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How Asian attitudes are changing towards disability and tourism.

How Asian attitudes are changing towards disability and tourism.
Author: Lesley Evans
1 Commentries
ABSTRACT

This paper has looked at the existing and changing attitudes of Asian countries in regards to the disabilities of their own citizens as well as to foreign visitors to the continent. There has also been discussion on the various factors that have played vital roles in determining these attitudes, based on socio-cultural and environmental backgrounds, and how these changing attitudes have made major changes within the Asian tourism industry in relation to disabled tourists.

Key Words: Disability, Asia, Tourism, Attitudes.

Disability- a burden or just a different way of life?


"The problem is not how to wipe out the differences but how to unite with the differences intact"

Rabindranath Tagore, as quoted in O'Keefe, 2007


Tourism in on the increase within the Asia region, within this increase the older generation and disabled consumer markets are significantly growing. This is occurring despite the negative attitudes of Asians when it comes to disability.

In traditional Asian culture, the above title statement would end at the word burden. This is due to the cultural background beliefs and upbringing of many people within Asia countries. This is in particular reference to religion, which has acted as a major contributor to the existing attitudes towards people with a type of disability (ESCAP,2000).

This paper also outlined the religious beliefs of Buddhism- one of the main religions within Asia and how the concept of Karma may have contributed towards the attitude that disability is a form of punishment for those it afflicts, due to past misdemeanours of the individual in a previous life (Bizjak et al, 2011). Other views have been based around a person's personality when having a type of disability. Within Asian culture such an individual is expected to live a simplistic life without any desire to travel and to keep themselves to themselves without causing inconveniences to their families (Yau et al, 2004).

The World Health Organisation (WHO) also featured in this paper when it came to defining the numerous types and forms of disability and the categories that they fall into- Impairment, Disability or Handicap (WHO, 2011).


So to what extent have Asian attitudes changed towards disabled tourists?


With tourism on the increase, the Asian tourism industry has identified the potential revenue generation from the disabled tourism market. Such revenue generation was to come from the improvement of the main areas that act as restraints for disabled tourists.

These main areas were that of accommodation, transport and dining out facilities which all catered for non-disabled tourists but failed to meet the requirements needed to accommodate those with a disability.

A major example of improved transportation is the services provided by the major Asian airline Hong Kong International airport which has made improvement measures, making the airport fully accessible for disabled travellers, both foreign tourists as well as remembers of the Asian community.

These measures made by the airline have included wheel-chair-accessible toilets, ramps, escalators and lifts around the airport, terminal shuttle train and Ground Transport Centre (Hong Kong International, 2009). This is in addition to both escalator and walkways having audio warning signals installed in them for those with sight impairments. Braille signage is also in place within the lifts, toilet and telephone areas while tactile path guides and induction loops are installed at appropriate points around the airport and surrounding grounds.

The other major sector was that of accommodation and how little if any provisions were made for disabled people. Hotels within Asian are currently investing into a number of products that can be introduced into their hotels in order to maximise accessibility and comfort for their disabled tourist market. These services have included ramps and rails for guests in wheelchairs, pagers and displays for the hearing-impaired and braille information cards and menus for the blind. In addition to this the hotels are also providing training for staff members and service crew so that they are more able and informed when it comes to accommodating the requests of disabled guests (Brady, 1997). Thailand has many prominent disabled friendly hotels within it's' more urban cities, such as Chiang Mai and Bangkok. However this sector of the Asian tourism industry is still lacking in response to tourism needs for better access into tourism.

In conclusion the key themes of this paper are centred on the transitions of attitudes within Asia towards disability and tourism. Socio-cultural background factors have also been identified that have contributed towards the traditional attitudes felt towards disabled people from Asia as well as disabled tourists. The factors that have contributed towards this change were that of increasing tourism within Asia, which resulted in increased tourism revenues. By this increase the Asian tourism industry made improvements within their accommodation sector as well as their transportation sector in order to further accommodate for disabled tourists. However further changes still need to be made in these areas and still asks the question:


Would you want to travel to an Asian country based on how you may be treated if you had some type of disability?

Reference List

Yau. M.K, McKercher. B and Packer. T.L, (2004), Travelling with a Disability: More than an access issue, Annals of Tourism Research 31, 4, 946-960

Bizjak. B, Knežević. M and Cvetrežnik. S, (2011), Attitude Change Towards Guests With Disabilities: Reflections from tourism students, University of Primorska, Slovenia, Annals of Tourism Research.

Brady. D, (1997), Some disabled travellers in Asian find hotels more accommodating, The Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, available online at: http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/Business-international/Some-disabled-travelers-in-Asia-find-hotels-are-more-accommodating.html, (2010), accessed 1st May 2011.




Commenting on Asian attitudes are changing towards disability and tourism.
Author: Dan Zheng
Firstly, it is worthy to mention that the author of this discussion paper has deeply engaged with the topic of the strand as Asian attitudes are changing towards disability and tourism. Therefore in light of this, this paper has looked at the existing and changing attitudes of Asian countries in regards to the disabilities of their own citizens as well as to foreign visitors to the continent. At the same time, it also discussed different factors determined attitudes. Radically, almost immediately the author mentions the fact that the social cultural impacts involve the religion would affect their attitudes, such as, religious beliefs of Buddhism, simplistic lifestyle. Significantly, the Asian tourism industry has identified the potential revenue generation from the disabled tourism market. Consequently, Asian countries were going to improve the main areas that act as restraints for disabled tourists. In particular, these main areas were that of accommodation, transport and dining out facilities that failed to meet the requirements of those with a disability. The author also mentioned that Hong Kong International airport has made improvement measures to make the airport fully accessible for disabled travelers.

Moreover, the author of this discussion has explored the accommodation changed for disabled people. For the hotel, services have added for the disabled customers, such as ramps and rails for guests in wheelchairs, pagers and displays for the hearing-impaired. Meanwhile, hotels are also providing training for staff members. In relation to the Asian countries, Thailand has many prominent disabled friendly hotels within it's' more urban cities, such as Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Through the measures taken, it is obviously that most of Asian countries have already changed the attitudes towards disabled travelers.

Last but not least, increasing tourism within Asia resulted in increased tourism revenues. By this increase the Asian tourism industry made improvements within their accommodation sector as well as their transportation sector in order to further accommodate for disabled tourists. This is something that could have been mentioned as it does form a huge part of the positive social cultural argument.

Overall, the way in which the author has used real- life examples of where the socio-cultural impacts can be seen such as within Hong Kong International Airport and Bangkok hotel strengthens the discussion and gives the reader proof that such measures have taken. In all, the issues surrounding the increased tourism revenues results to the attitude changing is something that could be researched further. Additionally, attitudes are changing towards disability and tourism can interlink and have knock -on effects with other factors such as social and economic therefore it is a suggestion that these issues could be explored further in order to make this discussion more interesting and broaden the scope of the changing attitudes of tourist's interactions within a destination.