Determination of participation motivations of cave tourism: case of karaca cave

In this research, it was aimed to determine the dimensions that underlie the motivation of participation in cave tourism and to obtain the findings that will be useful strategies for central (General Directorate of Investments and Enterprises of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) and local (Municipalities, City Administrations, etc.) authorities related with the future of the caves. Moreover, it is aimed to contribute to literature by considering the limited number of studies on the motivation of the cave visitors in the current literature. The semi-structured interview form, which was formed in accordance with the related objectives, was applied to the visitors of Karaca Cave (Gümüşhane). The interviews were conducted face to face with 21 cave visitors on 14.10.2017. During the interviews, the sound was recorded and the recordings were transferred to the computer. Finally, content analysis was performed on data from the computer. In the coding process of the data, it was acted within the framework of push and pull factors. As a result of the study, 5 push and 5 pull factors were determined.