Accessible Tourism- People with disabilities

Abstract
Different groups of society face barriers when it comes to tourism opportunities. One main group that face a high number of barriers are people with disabilities. The aim of this paper is to highlight these barriers and what can be done to overcome them to make tourism more accessible.

Keywords- Tourism, Barriers, Disabilities, Society.


Accessible Tourism- People with disabilities

A number of different factors holiday factors and different groups of society. One group of society that are affected by these factors greatly are people with disabilities. This topic has been chosen for study because Packer, Yau and Mckercher (2007) state that disabled people do not travel at the same rate as people without disabilities. The paper has set out to explore the reasons behind this.

There are many barriers that contribute to the restriction of holiday taking options for disabled people. These have been put into three categories, the first is physical access issues, this is essentially access issues that are prominent within the physical environment e.g. no ramp access for wheelchair users. The next barrier that has been categorised is attitudinal barriers. These barriers can be described as people's attitudes towards people with disabilities. Some academics state that negative attitudes towards people with disabilities are an issue when it comes to tourism participation. The last barrier that was categorised is a lack of information. This barrier is showing that the information available to disabled people is inadequate and is one of the biggest factors restricting holiday taking opportunities for disabled. These three categories all contribute to the access issues people with disabilities face when it comes to tourism opportunities.

Perhaps the biggest factor restricting holiday taking for disabled people is the lack of information available. Without the provision of information, this will make it near on impossible for people with disabilities to travel. An accessible infrastructure is the basis for tourism opportunities, the provision of information is just as important (Stumbo and Pegg, 2005). This view shows that a lack of information will affect tourism opportunities for disabled people. This is because a lack of information means people with disabilities cannot even start to plan a holiday, as they will not have the relevant information about destinations that will meet their specific needs. A lack of information is a major issue for people with disabilities and is one of the biggest factors that restrict holiday taking.

Another factor that restricts holiday taking for people with disabilities is the view that disabled people have less disposable income than people without a disability. People with disabilities in general have a higher unemployment rate than people without a disability, this results in less disposable income for them to spend on themselves. Having less disposable income can now be seen as a major factor restricting holiday taking and tourism opportunities because people with disabilities will not be able to spend money on something that is not seen as a necessity. People with disabilities sometimes require a helper to assist them with their everyday routines. This contributes to restricting holiday taking opportunities because if a person with a disability wishes to go on holiday and requires a helper this is going to cost even more because the cost for the helper would have to be covered. A lower disposable income can be seen as a major factor when it comes to restricting holiday taking.

The last factor is the public's attitudes towards legislation. Many countries have legislations that have stopped discrimination towards disabled people. An example of this is the disability discrimination act of 1995 and 2005. This was introduced to stop discrimination towards people with disabilities. It has been said that the tourism industry has not been forthcoming in terms of developing access for disabled people. The reason for this is that many managers and owners of attractions and accommodation do not see the disabled market as a valuable market and see upgrading their facilities to meet the needs of disabled people as a risk that may cost the business. This could be down to ignorance or a lack of education about the disabled market. It has been estimated that nearly 500 million people suffer from disabilities worldwide therefore this shows the potential value of this market. The public's attitudes can be seen as a factor restricting holiday taking for disabled people.

These are the main issues contributing to the restriction of holiday taking for disabled people. There are some changes the industry can make in terms of improving opportunities for tourism. There has to be more information available to disabled people in terms of accessible destinations and attractions. A good example of this is the charity 'Tourism for all'. The main aims of this charity are to provide information on accessible tourism (Tourism for all, 2013). This will help people with disabilities in terms of holiday taking because it will highlight accessible attractions and destinations for people with disabilities. A lack of information can be seen as one of the biggest issues when it comes to the factors restricting holiday taking for disabled people. However all three factors mentioned in this paper are major factors in restricting holiday taking.


Reference list

Packer, T., Mckercher, B., Yau, M . (2007). Understanding the complex interplay between tourism, disability and environmental contexts.. Disability & Rehabilitation. 29 (4), 281-293.

Stumbo, N., Pegg, S. (2005). Travellers and Tourists with Disabilities: A Matter of Priorities and Loyalties. Tourism review international . 8 (2), 195-209.

Tourism for all . (2013). Our Mission . Available: https://www.tourismforall.org.uk/Our-Mission.html. Last accessed 06/05/2013.

The main reason for the choosing this paper to discuss was due to the fact that it was written about the same issues that I had discussed in my paper, with the main focus being access to tourism between different characteristics of a person. The paper looks at access to tourism and the barriers that affect people with disabilities and what can be done to overcome these barriers and the issues of access to tourism.
The main area of interest in this paper is that is discusses the barriers that contribute to people with disabilities that stops their access to tourism, but what can be done to overcome these issues. The paper discusses the different categories of barriers that affect access for people including physical and attitudinal, looking at ramps for wheelchairs to people's behaviour and the information available to disabled people in tourism.

The main similarity of this paper and mine is that access to tourism can be affected by one or more characteristics, in this paper disability and employment status are evaluated showing the disabled people have higher unemployment levels than people without a disability. The main difference between this paper and mine is that this paper discusses people's attitudes towards access to tourism for disabled people, and how to change people's attitudes to stop discrimination, whereas my paper just looks at the characteristic in question and their attitudes.

This discussion paper is well written and discusses the main factors and barriers that affect access to tourism for people with a disability against other characteristics. It evaluates information on accessibility to tourism for all people including people with a disability. Limitations of this paper is that there is limited discussion about how tourism destinations help to change access to tourism so that there are few barriers.