Comparative Study of Selecting Tourist Destinations Abroad: A Case Study of Antalya and Dubai Cities

Planning for the development of tourism requires development and attention to needs, characteristics and demands of the market as the factors demanding tourism. In this regard, paying attention to tourists’ views, opinions, and motivations for travelling to a destination is of great importance as a necessity of marketing and tourism development planningas well as the basis for designing infrastructures related to tourism. Thus, many countries in a very close and intense competition are looking for increasing their benefits and revenues from this international activity. Several reasons are effective in the development and differentiation of tourist destinations or leaving former famous destinations by tourists and make one city more successful than others. This study aimed at identifying factors effective in selecting tourist destinations of Antalya and Dubai cities. The research method is descriptive-analytic. The statistical population was all the people who were traveling to tourist destination cities of Antalya and Dubai in the spring of 2014. The results show that there is no significant difference between Iranians’ motivation to travel to tourist destinations of Antalya and Dubai and the most important motivation and purpose of the passengers travelling to both destination of Antalya and Dubai were relaxation and recreation (using beautiful beaches and water recreation). In addition, the prominent role of costs and variety of attractions can be highlighted in selecting tourist destinations.


Introduction
Nowadays, there is an intense competition between different countries of the world to attract tourists.This industry as a dynamic industry with unique features has allocated an important part of economic and productive activities in developed and developing countries to itself (Ebrahimzadeh, 2009, 108).Bright horizons, new destinations, more recent groups of tourists, and developing type of tourism are all promising to expand the market.Each destination tries to benefit from its tourism advantages and this would not be possible without recognizing factors affecting the choice of tourist destinations and identifying tourists' motivation for travelling, planning, and strategic management.Every country and every culture has unique sights and elements that are new to the people from other lands and cultures and these unique elements are excuses for the fulfillment of tourism activities (Homayoon, 2005, 99).Studying travel motivations from the perspective of tourism destinations is important since it helps planners and politicians of the industry to figure out where the desirable tourist destinations are and what features should they have to make their better planning possible and appropriate and decent services (Pearce, 2005,4).If motives and goals of tourists regarding demographic and psychological characteristics are known well, target markets for tourism industry can be determined so thattourists' demands are met properly in addition to observing the values of the host society (Kazemi, 2010, 190).Cities are now considered as the most visited popular tourist destinations in the worldwhich welcome millions of tourists each year and have crucial roles as the entrance gatesto the countries and the centers of tourist activities (Taghvaee and Akbari, 2009, 34).There are several reasons that make a city more successful than other cities.On the one hand, cities differ in their cultural heritage and attractions.Some cities have buildings, museums, excellent urban landscapes and others have recognized their potentials to develop tourism in their beaches.Negative factors including poor urban landscapes, little attractions, image, social chaos, isolation, stagnation, etc. are among the factors that can affect industrial success of cities for absorbing tourists.Above all is urban managers' level of effort and determination for developing tourism using existing attractions.At this stage, innovation and creativity, persistent effort, public and private sections' cooperation, the ability to identify tourists' travel motivations, attracting public investments, and identifying the reasons for selecting a destination by tourists seem essential.No city is like any other city in the outside world and there is no precise formula that can explain why some cities are successful and some othersare not or how cities will develop in the future.Given that Iran is one of the developing countries with oil resources as the main source of revenue and income which will be completed in the not too far future, alternative new sources of income and revenue and using all the country's facilities, capabilities, and potentialsare necessary for having an economically stable country (Madhooshi, 2003, 25).Despite having 12 out of 17 types of climate and weather conditions around the world and 11000 registered historical monuments in the world's cultural heritage list, Iran has not now benefited from this industry well in economic, cultural and social development.According to UNESCO, Iran is among the top ten countries in the world in terms of historical properties and assets and cultural heritage and is among the first three countries in terms of God-given natural talents and climatic diversity in the world.However, unfortunately, it is not among the top 100 countries in the world in terms of tourism revenue (Inanloo, 2000, 184).Considering that the United Arabic Emirates in the Middle East is the second place in terms of tourist entrance to the country and Iran is in the fifth place in the same region and Turkey is in the sixth ranking in the world in 2013,and there is a large number of direct flights from Isfahan to these destinations in Norooz holiday in spring and during holidays in summer every year and this is a new scientific issue, the present study aimed to investigate the main reasons, motivations and aims of Isfahani tourists to choose Dubai and Antalya as two tourist destinations.It should be mentioned that having attractions is a necessary but not sufficient element for the growth and development of tourism industry since tourism development in any region requires accurate identification of the region, providing services and facilities for tourists, and also introduction in order to attract tourists.

