”Accessible tourism enables people with access requirements, including mobility. Vision, hearing and cognitive dimension of access, to function independently and with equity and dignity through the delivery of universally designed tourism products, services and environments. This definition is inclusive of all people including those traveling with children in prams, people with disabilities and seniors” (Darcy S.& Dickson J.T., 2009, 34).
Does the concept of accessibility is connected only with people with disabilities or in reality is more vast covering all the people who have at a certain phase of their life specific mobility requirements?
Moreover, the concept of accessible tourism7inclusive tourism/universal tourism is related to three fundamental concepts:
whole-of-life approach, visitor-friendliness and universal design.
Whole of life approach is linked with human life span and involves the fact that at a certain stage of our life, all of us will cope with the need of access requirements;
Visitor-friendliness is a concept which encompasses the most significant aspects of the urban tourism products such as: quality, accessibility and image projection.
Universal design is a concept focused on idea to simplify the life of everyone by creating user-friendly products and environments for all and delivering services and communication more usable for anyone starting from the following 7 principles:
a) equitable use
b) flexibility in use
c) simple and intuitive use
d) perceptible information space
e) tolerance for error
f) low physical effort
g) adequate space for use
Therefore the universal design purpose is to create barrier-free destinations and locations promoting values such as
equity,
independence and
dignity ;consequently,the accessibility should not be limited solely to the disabled people, but to all of us who have or will have specific mobility requirements in a certain phase of our life.
Who are people with mobility requirements?
a)People in wheelchairs;
b)Any person using a walking stick/crutches
c)People with visual and hearing impairments;
d)Seniors;
e)Families with prams;
g)Pregnant women;
h)Travelers with heavy luggage;
i) Shops’ customers with trolleys
Furthermore, accessible tourism in a nutshell is a set of "5 E" criteria:
a) Ethical criteria – related to the rights for physically challenged people, involves the implementation of quality living & quality leisure time for disabled people
b)Economic criteria– accessible tourism can be a major economic contributor + an important market
c)Ecological criteria– builds environmental awareness + promotion of a sustainable tourism
d)Aesthetic criteria– the harmonization between design aesthetic criteria and accessible services offered by a tourism establishment/organization
e) Educational criteria – increase the awareness concerning the specific needs of disabled people & accessibility issues + specific training of the human resource working in tourism organizations
We cannot speak about accessibility without listing the essential key-factors for a visitor-friendly destination, especially in the case of cities which are cultural tourism destinations:
a) Balance between “niche qualities” (the points of cultural interest and their communication channels with the public) and the general patterns which a destination should accomplish in order to be inserted within the programs of the great international tourism generators -the incapacity of making accessible the strengths of a heritage has as a negative consequence, a limited capacity of that heritage to be a magnet for tourists.
b)The factors which enable the competitiveness of a destination and sustainability:
b1) Supporting factors and resources (those elements that support the development of tourist industry)
b2)Destination management: activities carried out to support and maximize the outcomes for the four others factors of the model;
b3)Destination policy, planning and development;
b4)Qualifying and amplifying determinants: defining of the scale, limit or potential of the destination;
b5)Competitive capacity, which are beyond the control of the tourism sector (Darcy & Dickson, 2009,38).
c)Elements of” tourism product” concept
c1)The quality of the primary tourist products – the elements that are the main reason for a visit;
c2)The quality of the secondary or complementary products- services and products used by the tourists such as accommodation, congress centers and exhibition halls, catering, shopping, markets;
c3)The image of a destination;
c4)The accessibility of a destination – external accessibility ( the effort required to reach the destination) and internal accessibility (related to the easiness of identifying the different attractions during the stay );
c5)The quality of the measures adopted by industry/government
In reality, the tourism strategies are unfortunately concentrated exclusively on external accessibility...
