Quality Accessible Tourism Experiences

While there has been a great deal of research that looks at the experiences of people with disabilities while they are travelling (see constraints blog post), there has been surprisingly little research on what makes for quality accessible tourism experiences. This is partly because there has been very little supply side interest in accessible tourism product development and, hence, a great deal of accessible tourism has not been to an equal level of that offered to the nondisabled. This is nowhere more evident than in the array of disability discrimination cases that have been brought against tourism providers and the discussion of the impact of antidiscrimination legislation on the sector (Armstrong, 2001; Darcy & Taylor, 2009; Goodall, 2006; Goodall, Pottinger, Dixon, & Russell, 2004; Griffin Donlon, 2000; Handley, 2001; Miller & Kirk, 2002; Shaw, Veitch, & Coles, 2005; Smith, 2006; Teutsch, 2008). One of the key aspects of legislation whether it be the US Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990 or the Australian Disability Discrimination Act, 1992 or the UK Disability Discrimination Act, 1995 all have a core aim of providing people with disabilities with an equal treatment before the law and, hence, an equality of experience.

Photo 1: Proving the Concept - Sydney for All Web portal wins World Leisure Organisation 2010 Innovation Prize

The concept of an equality of experience before the law has generally fallen short with providers regarding “access” as literally stopping at getting through the front door. Yet, access to the physical premise or alternative information provision should be the starting point for developing truly accessible destination experiences. For example, wheelchair accessible rooms should provided throughout the different classes and amenities of rooms that nondisabled rooms are provided. If a person who is blind wants to take a guided tour of Europe by coach then their experience should be facilitated. The Deaf should not have to make “special” arrangements to get access to captioned video that is showing to all other tourists at a particular attraction. So far, these types of quality tourism experiences are unusual rather than the usual. In an industry obsessed with quality management evaluation that there has been very little consideration of quality accessible tourism experiences. Quality accessible tourism experiences were at the centre of a Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre project on Visitor Accessibility in Urban Centres (Darcy et al., 2008). The outcome of the project was the development of the Sydney for All Web portal that brought together good quality accessible tourism experiences across mobility, hearing, vision and cognitive dimensions of access. Business 21C undertook a short video to encapsulate the philosophy of the project and to examine what makes for quality accessible tourism experiences. The video can be viewed at the following website http://www.business21c.com.au/2010/04/accessible-tourism-linking-demographic-change-and-social-sustainability-to-business-success

Photo 2:  Author enjoying the streets of Sydney during Festival First Night – the festival organisers included disability access across all spheres of the festival organisation (© Fiona Darcy 2010)

References

Armstrong, D. (2001, May 9). Discrimination at airlines remains a problem for disabled travelers, Feature, The Wall Street Journal, p.? Retrieved from www.msnbc.com/news/570730.asp?cp1=1

Darcy, S., Cameron, B., Dwyer, L., Taylor, T., Wong, E., & Thomson, A. (2008). Visitor accessibility in urban centres (pp. 75).  Retrieved from http://www.crctourism.com.au/BookShop/BookDetail.aspx?d=626

Darcy, S., & Taylor, T. (2009). Disability citizenship: An Australian human rights analysis of the cultural industries. Leisure Studies, 28(4), 419-441.

Goodall, B. (2006). Disabled access and heritage attractions. Tourism, Culture & Communication, 7(1), 57-78.

Goodall, B., Pottinger, G., Dixon, T., & Russell, H. (2004). Heritage property, tourism and the UK Disability Discrimination Act. Property Management, 22(5), 345-357.

Griffin Donlon, J. (2000). Accessibility, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the natural environment as a tourist resource. [Yes]. anatolia: International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 11(2), 101-110.

Handley, P. (2001). 'Caught between a rock and a hard place': Anti-discrimination legislation in the liberal state and the fate of the Australian Disability Discrimination Act. Australian Journal of Political Science, 36(3), 515-528.

Miller, G. A., & Kirk, E. (2002). The Disability Discrimination Act: Time for the stick? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 10(1), 82-88.

