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Abstract Purpose The purpose of this paper is to include grandparents' characteristics, identifying who they are, revealing the differences in their motivation while taking a trip with their spouses and with their grandchildren or without grandkids using a factor-cluster market segmentation approach. Design/methodology/approach The sample population for this research consisted of tourists who are grandparents and visited the Rudkhan Castle in the city of Fuman in Iran. The push and pull motivation data were collected from a questionnaire and separated respondents into parts of with grandchildren and without grandchildren samples. The motivation factors were derived from 26 motivation items through factor analysis. Among 528 questionnaires distributed, 516 questionnaires were used for further data analyses. Findings As a result of cluster analysis, grandparents with spouses and grandchildren were divided into three clusters including "Family lovers" which constituted nearly half of the sample, "Multi-purpose seekers" and "Knowledge hunters", while grandparents who were only with their spouses were segmented into four clusters. The first and the largest was "Escapists, followed by "Enjoy seekers", "Novelty seekers" and "Historical/Natural explorers". Originality/value Recognizing the differences between tourists is the first step toward competitive advantage. Segmentation allows the identification of groups of tourists who share some common characteristics and who are likely to respond similarly to marketing stimuli. However, there are a few studies about motivations of elderly tourists who experienced a holiday trip with their grandchildren or without them.
Mercede Shavanddasht (Mon,) studied this question.