Are Travel Agencies Ready for Accessible Tourism in Turkey? The Tendencies and Expectations of Travel Agencies as Supply Side of Accessible Tourism in Turkey

Abstract

The number of disabled people, who have been called the world’s largest minority by International United Nations Organization, shall increase even further as the world’s population ages; the older generations are the greatest individuals at risk of becoming disabled. Because of increasing and reaching a large number of people with disabilities, it should form an important subject of attention for the tourism industry of the World and Turkey. The aim of this research is to determine the tendencies and expectations of travel agencies involved in the supply side of tourism. In this study, it was determined that travel enterprises did not regularly have special services devoted to disabled people, but they were able to offer solutions to the problems encountered by disabled people during travel. It was seen that travel agencies were not ready to accommodate the tourism needs of disabled people or, in other words, engage in accessible tourism.