Accessibility support for tourists with physical disabilities in Gauteng

Abstract : Accessible tourism is attracting a growing international scholarship. In South Africa, however, only limited research has been conducted on issues surrounding accessible tourism. It is argued that South Africa has the opportunity to, now as its tourism industry grows, ensure and support standard regulations to support special needs tourism. The fundamentals of this research involves an investigation into the sensitivity for people with physical disabilities among purposively selected South African government tourism bodies, and commercial tourism products and services in order to assess the extent to which universal accessibility for special needs tourists is addressed. Are accessible tourism products and services evident for tourists with physical disabilities in Johannesburg, South Africa? Answering this question was the main purpose of this research study; to provide a cross-sectional view of the state of universal accessibility in one of South Africa’s major urban destinations and cities. Globally, there are only a few countries that have universally accessible tourist facilities. This research sought to evaluate how successful the destination of Johannesburg has been in providing such facilities, as well as the benefits and challenges involved in provision this type of support from a destination. This research examined who in South Africa is responsible for enabling accessible tourism from a government and private business perspective. The study used observation of websites of tourist accommodation that claim to serve physically disabled tourists in Gauteng. The next stage of research was qualitative, with semi-structured interviews with 13 key stakeholders performed to gain detailed information from experts at government tourism organisations and from within the tourism industry about South Africa’s approach to supporting physically disabled tourists. These interviews were used in conjunction with the website observations, to ascertain the extent to which respondents felt Gauteng addresses the disabled tourist or special needs tourist segment. Finally, a quantitative survey of universal accessibility perspectives was undertaken, with data gathered from physically disabled tourists in Gauteng. This ensured triangulation of an accommodation quality survey from physically disabled tourists, with South Africa accommodation website offerings in support of these tourist types and interviews with South Africans who can influence future support from accommodations for change for disabled tourists. The properties of the existing scale was tested through EFA. The three stages ensured the value of triangulation for the three-stage research design. More than one source of primary data was used, as advocated in triangulation. v The observation of websites’ findings indicated that the surveyed guesthouses failed to state in their marketing materials whether they have universally accessible tourist facilities physically disabled tourist support. This makes it hard for this type of tourist to make a ‘buying’ decision. Disbaled tourists interviewed agreed that they often cannot get information on accommodation before they arrive. They also highlighted the issue and biggest challenge for people who are disabled is the fact that they cannot access the same kind of experiences and facilities available to able bodied individuals. Moreover, the fact that they are treated differently was seen as ‘grossly unfair’. The quantitative survey showed that the needs of physically disabled tourists closely mirror that of able-bodied tourists, and that in general, respondents were happy with their South African accommodation despite the absence of universal accessibility as a star grading criteria (i.e currently the star grading system of South African accommodation establishments does not grade for disabilities). Nevertheless, the findings illustrated clearly that being graded for universal accessibility should not be voluntary, rather a grading criteria that South African accommodation establishments should lobby for to be able to compete against universal access graded accommodation as is done in other countries.M.Com. (Tourism and Hospitality Management