Hotel Managers’ and Staffs’ Attitudes Towards Accessible Tourism by Determining Handicapped Tourists’ Needs

Abstract

Access to tourism opportunities by handicapped people is important both for the handicapped people, for the tourism industry and for the society. The right to travel by the World Tourism Organization is a fundamental human right necessary for human happiness and health service is expected to be a basic requirement.  In this respect, it is important that tourism activities are accessible. The concept of accessible tourism for all aims to provide tourism products, services and environments tailored to the needs of the handicapped individual through the cooperation of stakeholders (Accessible tourism for all). The present study aims to investigate managers and staffs' perceptions on providing accessibility to search ways to meet and satisfy handicapped tourists’ needs and desires. Therefore, a survey was conducted to both 211 hotels’ managers and staff who currently work at hotels in Konya with 8 research questions. The quantitative data was analysed via SPSS 21 Programme. The most notable results revealed with this study were determined as, managers and staff who are currently working and accommodating between 1 to 50 tourists per year are more eager to design accessible environment for their handicapped guests than the managers and staff who accommodate more handicapped tourists between 50 and 100 per year, education levels also affect the thoughts of managers and staff towards ‘the accessibility perception’ and According to the ages of managers and staff currently working at a hotel, rising generation are more aware of the priority claims of the handicapped tourists and of course, to meet their needs conveniently in terms of the legislations.