A Study on the Perspectives of Tourism Education Students on Persons with Disabilities and Disabled Tourism in Turkey

Abstract

Today, there are more than one billion disabled people in the world and this number is increasing day by day. Just as every person has a desire to have fun, travel and rest; disabled individuals also have requests to participate in tourism activities. In order to respond to this demand of disabled tourists, the disabled tourism market has emerged. Today's tourism students are potential tourism employees who will serve in the disabled tourism market tomorrow. The study was conducted to measure the perspectives of tourism students on disabled people and disabled tourism. For this purpose, data were obtained by questionnaire from 1,903 students who received tourism education at university level in Turkey, and the obtained data were analyzed in the SPSS statistical package program. Although there are different studies on disabled tourism in the literature, studies within the scope of tourism students are limited. In this context, it is thought that the study will make an important contribution to the literature. In line with the results of the study, it has been understood that tourism students in Turkey attach importance to the infrastructure and superstructure elements specific to disabled tourists and that these elements should be developed. Tourism students think that the equipment for disabled tourists in tourism facilities is insufficient and the existing equipment should be improved. Another issue that tourism students emphasized in the study is the necessity of providing facilitating services in every sector of tourism in order to increase the holiday satisfaction of disabled tourists.