Research Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were made in line with research goals:  It seems that there is a difference between Iranians' travel motivations in choosing Antalya and Dubai tourist destinations. There is a relationship between the costs of the destination and selecting the tourist destinations of Antalya and Dubai. There is a relationship between the variety of attractions and selecting tourist destination abroad 3. Review of the Literature Rojpalakorn (2006) in his research about the study of the typology of foreign tourists and their travel motivations examined types of foreign tourists and their travel motivations and identified 8 travel motivations which include the motivations of escaping from everyday life, exploratory adventures and travelling, rest and relaxation, prestige, returning to the past, making humanitarian relations with others, educating and learning, and the motivation of exploring novelties.Jonsson & Devonish Dwayne (2008) in their research entitled "Does Nationality, Gender, and Age Affect Travel Motivation?" (Visitors to the Caribbean islands) studied the difference in motivation between men and women tourists, including tourists with different age groups.The results showed that age and nationality are effective in the changes in travel motivation; however, gender is not an effective factor in changes in motivation.Great Britain is the number one in the production of tourists to Barbados with the motivations of relaxation and having fun and entertainment.Kukka, and Kuusela (2010) in their research entitled "Travel Behavior in Different Ages" examined the relationship between individuals' age and their travel behavior.They divided the studied tourists into groups of 18 -29 years, 30-60 years, and over 60 years.The results of their research show that there is a relationship between the individuals' age group, how they travel, and their travel motivation.PelinArsezen-Otamis&NedimYuzbasiOglu (2013) in an article entitled "Analysis of Antalya Tourism Cluster Perceived Performance with Structural Equation Model" in order to find elements of the diamond model obtained the following results: Influential factors on positive perceived performance and enhancing the performance of the cluster include the dimensions of Sakharkari and competition with the highest impact, government which deals with the government's motivations, regulations, policies, taxation, and advertising in order to increase cluster performance, universities' contribution to support and provide labor and work force, tour operators and food & beverage products, and finallythe dimension of banking and communication services for tourists and facilities and services for children.Jarvandi and Forghani (2009) in an article about the comparison of travel motivation between youths and adults (A case study of tourists from Shiraz to Dubai) using factor analysis techniques assessed tourists' motivations with the age variable.The motivations with the highest factor load include escaping social restrictions, shopping, relaxation, exciting entertainment, and escaping family constraints.In addition, there is no significant difference between age groups in the most factors and motivations, except for one factor.ImaniKhoshkhoo and AyoobiYazdi (2010) in an article about the comparative study of special value of brand tourist destinations of Kish and Gheshmislands in terms of domestic tourists' perceptions concluded that the most important factors or variables making a mental image or perception of brand special value of Kish and Gheshm tourism destinations can be named as variables such as "beautiful beaches", "good business position", "the wild and beautiful landscape", "suitable place to rest", and "good shopping facilities".
Ebrahimbai Salami and Shafieeian (2012) in an article about factors affecting the selection of Iran'stourist destinations from the perspective of Italian tourists achieved the following results: getting familiar with other cultures as the most important motivational factor and cultural-historical attractions as the most important attracting or absorbingfactor and the need for hijab as a limiting factor in selecting Iran as a tourist destination.Ghaderi and Motahar (2013) in an article about the study of the triggering factor motivating tourists to choose destinations, comparing internal and external destinations (A case study in Tehran city) examined passengers living in Tehran departing for two external or foreign destinations (Schengen and Malaysia) and an internal or domestic destination (Kish Island).The results showed that individuals' impression and image of the existing facilities in the destination and feeling comfortable in using facilities and defined activities in the destination and not just attractions are aeffective in selecting the destination.Ebrahimzadeh and Lashjerdi Farahani (2013) in their article did an analysis of tourists' motivation and the effect of sex or gender and income on tourists' motivation (A case study on tourists in Mahalat province during Norooz holidays).The results indicated that the relaxing-recreational factor was the main motivation of tourism and test results of hypotheses also showed a significant difference of the effect of income on the tourists' motivation and there was no relationship between male and female (gender) and tourism motivations.Azani and Lotfi (2013) in an article about ranking factors affecting the selection of destinations using AHP model concluded that economic, cultural, social, geographic, and natural factors dedicated the highest priority to themselves respectively in selecting tourism destinations from the perspective of tourists and experts and the most important indicator among economic factors was the amount of income.
Shah Hosseini (2013) in an article about identifying motivations and factors effective in the degree of satisfaction of nature-goers traveling to Gheshm investigated tourists' motivation and their degree of satisfaction.According to the results, most nature-goers were satisfied with their trip and their most important reason to visit Qeshm was its natural charmand another result indicated that relaxation, recreation with family and friends and visiting an intact place was the most social-psychological motivation of nature-goers.