Shaw, G., Veitch, C., & Coles, T. I. M. (2005). Access, disability, and tourism: changing responses in the United Kingdom. Tourism Review International, 8(3), 167-176.

Smith, M. (2006). The impact of the Disability Discrimination Act on historic buildings. Journal of Building Appraisal, 2(1), 52-61.

Teutsch, D. (2008, 13 January). Access Restricted: flying can be an ordeal for people with disabilities, Feature, The Sun-Herald, p. 34

The United Nations' conventions, the World Tourism Organisation and Accessible Tourism Policy

The UN human rights conventions have been in existence since 1948 (United Nations, 1948). It wasn’t until 1975 that people with disabilities were specifically identified in a declaration with the subsequent actions and declarations reinforcing that people with disabilities should enjoy the same rights of citizenship as those without disabilities (United Nations, 1975, 1976, 1993). More recently, the United Nations (2006, 2008) Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities became a galvanizing agent for operationalising these rights within each signatory country. Yet,  countries operationalise these rights under their own legislative and policy frameworks.  Given the various UN conventions over the years, it is surprising that only 40 countries have introduced specific disability discrimination legislation (United Nations, 2009). Table 1 shows, a chronology of disability discrimination legislation for a sample of countries.

Table 1: National Disability Discrimination Legislation

Year	Country	Legislation
1990	United States	Americans with Disabilities Act
1990	China	The Law of People's Republic of China on the Protection of Disabled Persons
1992	Australia	Disability Discrimination Act
1995	United Kingdom	Disability Discrimination Act
1995	India	Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act
1996	Costa Rica	Law No. 7600 on Equality for Persons with Disabilities
1996	Hong Kong	Disability Discrimination Ordinance (1996)

Source: (UN ESCAP, 2008; United Nations, 2009)

Similarly, the UN World Tourism Organisation has been active in promoting the rights of travelers with disabilities through a series of statements (World Tourism Organization, 1985, 1991, 2005). The latest of these directly supports the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities where Article 30 includes tourism within its discussion of the cultural industries. Figure 1 shows that the WTO identify the importance of universally asccessible tourism (source: http://unwto.org/en/about/unwto ).Yet, the WTO has not deployed resources beyond these statements but has operated programs, research and development opportunities in many other areas. So where does this leave the use of such international declarations in respect to improving the material position of people with disabilities on the ground? Nation states must still implement the goodwill of these declarations through their own frameworks whereas government’s resource and regulate their implementation of the UN Convention as a way to empower people with disabilities to achieve all their rights of citizenship. However, the presence of antidiscrimination legislation does not guarantee its implementation or a change in the material position of those that it is designed to empower (Handley, 2001; Heap, Lorenzo, & Thomas, 2009).

Figure 1: Shows that the WTO identify the importance of universally asccessible tourism (source: http://unwto.org/en/about/unwto )

What research has been carried out on the implementation of human rights legislation in nation states as it relates to accessible tourism provision? First, there are other disciplines and fields of study that have carried out significant research on the impact of disability legislation generally and comparatively for countries (Burns & Gordon, 2009), the accessibility of the built environment (Imrie, 1996, 2000; Prideaux & Roulstone, 2009) and the accessibility of transportation systems (Aldred & Woodcock, 2008) . This body of research can provide major insights into how each nation state regards accessibility for its citizens. Yet, as we know people with disabilities and those who benefit from the accessible tourism provision face many tourism specific issues when they travel away from their place of residence into unfamiliar territory. These have been documented literature and I refer you back  to the blog entry on constraints. 

While many studies and articles refer to human rights legislation as an important reason to undertake studies on accessible tourism, very few studies analyse the relative impacts or outcomes of the human rights laws. A small but growing body of literature that examines the outcomes of human rights legislation as it impacts on accessible tourism is beginning to emerge. The most well-developed body of research is within the UK (Goodall, Pottinger, Dixon, & Russell, 2004; Miller & Kirk, 2002; Shaw, 2007; Shaw, Veitch, & Coles, 2005), the US (Davies & Beasley, 1994; Gallagher & Hull, 1996; Griffin Dolon, 2000; US Dept Justice, 2007 ; Van Horn, 2007) and Australia (Darcy & Taylor, 2009; Public Interest Advocacy Centre, 2007; Small & Darcy, 2010). These issues certainly affect other countries and there has been significant coverage of air travel disability and embodiement discrimination in the media in France, South Africa, India, Canada and Malaysia. I called for other researchers in other countries to include an analysis of the human rights implications of accessible tourism as part of their research agenda for their own citizens as well as those who travel to their countries.

