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Browsing Masters by Subject ": Persons with disabilities, tourist workers"

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    Accessibility to Tourism by Persons with disabilities in the Ashanti Region of Ghana
    (2015-07-02) Aggrey Mensah, Susanna
    Introduction: People continuously move from Europe, Asia, America, Africa and Australia to tour around the world leading to increased participation in tourism which brings individuals together. However, it appears persons with disabilities (PWDs) are underrepresented in the industry particularly in the Ghanaian tourism setting due to inaccessible tourism services and other provisions. Accessibility and participation of PWDs in tourism will, however, ensure a social inclusion of PWDs. The study aimed at assessing the accessibility to tourism for PWDs in Ashanti Region. Methods: Across-sectional study using both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods was conducted with workers at tourist centres and Persons with Disabilities in the Ashanti region, Ghana. Both voice recorded interview and structured questionnaires were used in collecting data for the study. Results were generated through thematic analysis for qualitative data and descriptive statistics for quantitative data using SPSS version 20. Results: The finding showed that although all participants have ever accessed tourism as consumers, they only paid occasional visit to tourist sites. The average expenditure on a single tourist visit was GHC 14.92 (equivalent of US$ 4.5), which majority (90.8%) said it comes from their personal income. This seems to put financial burden on PWDs who tried to access tourism services. The results further showed that PWDs faced barriers to facilities at tourist destinations since bath chairs, toilet raisers, wheel chair accessible vehicles, Braille format text and facility to climb walk ways were not available to ensure their access. Again, PWDs faced barriers to adapted tables and chairs. Some of the respondents (42.5%) therefore expressed dissatisfaction at the facilities and indicated that they depended on support from their care givers to access tourist services. Most (66.7%) of the respondents faced barriers to structures. These barriers were as a result of providers’ inability to factor the needs of PWDs into the design of such tourist sites. Conclusion: Participants’ suggestions in respect of the structures were that the drains should be covered; there should be proper walk-ways, ramps and elevators. Respondents again suggested that the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) should design specific disability-friendly tourist sites, and there should be a subsidy on gate fee for PWDs, whilst at the same time tourist workers should be given education and orientation on disability education