Theoretical Principles
A tourist destination is a situation or place where a tourist himself takes into account traveling there and visiting its attractions with his own special motivations.This situation in terms of geography can range from a limited historic or archaeological site to the geographical area of a country or even a set of countries.A tourist destination based on its extent can hold or include a diverse range of attractions and facilities of interest to tourists (Yavari et al., 2011, 156).Cities as the most important tourist destinations in the world play many different roles.They are the gateway to a country as centers for feeling relaxed and travelling in rural areas.They have an important role as the centers of tourist activities (Taghvaee and Akbari, 2009, 34).Urban areas are often important tourist destinations because of having many historical and cultural attractions.Moreover, even if tourist attractions are located in non-rural areas, they are associated with tourism because of giving services to their surroundings.Therefore, a large volume of tourist facilities are concentrated in the cities (Papoli Yazdi and Saghaee, 2009, 188).Urban tourism in developed countries is the kind of tourism with the highest revenue and it has undeniable impacts in different economic, social, cultural, ecological, etc. areas.This kind of tourism is done in urban spaces boundaries (Haley & Miller Snaith, 2005: 595).
Tourist attractions as the core of tourist attractions and primary investments of this industry have fundamental roles in tourism planning and development (Heidar Chianeh, 2010: 45).Undoubtedly, attractions are the main goal of tourism since attracting tourists to destinations will be poor without them and as a result transportation, relaxation facilities, services, food provision, and distribution of other services will decrease.Therefore, identifying, and introducing attractions are considered important in the emergence and boom or growth of tourism (Gharehnezhad, 2007: 106).From the point of view of some scholars in tourism, the factors affecting the formation of a tourist destination's image in tourists' minds that have not visited that place and have no previous experience of it include tourism motivations, demographic features, and various information resources.The concept of image is mostly an attitudinal structure which includes mental outputs of an individual from subjective knowledge, beliefs, feelings, and a comprehensive general impression from an object or destination.Researchers in various scientific fields believe that the concept of image has two dimensions or evaluations: A) cognitive perceptual evaluations, and B) emotional-sensational evaluations.Cognitive perceptual evaluations refer to an individual's knowledge and beliefs from characteristics and citations of a destination and emotional-sensational evaluations refer to an individual's feeling or associations or reminiscent of a destination.There is a general agreement in this respect and that is an individual's emotional and sensational reactions depend on his/her cognitive perceptual evaluations and emotional and sensational reactions are also other representatives or manifestations of perceptual reactions and a general comprehensive image from a place is formed as a result of a collection of cognitive-perceptual and emotional-sensational evaluations (Taajzadeh and Ghazarian, 2014:142).

Research Methodology
This research isan applied research based on objective and descriptive-analytic based on its nature.To collect the data, library and field methods were used.The studied statistical population in this research is Esfahani tourists who travel by direct flights from ShahidBeheshti airport in Isfahan to Antalya and Dubai travel destinations.The questionnaires of the research were completed by referring to ShahidBeheshti airport in Isfahan during the time interval from February2013 to May 2014.Due to the high number of tourists, the sample of the research was determined to be 388 individuals or participants based on Cochran formula.The questionnaires consist of three sections of general questions, multiple-choice questions and questions based on Likertscale.The validity of the questionaires of the research was approved by 5 experts and the reliability was assessed by Cronbach's Alpha which on average was obtained to be 75%.For measuring each of the indicators, a number of questions and items were designed which are presented in the table below.For recording charts, tables, and statistical tests, SPSS and EXCEL soft wares were used for analyzing the data and for analyzing and testing the hypotheses Chi-square test, Spearman, and U Mann-Whitney tests were used.

