A Research to Determine The Suitability of Hotel Enterprises For Accessible Tourism

Abstract

Within the scope of the social state understanding, every individual has the right to travel and participate in touristic activities. However, some individuals are not able to benefit from these rights due to their birth or subsequent disabilities. In this study, it was investigated how suitable the three, four and five star hotels in Mardin, Şanlıurfa and Hatay provinces, which have many common values in terms of faith, culture and historical tourism, are suitable for disabled tourism. In order to obtain the research data, a questionnaire was applied to the managers of the relevant hotel businesses and their opinions were asked about the physical structure of the hotel business, tourism policy, room arrangements for the disabled, the behaviour of the staff in helping the disabled guests, and the views of the local administrations on accessibility. The questionnaire statements were evaluated in line with their opinions as "appropriate" and "not appropriate.” As a result of the research, it has been determined that all three provinces are insufficient in terms of disabled tourism and there are some differences between the hotel businesses in these provinces.