Market Segmentation of Sport Tourism in Iran for Foreign Tourists According to Nationality and Natural-Sport Attractions and Modeling of Target Market

The purpose of this research was market segmentation of sport tourism in Iran for foreign tourists according to nationality, natural sport attractions, and modeling of target market. A questionnaire including 53 questions was developed by researchers. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were examined and approved (a=0/93); it was distributed among 710 international participants from 53 countries attending in Fajr International Sports Event, in 2009-2010The questionnaires were filled out by 475 participants. The data were then analyzed using factor analysis. The results showed that European and American, Arab, South and Central Asian nationalities had the most interest in sport events and competitions (97,350/0). Using Lisrel software (8.8), confirmatory factor analysis resulted in five tourism natural - Sport attractions. Also, applying exploratory factor analysis, four factors including attractions related to mountain and snow (Eigen value 6.87), attractions related to shore and water sports (Eigen value 1.85), attractions related to competitions and sport events (Eigen value 1.42), and attractions related to desert and salt-desert (Eigen Value 1.19), were model of sport tourism target market in Iran for foreign tourists. The results revealed that four factors of exploratory analysis determined and predicted a high percentage of 62.950/0 of sport tourism target market in Iran for foreign tourists.