BACKGROUND
Disabled individuals encounter discriminatory attitudes and accessibility deficiencies in areas such as historical sites, museums and hotels. Studies have shown that disabled individuals do not feel comfortable participating in tourism or in the places they go due to reasons such as deficiencies in architectural arrangements, problems with transfer vehicles and discriminatory attitudes of tourism professionals. There is an ongoing need to both increase the awareness of the local population and ensure that more tourism operators provide accessible services.
PROJECT GOALS
- Elective course content will be prepared for the Accessible Tourism course for Muğla Sıtkı Kocaman University tourism students.
- 6-hour Rights-Based Accessible Tourism training will be provided to 200 people from 30 NGOs.
- 300 MSKU students will be trained and an applied Treasure Hunt will be carried out with the students in the Paspatur region.
- Sign Language Training will be organized for a group of 30 people consisting of tourism agencies, professional guides and tourism faculty students.
- Websites of 4 hotels will be made accessible.
- 10 people will be trained to make websites more accessible.
- A workshop for 50 people will be organized on accessibility in tourism.
- Training videos will be prepared and disseminated.
PROJECT RESULTS
- 197 NGO representatives from 12 institutions received training on "Rights-Based and Accessible Tourism."
- A dialogue was established with Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University regarding the opening of an elective course on accessible tourism for tourism students.
- 370 students from the tourism and business faculties of Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University received training on tourism and accessibility.
- 25 university students participated in a "Treasure Hunt" game to identify accessibility issues in the Paspatur region and develop solutions.
- 23 groups of tourism agencies, professional guides, and tourism faculty students received training in International Sign Language.
- Training videos were prepared for hotel staff on how to accommodate individuals with hearing, visual, and orthopedic disabilities in hotels, what services should be offered, and how to communicate.
- Technical support was provided to ensure the accessibility of the websites of four boutique hotels.
- 76 people from local NGOs and tourism businesses attended the two-day workshop, which identified necessary actions for accessible tourism in Fethiye and developed an activity calendar through group work.
- Focus group discussions and research on "accessible tourism for individuals with disabilities" were conducted, and the results were shared at the workshop.