On the other hand, we live in an epoch in which any activity is measured through the profitability scale, but still the decision-makers actors in the tourism branch ignore the huge economic potential of this branch:
Arguments
a)Nowadays - are a 650 million disabled people;
b)By 2050 -1.2 billion (World Health Organization, 2007);
c)Europe- will be 80 million people with disabilities by 2020 ENAT (2011) ;
d)Accessible tourism market in USA and Australia :$13 billions and $4,8 billion – almost 11% of domestic tourism is generated by accessible tourism (Van Horn, 2007,12);
e)According to ENAT (data collected in 2007), accessible tourism is estimated to generate a potential income of 83 million Euros a year, within the European market
As an illustration, I would like to mention the point of view of Philip Scott, the manager of disabled travel company “Can Be Done”:
“There is a huge and growing market of disabled people and travel providers will miss out on a major group of customers if they don’t make their services properly accessible”
http://www.canbedone.co.uk/default.asp?pgid
Which are the specific challenges found by physically challenged tourists?
a) Inaccessible, or only partly accessible, web sites
b) Lack of wheelchair accessible vehicles
c) Lack of well-adapted hotel rooms
d) Lack of professional staff capable of dealing with accessibility issues
e) Lack of reliable information about a specific attraction's level of accessibility
f) Lack of accessible restaurants, bars, and other facilities
g) Lack of adapted toilets in restaurants and public places
h) Inaccessible streets and sidewalks
i) Lack of technical aids and disability equipment such as wheelchairs, bath chairs and toilet raisers
Illustrating the above-mentioned arguments, the expert Philip Scott has came up with few examples in order to illustrate the major constraints faced by the disabled people:
“Hotels have a limited number of adapted rooms so availability can be difficult and even if there are hotels that cater for disabled people, some countries like Morocco and Mexico just don't have the infrastructure to even transport people from the airport”;
”It can take us several weeks to put everything in place that is needed by our holidaymakers; although awareness of disability issues has been growing throughout society in general, many disabled people still stick to specialist services when planning their holidays” (Mail Online, 2011).
In the last two decades the political decision-makers have became aware about the importance of accessibility agenda and a specific legislation was adopted and implemented by United Nation and EU:
The article 30 of the United Nations, Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities stipulates the rights of people with special needs to culture, recreation and tourism.
Australian legislation related with persons with special needs promotes the concept of citizenship (the relationship between built and outdoor environments, transport, employment, attendant care, equipment, leisure and tourism /people with specific needs should have access to all elements of social participation)
a) The Disability Discrimination Act, 1992 (DDA) - based on two types of approaches: firstly, human rights and legal obligations approach and secondly, the nature of disability and its relationship with ageing. The implementation of DDA ensures the legal control against discrimination for disability reasons.
In accordance with the above-mentioned legislation, there are two disability standards seen as vital for the tourism development:
a) Disability Standard for Accessible Public Transport - the levels of accessibility for public transport (air travel, bus, rail, taxi and para transit services);
b) Disability Standard for Access to Premises - ensure the access to new environments (buildings, common domain, virtual environments, services, experiences) and improving access to older environments in which consistent redevelopment is happening;
2011 - the European Union ratifies the UN Convention on the Rights of People with disabilities.
The Convention elaborates the minimum standards for protecting and defending a wide range of civil, political, social, and economic rights for people with disabilities
Major aim: creation of a non-restrictive Europe for the people with special needs
The European Commission develops its New European Disability Strategy 2010-2020
“… to empower people with disabilities so that they can enjoy their full rights, and benefit fully from participating in society and in the European economy” (ENAT, 2011)
The Commission has identified eight main areas for action:
a)accessibility
b) participation,
c)equality,
d)employment,
e)education and training,
f)social protection,
g)health,
h)external action” (ENAT, 2011)
As an illustration of the importance which social& political players pay to the accessibility issues, is the New Zealand Sign Language that was formally recognised as the third official language of New Zealand along with English and Maori in 2006 under the New Zealand Sign Language Act...
Conclusion: For tourist destinations - is not enough to have tourism potential(sights, monuments and attractions); they also should pay a great care to the adequate assistance of all categories of tourists, to flow management of the travelers with mobility requirements, using the opportunities provided by the new technologies, and improving as well the quality of the environment and training of the human resource working in tourism organizations.
