The effect of traction factors and marketing drive factors on attracting older cultural tourists (Case study of European tourists)

In the world, the elderly population is exploding and planning for this group of tourists has become essential. Traditionally, the majority of European tourists in Iran are elderly people. Elderly tourists travel mainly for cultural reasons. In this study, the pull factors (facilities, tourist attractions, experience, and satisfaction) and push factors (knowledge, age, socialization, leisure) of marketing on attracting elderly cultural tourists were investigated. Psychologists consider motivation to be the main concept in understanding consumer behavior and the destination selection process. Therefore, recognizing the motivations of cultural tourists can have benefits for both the tourists and tourism policy-makers. This research is applied in terms of purpose which considered as a descriptive-survey research in terms of method. The sampling method of this research is available and the sampling formula of Cochran will be unlimited for the community. In this research, a questionnaire was used to collect information and in order to analyze the data, the structural equation modeling method was exerted in SMPPLS software. The results of this study showed that marketing pull factors (facilities, tourist attractions, experience, satisfaction) and marketing push factors (knowledge, age, socialization, leisure) have a positive and significant effect on attracting elderly cultural tourists. The results of this study indicated that by emphasizing the pull and push factors of marketing at the international level, it is possible to attract elderly cultural tourists.