Taxonomy of Tourists Based on Accommodation Types in Mashhad

This survey study's main goal was to present a taxonomy of tourists visiting Mashhad according to their accommodation type. The required data were collected by administering a researcher-developed questionnaire on domestic tourists who visited Mashhad in the winter of 2019. The accommodation centers' typology was done based on qualitative typology and taxonomy. The former was done based on cost and grade criteria, and the latter was carried out by ''two stages clustering analysis ''. The study's findings indicated that most of Mashhad tourists (97%) were considered loyal visitors who had visited there frequently. Measured in terms of individualistic-collective criterion, the visitors' travel style was found to be collective (81%). On the other hand, based on the Institutional-Independent criterion, the visitors' travel style was Independent (68%). Taking the ethnographic factors and the characteristics of the visitors' travel into account, three types of tourists were identified as follows: ''non-individual less frequent visitors'' (37%), '' short-stay costly visitors" ' (36%), and '' frequent frugal visitors'' (26%). The first group accommodated in guesthouses, rental houses, and low-grade hotels and hotel-apartments. The second group accommodated in high-grade hotels, hotel-apartments, and guesthouses; the third group accommodated in their relative's houses or personal homes.