The Model of Effective Destination-Oriented Factors on the Attraction and Length of Tourist Stay in Mashhad

These days, the tourism industry has a special place in the economy of countries and plays an effective role as a stimulus in the economic, social and cultural structure, especially in developing countries. In fact, most countries are very dependent on it and so that the industry has become a source of income and employment. It is also known as an important resource for economic development and strategic planning efforts in any country in the world. Economists have placed it at the forefront of invisible exports such as banking and insurance and describe it as a key pillar of sustainable development. Among the benefits of the tourism industry are employment and income generation, increasing citizens' awareness, improving the pattern of urban architecture, using economic capital, promoting political legitimacy, increasing national income, balancing payments, creating a driving force for growth and poverty reduction, development of public services, support for local entrepreneurship, increasing citizen participation, developing spatial justice, cultural exchange, and increasing urban sustainability.

Due to the fact that the present study seeks to provide a model for identifying the most important factors affecting the attraction and persistence of tourists in the city of Mashhad, so the grounded theory method was used. The statistical population of this study includes all experts in the field of tourism, urban management, cultural management, trustees of the deputy for welfare of pilgrims in Mashhad, economists, members of the faculty of tourism research institute of Mashhad university Jihad and university professors in the field of management who were selected purposefully.In the present study, in order to increase the reliability of the data by adopting a multidisciplinary approach and adequacy of references; different stakeholders with variety views and interests were used to receive data and conduct interviews. The use of supplementary resources is another method of increasing credibility in the present study, which the researcher added to the richness of data and increase their credibility by referring to scientific research and various articles and books on the subject of research. In addition, by expressing the concepts extracted in various interviews and also requesting review of the text of the interviews by other researchers, possible biases were monitored and the validity of the data of the interviews and the extraction of concepts and categories were ensured. Whenever this research achieved concepts by conducting interviews at each stage and collecting data and then analyzing them, it shared the resulting concepts with the interviewees and examined the accuracy of their perceptions of their statements. Finally, the emergence of the final categories and structures was confirmed through the participation of the interviewees and their corrective opinions were applied.

The tourism industry is one of the most important sectors of the global economy, which continues to grow and plays an important role in strengthening the economy of countries, increasing per capita GDP, developing job opportunities, developing cultural, social, political and security effects of tourism destinations. In this industry, in addition to attracting tourists, the length of stay of tourists is also one of the important variables. Many researchers believe that the extent of the positive effects of tourism on communities depends on the length of stay of tourists. The longer the tourist stays at the tourism destination, the higher the hotel occupancy rate and the expenses of tourist, and therefore the tourism destination will achieve more benefit. Consequently, the study of the tourism industry requires attention to both dimensions, namely attracting more tourists and increasing the length of their stay. Factors affecting the attraction and persistence of tourists in tourism destinations are divided into two categories of ones that related to tourists and the destination (destination-oriented). Obviously, city managers do not have much effect on the factors related to tourists, and any effort to improve the conditions of the destination to increase the attraction and persistence of tourists depends on recognizing the factors that affect these variables. So, the main purpose of the study was to identify the effective factors on the tourist attraction in Mashhad from the perspective of experts. Thus, the present study tried to extract the concepts and categories of the text of the interviews after conducting semi-structured interviews with experts on the subject of research and analyzing the findings with the Grounded theory method that effectively explain the main purpose of the research. Accordingly, after analyzing the data, the researchers were able to extract seven important and influential macro categories, which themselves included 33 sub-categories in the form of concept.

According to the examination of the proposed model for effective destination-oriented factors on the attraction and persistence of tourists in Mashhad, it is observed that the improvement and strengthening of identified factors is beyond the power of local managers and trustees, so that it requires the efforts and empathy of all stakeholders and trustees at the local, provincial and national levels. Therefore, recognition of these factors by tourism managers in Mashhad can significantly help improve the planning of effective factors on the attraction and persistence of tourists in this city.