How tourism could be more accessible for mobility-disabled tourists.
Author: Zuzanna Pawlus
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Abstract: This conference paper discusses how tourism industry could be more accessible for mobility-disabled tourists.
Key Words: Accessible tourism, mobility-disabled tourists, barriers
Accessible tourism allows people with access requirements, such as mobility, vision, hearing and cognitive dimensions of access, to function independently when using tourism products, services and environments. For accessible tourism, the aim so to provide equal opportunities and accessibility for all, leisure activities are crucial requirement for a personal development of a human as it is the basis for socializing and for participating in the social life,(Bas, 2011) that is why it is so important for everyone to have equal opportunities. In the tourism industry, there has been a clear progress, especially in providing facilities for mobility-disabled people, however the problem is that awareness has not been correctly communicated to the millions of potentials users who could avail themselves of the services. (Bas,2011) According to Ray and Ryder (2003) studies, disabled travellers depend on word-of-mouth, on social media, throughout that the tourists can uncover critical service failure incidents in the disabled traveller’s market and to provide insights to better service tourists with mobility-disabilities.
Even though the tourism industry is implementing many different strategies to make tourism accessible as much as possible, there still are many barriers that either stop mobility-disabled tourists from going on a holiday, or they do not feel satisfied with the holiday due to it being challenging. One of the main problems are that there is lack of continuity in the travel chain. Travel chain is the elements that make up the journey from the starting point to the destination, the travel chain includes factors such as vehicles, pedestrians’ access, transfer points and many more. If one of these factors is not accessible for mobility-disabled tourist, it can have a very negative impact on the journey, as either the individual cannot take the planned route, or struggles to get through to the destination which leads to lot of stress and time being taken. (WHO, 2011) Special transport services and accessible taxis are a designed for people with disabilities, the demand-responsive transport provides transport when it is requested by a disabled person, however the problem is that accessible vehicles are expensive to purchase which leads to the provider who operates the service, taking very high prices for services. This means that in the low-economy destinations, it is more likely that demand-responsive transport will be difficult to find, and mobility-disabled people might not be able to afford a holiday with the prices of accessible services being so high. Even more, there is a serious lack of staff awareness. There have been many different cases where transport operators did not know how to use the accessibility features that are provided or how to treat all disabled passengers safely. In developing countries, it has been observed that disrespectful behaviour has been shown towards passengers with disabilities. (WHO, 2011) This clearly shows how still not everyone are aware of disabilities especially in countries where education is not developed.
All the barriers make the journey very difficult for the mobility-disabled tourists. Mobility-disabled tourists need to make sure that when they go on a holiday, they are fully prepared for the potential barriers that they might have to face, that is why it is important for the tourism services to have clear information about accessibility. Awareness also needs to be implemented, especially in developing countries. Whenever possible, it is also recommended that the different tourism service providers will offer appropriate costs that are affordable for the mobility-disabled tourists as their budget can be also limited. There should be no additional costs for accessible services.
References
Bas, D., 2011. Social and Cultural Tourism. World Leisure & Recreation, [online] 34(3), pp.7-7. Available at: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10261133.1992.9673823> [Accessed 2 May 2020].
Ray, N. and Ryder, M., 2003. “Ebilities” tourism: an exploratory discussion of the travel needs and motivations of the mobility-disabled. Tourism Management, 24(1), pp.57-72. [Accessed 1 May 2020]
World Health Organization. 2011. World Report On Disability. [online] Available at: <https://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report/en/> [Accessed 3 May 2020].
Key Words: Accessible tourism, mobility-disabled tourists, barriers
Accessible tourism allows people with access requirements, such as mobility, vision, hearing and cognitive dimensions of access, to function independently when using tourism products, services and environments. For accessible tourism, the aim so to provide equal opportunities and accessibility for all, leisure activities are crucial requirement for a personal development of a human as it is the basis for socializing and for participating in the social life,(Bas, 2011) that is why it is so important for everyone to have equal opportunities. In the tourism industry, there has been a clear progress, especially in providing facilities for mobility-disabled people, however the problem is that awareness has not been correctly communicated to the millions of potentials users who could avail themselves of the services. (Bas,2011) According to Ray and Ryder (2003) studies, disabled travellers depend on word-of-mouth, on social media, throughout that the tourists can uncover critical service failure incidents in the disabled traveller’s market and to provide insights to better service tourists with mobility-disabilities.
Even though the tourism industry is implementing many different strategies to make tourism accessible as much as possible, there still are many barriers that either stop mobility-disabled tourists from going on a holiday, or they do not feel satisfied with the holiday due to it being challenging. One of the main problems are that there is lack of continuity in the travel chain. Travel chain is the elements that make up the journey from the starting point to the destination, the travel chain includes factors such as vehicles, pedestrians’ access, transfer points and many more. If one of these factors is not accessible for mobility-disabled tourist, it can have a very negative impact on the journey, as either the individual cannot take the planned route, or struggles to get through to the destination which leads to lot of stress and time being taken. (WHO, 2011) Special transport services and accessible taxis are a designed for people with disabilities, the demand-responsive transport provides transport when it is requested by a disabled person, however the problem is that accessible vehicles are expensive to purchase which leads to the provider who operates the service, taking very high prices for services. This means that in the low-economy destinations, it is more likely that demand-responsive transport will be difficult to find, and mobility-disabled people might not be able to afford a holiday with the prices of accessible services being so high. Even more, there is a serious lack of staff awareness. There have been many different cases where transport operators did not know how to use the accessibility features that are provided or how to treat all disabled passengers safely. In developing countries, it has been observed that disrespectful behaviour has been shown towards passengers with disabilities. (WHO, 2011) This clearly shows how still not everyone are aware of disabilities especially in countries where education is not developed.
All the barriers make the journey very difficult for the mobility-disabled tourists. Mobility-disabled tourists need to make sure that when they go on a holiday, they are fully prepared for the potential barriers that they might have to face, that is why it is important for the tourism services to have clear information about accessibility. Awareness also needs to be implemented, especially in developing countries. Whenever possible, it is also recommended that the different tourism service providers will offer appropriate costs that are affordable for the mobility-disabled tourists as their budget can be also limited. There should be no additional costs for accessible services.
References
Bas, D., 2011. Social and Cultural Tourism. World Leisure & Recreation, [online] 34(3), pp.7-7. Available at: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10261133.1992.9673823> [Accessed 2 May 2020].
Ray, N. and Ryder, M., 2003. “Ebilities” tourism: an exploratory discussion of the travel needs and motivations of the mobility-disabled. Tourism Management, 24(1), pp.57-72. [Accessed 1 May 2020]
World Health Organization. 2011. World Report On Disability. [online] Available at: <https://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report/en/> [Accessed 3 May 2020].