Accessibility of National Parks to Persons With Disabilities in Ghana

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite offering countless tourism services, scanty research has been dedicated to examining how National Parks are accessible to persons with disabilities (PwDs). This study assessed the accessibility of Kakum and Mole National Parks to PwDs. The embedded mixed method approach and an exploratory design were adopted. A total of 81 frontline employees as well as two mangers of the parks were purposively selected for the study. Four instruments namely; Accessibility Audit Checklist, Questionnaire and two In Depth Interview Guides were used. The Accessibility Audit Checklist explored the physical accessibility conditions of the parks. The questionnaire measured frontline employees’ attitude towards PwDs and the in-depth interviews unearthed contextual issues. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, Kruskal Wallis, Mann-Whitney tests and inductive content techniques. The study observed that both parks’ core products are not physically accessible to PwDs. Five main factors emerged as drivers of physical accessibility at the two parks. Further, the study found that frontline employees have favourable attitude towards PwDs as 96.3%, 91.5% and 96% of the employees held positive cognitive, affective and behaviour dispositions respectively towards PwDs. Finally, socio-demographic and work-related factors shape employees’ attitude towards PwDs. The study recommends that management re-adjust the designs of the core products to allow for independent use by PwDs. Also, GTA should incorporate the PwDs Act, 2006 (Act 715) requirements and accessible tourism measures into their monitoring and evaluation criteria and mount strict enforcement to ensure the two national parks are made physically accessible to PwDs