Abstract
Leisure motivation is an important concept in the study of leisure behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine visitors' motivations for hot spring resorts in Korea. The data were collected by questionnaires survey in three hot spring resorts in 1994:Suanbo, Paikam, and Chuksan. The findings of this study are summarized as follows: The eight motivation factors extracted by factor analysis such as; 1)"intellectual needs", 2)'escaping everyday life', 3)'closing nature', 4)'recognition or status', 5)'interaction with others', 6)'health', 7)'family vacation', 8)'hot spring bathing'. The three resorts showed significant deferences in the motivation of visitors. Visitors of Suanbo have high motivation for 'intellectual needs', 'interaction with others', and 'thealth', and visitors of Chuksan for 'closing nature', 'family vacation', and 'hot spring bathing'. This study has proved first, psychological(pushing) factors are more important than pulling factors of resorts, second, in pulling factors, natural sceneries were more important than medicinal properties of the hot springs. And this study found several important implications for predicting visitors' demand in hot spring resorts.