An Evaluative Case Study of City Center Muscat Accessibility Provisions

Abstract

Shopping malls are the corner stone of shopping tourism and at the same time a controlled entertainment hub. Persons with disabilities could socialize and enjoy the different entertainment activities provided within the mall environment, but are the malls ready to adequately provide their services and products to this customer segment? The current study seeks to answer this question in The Sultanate of Oman, through the case study of “City Center Muscat”, the number one mall in the country located in the capital city “Muscat”. The study aims to assess the accessibility provisions of City Center Muscat and the on-premises food and beverage outlets, as well as some of the challenges that individuals with disabilities face when interacting with these establishments. To achieve the study aim, content analysis was applied on the mall website and mobile application contents, then, a checklist was used to evaluate both the mall website and the mobile application accessibility features. In order to assess the mall and the on-premises food and beverage outlets accessibly provisions two checklists were formulated and used. The paper highlights some of the positive initiatives that have been put in place to increase accessibility and proposes some recommendations for how accessibility can be further improved. Keywords: Accessibility, City Center Muscat, Disabled, Food, Oman, Tourism, Shopping