References

Aldred, R., & Woodcock, J. (2008). Transport: challenging disabling environments. Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, 13(6), 485–496.

Burns, K. K., & Gordon, G. L. (2009). Analyzing the Impact of Disability Legislation in Canada and the United States. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 1044207309344562.

Darcy, S., & Taylor, T. (2009). Disability citizenship: An Australian human rights analysis of the cultural industries. Leisure Studies, 28(4), 419-441.

Davies, T. D., Jr., & Beasley, K. A. (1994). Accessible design for hospitality: ADA guidelines for planning accessible hotels, motels and other recreational facilities. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Gallagher, J. M., & Hull, A. H. (1996). Cruise ship accommodations for passengers with physical limitations due to disability or age. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 50(8), 685-687.

Goodall, B., Pottinger, G., Dixon, T., & Russell, H. (2004). Heritage property, tourism and the UK Disability Discrimination Act. Property Management, 22(5), 345-357.

Griffin Dolon, J. (2000). Accessibility, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the natural environment as a tourist resource. anatolia: International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 11(2), 101-110.

Handley, P. (2001). 'Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place': Anti-discrimination legislation in the liberal state and the fate of the Australian Disability Discrimination Act. Australian Journal of Political Science, 36(3), 515-528.

Heap, M., Lorenzo, T., & Thomas, J. (2009). ‘We've moved away from disability as a health issue, it's a human rights issue’: reflecting on 10 years of the right to equality in South Africa. Disability & Society, 24(7), 857-868.

Imrie, R. (1996). Disability and the city: international perspectives. London: Paul Chapman.

Imrie, R. (2000). Disabling environments and the geography of access policies and practices. Disability & Society, 15(1), 5-24.

Miller, G. A., & Kirk, E. (2002). The Disability Discrimination Act: Time for the stick? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 10(1), 82-88.

Prideaux, S., & Roulstone, A. (2009). Good practice for providing disabled people with reasonable access to the built environment. Built Environment, 1(1), 59-81.

Public Interest Advocacy Centre. (2007). Flight Closed: Report on the experiences of People with Disabilities in Domestic Airline Travel in Australia. Sydney: Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

Shaw, G. (2007). Disability legislation and empowerment of tourists with disability in the United Kingdom. In A. Church & T. Coles (Eds.), Tourism, Power and Space (pp. 83-100). London: Routledge.

Shaw, G., Veitch, C., & Coles, T. I. M. (2005). Access, disability, and tourism: changing responses in the United Kingdom. Tourism Review International, 8(3), 167-176.

Small, J., & Darcy, S. (2010). Chapter 4: Tourism, disability and mobility. In S. Cole & N. Morgan (Eds.), Tourism and Inequality: Problems and Prospects (in press) (pp. pp1-30). Wallingford CABI.

UN ESCAP. (2008). Disability at a glance: a Profile of 28 Countries and Areas in Asia and the Pacific (Vol. 2002,  Available from http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/disability

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US Dept Justice. (2007 ). Common ADA Problems at Newly Constructed Lodging Facilities. Washington, DC: Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section.

Van Horn, L. (2007). Disability Travel In The United States: Recent Research And Findings. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED) - "Benchmarking, Evaluation and Vision for the Future". , June 18-22, 2007, at the Palais des congrès de Montréal.

World Tourism Organization. (1985). Tourism Bill of Rights and Tourist Code (WTO/034 General Assembly Sixth Ordinary Session Held at Sofia (People's Republic of Bulgaria)). Madrid, Spain: World Tourism Organization.

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World Tourism Organization. (2005). Accessible Tourism for All A/RES/492(XVI). Madrid, Spain: World Tourism Organization.