Ethnographic Study of the Tourists' Motivation for Recreational Trip to Mazandaran Province Through the Lens of Rite of Passage Theory

Considering the relationship between tourists' motivations and the type of their trip, a clear and logical perception of the process could be of great significance. Therefore, this study sought to analyze the tourists’ motivations for traveling to the coastal cities of Mazandaran province, taking a distinct anthropological perspective by highlighting the concepts of leisure trips. As ethnography is the main method used by anthropologists to discover the elements existing in a field, this study used a qualitative method with an emphasis on ethnography. Primary data were collected through participant observation and semi-structured in-depth interviews. To this end, 16 tourists who had visited the three coastal cities of Mahmoud Abad, Fereydoonknar, and Babolsar were selected via purposive sampling. The collected data were then analyzed using a three-stage coding system. In this regard, first, three categories, including "a place with a different structure", "in search of novel experiences", and "suspension" were identified. Finally, after performing the selective coding, the core category of "rites of passage" was extracted. According to the study’s results, it appears that the tourists who travel to the cities mentioned above for recreational purposes experience a mixed feeling of suspension and freedom from the requirements and responsibilities of daily life during the trip, which could be considered similar to the second phase of the theory of rites of passage.