Research Results
Out of 388 respondents in the target sample, 53.6% were men and 46.4% were women from passengers travelling to Antalya and 49.5% of the passengers to Dubai were men and 50.5% were women.By studying the age of the respondents it was that from the passengers departing for Dubai 16 respondents were less than 20 years, 56 of the respondents were 21 to 30 years, 85 of the respondents were 31 to 40 years, 28 of the respondents were 41 to 50 years, and 9 of them were over 50 years of age.From the passengers departing for Antalya, 12 of the respondents were less than 20 years, 55 of the respondents were 21 to 30 years, 92 of the respondents were 31 to 40 years, 31 of the respondents were 41 to 50 years, and 4 of them were over 50 years of age.Studying the marital status of the respondents showed that 66% of the passengers traveling to the destination of Antalya were married and 34% were single and 72.7% of the passengers traveling to the destination of Dubai were married and 27.3% of them were single.Source (The authors' evaluations and calculations)

Hypotheses Testing First Hypothesis: Studying the effect of travel motivation on choosing tourist destination
There is a difference between Iranians' travel motivation to the destinations of Antalya and Dubai.To test this hypothesis, a combination of 10 questions was used.In this hypothesis, the independent variable was travel motivation with a ranking or rating scale and the dependent variable was tourist destinations of Antalya and Dubai with a nominal scale.Since there were two independent and variable groups in rating scale, U Mann-Whitney test was used.Since the significant level was obtained to be 0.687 and larger than 0.05, it can be said that there is no significant difference between Iranians' travel motivation to tourist destinations of Antalya and Dubai and the first hypothesis is not confirmed.

Source (The authors' evaluations and calculations)
By analyzing question number 11 (What is the most important motivation and purpose of your trip?) in the section of nominal questions, this hypothesis is rejected and suggests that the most important motivation and purpose of travelers to both Antalya and Dubai destination was relaxation and recreation (using beautiful beaches and water recreations).Table 6.Studying the most important motivation and purpose of the respondents about selection of the tourist destination

Destinati on
Finding peace and relaxation and recreation (using beautiful beaches and water recreation)

Source (The authors' evaluations and calculations)
Second Hypothesis: Evaluation of the cost of selected destination tourist destination.There is a relationship between the costs of the destination and selecting the tourist destination.To test this hypothesis, a combination of questions about the rate of income, the rate of exchange changes, and the amount of costs in the destination was used.In this hypothesis, the independent variable is the amount or rate of costs in the target destination with a rating scale and the dependent variable is the selection of the destination with nominal scale.Thus, the Spearman correlation coefficient was used.Since the significance level was 0.021 and it was less than 0/05, so it can be said that there is a relationship between the amount or rate of costs of the target destination and the selection of tourist destination and the second hypothesis is confirmed.By analyzing question number 10 (What is the most important factor in the selection of tourist destination?) in the section of nominal questions, it can be concluded that the most important factor in the selection of Antalya and Dubai destinations by the travelers was the factor of costs or expenses (hotel, tickets, entertainment).Source (The authors' evaluations and calculations)

Third Hypothesis: Evaluation of the role of attractions' variety in the selection of tourist destination
There is a relationship between attractions' variety and the selection of tourist destination abroad.To test this hypothesis, a combination of 7 questions was used.In this hypothesis, the independent variable is attractions' variety with a rating scale and the dependent variable is the selection of the destination with nominal scale.Therefore, both Chi-square test and Spearman test can be used.According to Chi-square test, since the significance level was 0.00 and it is less than 0.05, there is a relationship between tourist attractions' variety or diversity and the selection of tourist destination abroad and the third hypothesis is confirmed.

Conclusion and Suggestions
The first result of this research that is the rejection of the first hypothesis and that the most important motivation and purpose of selecting both destinations was finding peace and relaxation and using beautiful beaches and water recreations are in line with the results obtained by Shah Hosseini (2013), Ebrahimzadeh and Valashjerdi Farahani (2013), Rojpalakorn (2006), Jonsson Devonish, Dwayne (2008), Jarvandi and Forghani (2009), Imani Khoshkhoo and Ayoobi Yazdi (2010).The confirmation of the second hypothesis based on the importance of costs and expenses in the selection of destination is in line with the results obtained by Azani and Lotfi (2013).The confirmation of the third hypothesis based on the role of tourist attractions' diversity in selecting destination is in line with the results obtained by Ghaderi and Motahar (2013), Imani Khoshkhoo and Ayoobi Yazdi (2010), Pelin Arsezen-Otamis &Nedim Yuzbasi Oglu (2013).According to the results, it can be noted that the costs and expenses and variety of attractions for travelers is of higher priority than motivation and selection of destination for Esfahanipassengers.Planners and authorities in the field of tourism in the country can take measurements for providing services with lower costs and expenses regarding the economical status of people and the diversity and variety of attractions in each city and province.Furthermore, considering the point that tourists departing to both destinations selected relaxation and recreation and using beautiful beaches and water recreations as their most important motivation and purpose, having beautiful beaches at the coast the Caspian Sea and coasts in the south of the country, Iran can be a suitable place for relaxation and recreation especially in Kish island, Gheshmn island, and Anzali harbor.

Suggestions
According to the results of this research and the point that expectations of tourists from tourist destination is formed based on the experience of previous trips, advertisements and others' encouragements, and the quality of services, quality of facilities and perceived values have direct influence on travel quality, tourists' experiences, and the level of their demands in the future, suggestions can be provided for reinforcing tourists' motivation and expanding Iran's tourism market and promotion of the tourism boom in the country regarding studying the selection of tourist destinations out of the country comparing Antalya and Dubai and their success in attracting Iranian tourists.Some of the suggestions are as follow:  Offering affordable internal tours to the coasts, especially in Norooz holidays in the spring and holidays in the summer, given that the cost of internal tours to destinations such as Kish during Noroozis not so different from external tours and there are direct flights from Isfahan to Dubai and Antalya which is itself an encouraging factor  Cleaning up North Coasts of wastes and pollution and providing decent sanitation services along the coast  More advertising for destinations such as Qeshm Island which is introduced and known more as a business destination and introducing natural attractions and recreational facilities to people  Holding festivals and concerts in Norooz New Year in all the coastal cities of the country to attract more passengers  Given the importance of direct flights to destinations desired by the passengers, it should be noted that there are still no direct flights to some provinces in the country and if there are, they are limited.Proper planning and establishing direct flights to most cities in the country can encourage travelers to choose destinations  Considering the point that Turkey and United Arab Emirates have been successful in attracting tourists by introducing their countries and cultures to Iranians in their movies and serials and through extensive advertising and foreign satellite channels, we can also introduce more provinces and our culture by dedicating funds and encouraging provincial networks to make movies and advertise.
 Given that there are many intact tourism destinations in the country, tourist destinations can be introduced by making people know them and by trip planning and enough information about tourists' motivations  Given that passengers expressed that costs and expenses (hotel, ticket, and recreation) are the most important factor in selecting a tourist destination, planners and authorities in the field of tourism should pay more attention to affordable and high quality services in internal destinations so that more people are attracted to internal destinations and spending the country's currency outside the country is prevented. Establishing more free trade and business zones in the south of the country for the development of non-oil exports and attracting touristswith travel, trade, and tourism developmentpurposes  Proper and specialized planning of facilities and necessary funding and urging private sectors to participate in construction of residential and recreational centers in free zones to introduce historic and natural attractions and business potentials of the region at a national and international level  Creating tourist attractions similar to ones in the two studied destinations with regard to relaxing and recreational motivations of tourists coming to Iran  Managers of tourist destinations should pay attention that the image and the worth of destination in encouraging and urging tourists and their satisfaction from the destination can make visitors visit it over and over again and recommend it to others

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Visiting hand-made and artificial sights and scenes of the destination -Job situation and business -Advertisements and tourist organizations' management of the destination -Appropriate facilities and amenities (hotel, transportation vehicles, restaurants) Attractions' diversity -Diversity of tourist attractions in the destinations (recreations, history, culture) -Appropriate facilities and amenities (hotel, transportation vehicles, restaurants) -Visiting hand-made and artificial sights and scenes of the destination -Visiting natural sights -Shopping centers with affordable prices -Cultural and historical attractions Travel expenses -The role of travel expenses in selecting destination -The role of income -The role of the rate of exchange in selecting destination Source (The authors' evaluations and calculations)

Table 2 .
Distribution of frequency of the respondents based on gender, marital status, and age status

Table 3 .
Distribution of the frequency of the respondents based on the number of persons accompanying and accompaniments group

Table 4 .
Distribution of the frequency of the respondents based on educational level and job

Table 5 .
U Mann-Whitney test related to the first hypothesis

Table 7 .
Spearman correlation coefficient related to the second hypothesis

Table 8 .
Studying the most important factor in the selection of tourist destination

Table 9 .
Chi square test related to the third hypothesis