Challenges Facing People with Disabilities in Historic Jeddah

Historic Jeddah (HJ) attracts great attention from all over the world, not only because it has been registered on the UNESCO list since 2014, but also because the city of Jeddah is considered the gateway to the Two Holy Mosques and is an important international Islamic commercial port. This has led to (HJ) topping the list of the most important heritage sites that people visit and because of this, visiting it should therefore be available to everyone, without discrimination. However, people with disabilities (PWD) face challenges in accessing heritage tourism. Because everyone has a right to tourism in general and heritage tourism in particular, this research aims to investigate those challenges. Semi-structured interviews with 21 participants and field study observations were used and the results are illustrated with photographs. This study will help to overcome the challenges encountered and contribute to the Saudi 2030 vision of enhancing development to meet accessibility requirements in the heritage tourism sector.