Evaluating the services provided to the disabled in accommodation enterprises with importance-performance analysis in context of accessible tourism

According to the report published by the World Health Organization (WHO), the rate of people living with disabilities for any reason is 15.6%. According to this rate, it is predicted that 1,248.000 people among the 8 billion world population as of 2021 are living with disabilities (UNWHO, 2011). In the 2002 Turkey Disability Survey, the disability rate in Turkey was stated as 12.29% (DIE, 2002). The high number of people with disabilities and the fact that disabled people generally go on vacation with their companions indicate that accessible tourism has an essential place in the tourism sector. However, disabled people experience complexities while participating in tourism. Various arrangements ought to be made for all disability groups in order to overcome these difficulties. This study aims to determine the importance levels and implementation performances of the services provided within the scope of accessible tourism in accommodation businesses for people with disabilities using importance performance analysis. A questionnaire was created by examining the questionnaires used in the studies in the accessible tourism literature. The created questionnaire was applied to disabled individuals in the form of written or online questionnaires through disability associations and special education centers for the disabled via social media. In the first part of the questionnaire, there are 13 declarations in order to determine the demographic characteristics and vacation habits of the participants. In the second part of the questionnaire, there are 32 statements to measure the importance of the services presented within the scope of accessible tourism for tourists with disabilities. In the third part of the questionnaire, there are 32 declarations regarding the evaluation of implementation performance of the same services. The questionnaire was applied to 405 disabled individuals, but 19 questionnaires were not analyzed due to incorrect and incomplete markings. SPSS 25.0 program has been used to analyze the data of 386 questionnaires. Reliability analysis, Frequency analysis and Factor analysis were applied to the questionnaire. Four factors were found for both part of questionnaire in the importance and performance parts where factor analysis was applied. Subsequently, the mean values of the expressions in the importance and performance parts were calculated and the results were assigned in the IPA matrix. Evaluations were made corresponding to the results obtained in this matrix. Key Words: Disabled, Disability Tourism, Accessible Tourism, Accommodation Establishments, Importance-Performance Analyse