A influência da interação com pessoas com incapacidade no conhecimento e atitudes dos estudantes do ensino superior de turismo

Abstract

Accessible tourism is one of the growing research areas. However, most of the scientific production within this area addresses physical accessibility, with very little research focusing interpersonal barriers, more specifically attitudes towards people with disabilities. In Portugal, the majority of higher education tourism courses do not include in their curriculum a module dedicated to this subject. The purpose of this research is to determine whether previous contacts with people with special needs influences the knowledge about the accessible tourism market segment of tourism undergraduate and master students, as well as their attitudes towards this group of people. In order to achieve these objectives, a questionnaire was self-administered to 288 students of the higher education in tourism. The findings suggested that there are statistically significant differences between students who frequently contact people with special needs, particularly in terms of their knowledge of the accessible tourism market segment and attitudes towards this group. This study contributes, on a theoretical plan, for the validation of the relation between the frequency of previous contact with people with special needs and their attitudes towards this group of people. On the other hand, at a practical level, it helps higher education and vocational training institutions in order to reprogram curricula to improve attitudes towards people with disabilities.