New Published Research from US on Motivations of people with acquired mobility disability to travel

Surprisingly few studies have examined the motivations of people with disability to travel. The Shi, Cole and Chancellor (2012) newly published article applies Crompton’s (1979) push pull model of travel motivations to examine people with acquired mobility disability’s motivation to travel. The qualitative study undertook two focus groups at the 13th Congress of The Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality in 2009. Transcripts of the focus groups were analysed based on Crompton's model. The results identified nine push factors with five being consistent with Crompton (1979):  escape from a perceived mundane environment; exploration and evaluation of self; relaxation; enhancement of relationship with family and friends; and facilitation of social interaction. However, four other factors are unique to people with acquired mobility disabilities: independence; the desire of being in a natural environment; adventure/risk; and do it today. With respect to Crompton (1979) pull factors, novelty and education were consistent with previous work but not surprisingly the accessibility of the destination was a dominant factor. This study suggests that a broader study examining motivations of people across the spectrum of disabilities and support needs would add a level of sophistication to what is currently known about motivations to travel for this group.

Photo 1 shows two gnarly South African surfers who just happen to have disabilities. They espouse a series of motivations identified in this study - independence, desire of being a natural environment, adventure/risk and do it today. However, they haven’t waited for perfect access to a beach for wheelchair users and have instead used "Quad bikes" to assist their quest for the perfect wave. Go for it boys!

Photo 1: Dries Millard and Glenn Ward Paraplegic body boarders trekked from Saldanha to Cape Town and had many adventures along the way - photo with permission http://www.saldanhatocapetown.co.za/the-event/

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Understanding leisure travel motivations of travelers with acquired mobility impairments

Lei Shi, Shu Cole, & H. Charles Chancellor

Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies, Indiana University, HPER 133, 1025 E 7th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to understand what motivated people with mobility impairments to travel frequently. Two focus groups were conducted and results were analyzed in light of Crompton’s (1979) push/pull conceptual framework exploring pleasure travel motivation...(shortened due to copyright restrictions).

Keywords: Mobility impairments; Motivation; Leisure travel

References

Crompton, J. L. (1979). Motivations for pleasure vacation. Annals of Tourism Research, 6(4), 408-424.

Shi, L., Cole, S., & Chancellor, H. C. (2012). Understanding leisure travel motivations of travelers with acquired mobility impairments. Tourism Management, 33(1), 228-231. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2011.02.007

The embodied tourist experiences of people with vision impairment: Management implications beyond the visual gaze

Adding to Richards, Prichard and Morgan's (2010) (re)envisioning of the tourist experience, Poria, Reichel & Brandt (2011) examination of 15 in-depth interviews of blind people’s experiences of air travel, hotels and restaurants, art museums and staff behaviour, comes a new study by Small, Darcy and Packer (2011). Building on Small & Darcy’s (2011) examination of embodiement, the study uses a combination of focus groups and in-depth interviews of 40 people with vision impairment to examine their embodied tourism experiences and what constitutes quality accessible tourism for the group. One of the interesting issues for people with vision impairments or who are Blind, are the extra structural constraints for those who travel with a guide dog. Photo 1 shows Wendy David enjoying the pleasures of Hawaii with her guide dog, which has quarantine implications depending upon the country travelling to, specific air travel requirements and a series of customer service attitudes that have included the exclusion of guide dogs from premises even though it contravenes disability discrimination legislation.  Central to Small, Darcy and Packer (2011) study is the examination of Urry’s concept of the "visual” gaze and how the visual has dominated our understanding of tourism. The abstract is provided.

Photo 1: Wendy David and guide dog enjoying the pleasures of Hawaii -  used with permission © Wendy David

Small, J., Darcy, S., & Packer, T. (2011). The embodied tourist experiences of people with vision impairment: Management implications beyond the visual gaze. Tourism Management, Corrected proof available online(10.1016/j.tourman.2011.09.015). doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2011.09.015

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study that investigated the embodied tourist experiences of 40 people who are vision impaired. The study, informed by the concept of “embodied ontology”, explored the corporeal and socially constructed experience of tourism. The findings highlighted the benefit of holidays for the participants and de-centred the “visual gaze” in the tourist experience. The quality of the tourist experience related to participants’ feelings of inclusion or exclusion in terms of their access to information, experience of wayfinding, travelling with a guide dog, and the knowledge and attitudes of others. It was evident that participants needed to manage their tourist experiences closely and constantly. The paper concludes that the tourism industry and community must understand the multi-sensory nature of the tourist experience if quality accessible experiences are to be available for tourists with vision impairment. Provision of multi-sensory experiences also enhances the experiences of sighted tourists.

Highlights

►People with vision impairment have been omitted in the tourism research literature. ► The “visual gaze” constrains our understanding of the embodied nature of tourism. ► Structural constraints disable tourism environments, services and attitudes. ► The embodied nature of vision impairment requires spatial and sensory understanding. ► Experiences can be enhanced through tactility, aroma, movement and sound.

Keywords: Vision impairment; Blind; Sensory; Embodiment; Disability; Tourist experience; Management; Accessible tourism

References

Poria, Y., Reichel, A., & Brandt, Y. (2011). Blind People’s Tourism Experiences: An Exploratory Study. In D. Olis & S. Darcy (Eds.), Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues (pp. 149-159). Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications.

Richards, V., Pritchard, A., & Morgan, N. (2010). (Re)Envisioning tourism and visual impairment. Annals of Tourism Research, 37(4), 1097-1116. doi: DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2010.04.011

Small, J., & Darcy, S. (2011). Understanding Tourist Experience Through Embodiment: The Contribution of Critical Tourism and Disability Studies. In D. Buhalis & S. Darcy (Eds.), Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues (pp. 72-96). Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications.