The Readiness of Accommodation Facilities to Provide Accessible Tourist Experiences in Cairo, Egypt

Sayed, Mohammed Saber; Elsaid, Haidy

doi:10.21608/ijtah.2023.189670.1069

The Readiness of Accommodation Facilities to Provide Accessible Tourist Experiences in Cairo, Egypt

Document Type : Research Articles

Authors

Mohammed Saber Sayed ¹
Haidy Elsaid ²

¹ 1- Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Helwan University, Cairo 2- Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, King Salman International University, Sharm El-Sheikh

² Tourism Studies Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt.

10.21608/ijtah.2023.189670.1069

Abstract

Accessible tourism is considered one of the most contemporary themes in tourism and aims to enable disabled customers to move around and perform activities as freely as non-disabled people. According to previous research, the number of disabled visitors is rising due to the aging population. Thus, this paper explores accessible tourism and sheds the light on the requirements of disabled visitors in accommodation facilities. It aims to reveal the readiness of the accommodation facilities in Cairo, Egypt to provide services for visitors with disabilities. As hotels are the most popular type of accommodation globally, this study focuses on hotels rather than other types of accommodation. A checklist-based technique was used to collect primary data. The sample included 13 international five-star hotel chains in Cairo. The findings were satisfactory in terms of accessibility in the sleeping area, bathroom features, reservation and booking, power, lighting, and convenience factors. However, there are insufficient number of guest rooms and parking lots offered for disabled visitors, in addition to some challenges with the location, transportation and accessibility of public areas. Thus, the study provides set of recommendations to enhance services and facilities for people with disabilities in accommodation facilities.

Keywords