a kind of tourism that is related to preserving, healing and reforming the well- being of a person's body and mind. Due to the fact that personal and social pressures are increasing, this kind of tourism has a special place among others. Mazandaran province, with intact nature, graceful weather and a natural Spa, has an important role in wellness tourism. The goal of this research is knowing the motivationally-effective factors that attract tourists to Mazandaran's spa. In this research, the statistical sample consists of 646 of the spa's tourists, 352 of which are from the Ramsar spa and 294 are from the Lavij spa. The method is descriptive survey, and to collect date observations, interviews and questionnaires are used. In this research, motivational factors are searched in two fields, push and pull factors, and in hypothesis, their differences and priority are tested. Findings show meaningful differences between pull factors(3.16) and push factors (2.97). According to the priority of pull and push factors and determining their roles to attract tourists to the spa, there are some suggestions about increasing push and pull at the Ramsar and Lavij spas. Wellness tourism is a kind of tourism that is related to preserving, healing and reforming the well- being of a person's body and mind. Due to the fact that personal and social pressures are increasing, this kind of tourism has a special place among others. Despite the fast expansion and popular demand of health and spa services/activities by both local and international tourists, there is little understanding of the wellness and spa consumers. Mazandaran province, with intact nature, graceful weather and a natural Spa, has an important role in wellness tourism. Hypotheses: Hypothesis 1:There is significant difference between the means of push and pull factors inhot springstourists. Hypothesis 2: There is significant difference between the means of pull factors inhot springstourists. Hypothesis 3: There is significant difference between the means of push factors inhot springstourists. Hypothesis 4:There is significant difference between the means of motivational factors in the Ramsar and Lavij hot springstourists. The goal of this research is knowing the motivational-effective factors that attract tourists to Mazandaran's spa. In this research, the statistical sample consists of 646 of the spa's tourists, 352 of which are from the Ramsar spa and 294 are from the Lavij spa. The research methodology is descriptive survey, and was used interviews and questionnaires to data gathering. motivational factors are classified as push and pull factors. In the hypothesis, their difference and priority have been tested. The push motivations have been seen to be useful in explaining the desire for travel, as they are recognized as the starting point of understanding tourists’ behavior. Pull factors are those that attract people to a specific destination once the decision to travel has been made. The final factors set forth in the present research, questionnaire during the following steps were: 1. the factors identified by azman (2010) questionnaire and Bashar Aref (2010). 2. Information collected through exploratory interviews with the number of tourists. The results of the interviews in the according to factors mentioned in azman (2010) and Bashar Aref (2010), respectively, but given that the pull factors affected the characteristics of their destination, so the results of the interviews to researchers so that they can assist the research questionnaire tools tailored to the desired zone set. Push factors: the need for prestige,Increase communication,Looking for peace of mind,Enhancing social cycles,See various sights,Acquiring knowledge,Cure for diseases. Pull factors: Events and activities,Easy access and convenient,History and culture,In search of a variety, Adventure. in order to test the hypothesis of research and test differences in the factors in each of spa springs, the test was used to compare the means. As well as the Friedman test was used for ranking of push and pull factors. Findings show meaningful differences between pull factors (3.16) and push factors (2.97). By focusing on the priority of pull and push factors and determining their roles to attract tourists to the spa, there are some suggestions about increasing push and pull at the Ramsar and Lavij spas: -Creation of temporary forest huts and camp in a quiet forest area -Yoga courses and life advice -Treatment with Mediterranean fish, the traditional methods -Therapeutic mud baths -Name with the name of the local baths -Holding of festivals (Festival of food, traditional architecture, the traditional display movements). -Construction of artificial forest or city games for children, adolescents and other ages -Launching tours of horse riding, cycling, Motorsports -Jungle trekking