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

World Report on Disability - The Travel Chain

The World Health Organization (2011) has produced an extensive research report on disability, which reviews evidence about the situation of people with disabilities around the world. It draws together the most recent sources to present a comprehensive overview of the major areas that affect the lives of people with disability. The report consists of 10 chapters including:

• Introduction
• Understanding Disability
• Disability - the global picture
• Genera health care
• Rehabilitation
• Assistance and support
• Enabling environments
• Education
• Work and Employment
• Recommendations

Interestingly, addresses many of the key concepts discussed in the blog including constraints and barriers to participation, universal design and market dynamics but the report does not mention tourism specifically. It does, however, draw attention to United Nations’ (2006) Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and how the articles relate to the importance of participation in all areas of citizenship. While it could be argued that the key chapters discussed in the report cumulatively provide a guide for developing accessible destinations, there is no doubt that the overriding priority of the report in ensuring that all people with disability have accessible environments, services and attitudes in their place of residence. Of course, once this has been completed for local residents, then the same local areas become accessible to tourists with disability visiting the areas.

With regard to travel, the report discusses the concept of the "travel chain" that is defined as

The “travel chain” refers to all elements that make up a journey, from starting point to destination – including the pedestrian access, the vehicles, and the transfer points. If any link is inaccessible, the entire trip becomes difficult (81). Many mass transit providers, particularly in developing countries, have implemented accessibility only partially, for example by providing a limited number of accessible vehicles on each route, making improvements only to the main stations, and providing access only on new lines. Without accessibility throughout the travel chain, the job is incomplete. Inaccessible links require taking an indirect route, creating the barrier of longer travel times. The goal must be for people to have access to all vehicles and the full service area, as well as the pedestrian environment (82). But progressive realization may be the most practical short-term response (WHO 2011, p.179).

Photo 1: Blog Author Simon Darcy boarding low floor accessible bus that forms an important part of the "travel chain" since their introduction in many countries since the late 1990s (© Fiona Darcy 2000)

Photo 1 shows a low floor accessible bus that is one part of a "travel chain" that also needs to be supported by for example accessible timetables, continuous pathways, tactile ground surface indicators and disability awareness trained bus drivers to name a few. In recognising the inherent pragmatism required to ensure the travel chain, this report together with the World Health Organization (2007) Global Age Friendly Cities, provides an impetus for nations and city states to meaningfully address the disability and ageing issues through creating sustainable approaches to these issues as part of addressing disability citizenship across all areas of social participation. The World Health Organization documents can be used to provide a foundation for providing a global understanding within local contexts and to draw the attention of those who are resisting the addressing of these issues. The document concludes by asking three questions that need to be addressed in a policy context: What do we know about people with disabilities?; What are the disabling barriers? And. How are the lives of people with disabilities affected?. In conclusion, the report makes nine recommendations:

·        enable access to all mainstream policies, systems and services;

·        invest in specific programs and services for people with disabilities;

·        adopt a National disability strategy and plan of action;

·        involve people with disabilities;

·        improved human resource capacity;

·        provide adequate funding and improve affordability;

·        increased public awareness and understanding of disability;

·        improve disability data collection; and

·        strengthen and support research on disability.

Interestingly in my own first major report, Anxiety to Access (Darcy, 1998), these recommendations are not dissimilar and provide a sound blueprint for improving travel and tourism industry approaches to disability, access and accessible tourism.

References  

Darcy, S. (1998). Anxiety to access: tourism patterns and experiences of New South Wales people with a physical disability (pp. 76). Sydney: Tourism New South Wales. http://corporate.tourism.nsw.gov.au/Anxiety_to_Access_p783.aspx

United Nations. (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. New York http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/convtexte.htm: United Nations General Assembly A/61/611 - 6 December 2006.

World Health Organization. (2007). Global Age-friendly Cities Guide from http://www.who.int/ageing/age_friendly_cities/en/index.html

World Health Organization, & World Bank. (2011). World Report on Disability, from http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report/en/index.html

  

Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games - a foundation for destination development

Previous posts on the blog have examined the possible contribution of Olympic and Paralympic games to accessible tourism development. In particular, the recent Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games identified tourism and accessible tourism as one of five identified disability legacies (2010 Legacies Now, 2010a, 2010b). There is a growing body of literature on the specifics of Paralympic legacy, which is being brought together in an edited collection by Legg and Gilbert in The Paralympic Games: Legacy and Regeneration (2011).

A media release from the International Paralympic Committee identifies the tremendous spotlight that an international mega event can bring to host cities and countries (International Paralympic Committee, 2011). Disability and access are part of the operational partnership between the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee that host cities are required to address. There is a very strong Australian connection between the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the International Paralympic Committee in what was described as the Benchmark Games (Cashman & Darcy, 2008). Photo 1 shows one of the lasting legacies of the Sydney Games, the inclusions for mobility and vision sports spectator facilities at the Sydney Olympic Stadium (now ANZ Stadium), Sydney Olympic Park.

Photo 1: Accessible seats & tactile ground surface indicators at  ANZ Stadium (© Fiona Darcy 2000)

As the media release identifies the delegation included the Vice President Greg Hartung, who at the time of the Sydney Games was the President of the Australian Paralympic Committee, and the CEO of the IPC Xavier Gonzales, who at the time of the Sydney Games was the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee’s General Manager Sport and Games Operations. The international spotlight the IPC focuses on the host city offers an opportunity to leverage the games into an opportunity for an accessible destination of the future. We already know from previous entries that some excellent work is being done in Brazil on the accessibility of airports through the Masters by research project of Rafael Teixeira de Castro.

There are a number of groups who are working towards this goal through the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic specialist groups involving people with disability and tourism. A very active group of professionals can be found on LinkedIn through subgroup forums. The importance of the strategic planning for the Rio 2016 Games, the integration of disability and access, and the future leverage for accessible tourism is needed now to make sure that it moves beyond potential to a reality after 2016. I wish Rio the best in these endeavours.

International Paralympic committee media release 16 June 2011

IPC Complete Week of Meetings in Rio, Brazil

An International Paralympic Committee (IPC) delegation including Vice President Greg Hartung, Chief Executive Officer Xavier Gonzalez and Paralympic Games Senior Manager Thanos Kostopoulos has concluded a week of activity in the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro to see how preparations are going for the 2016 Paralympic Games.

Hartung is a member of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Co-ordination Commission for the Rio 2016 Games which met for second time in Rio to observe the progress made so far.

This included meetings with government officials, venue tours and updates from the Organizing Committee's in different areas. The Co-ordination Commission was also updated on preparations for the Paralympic Games.

Following the conclusion of the IOC's Co-ordination Commission, the IPC held an Executive Project Review with Rio 2016 on Friday 10 June.

The Organizing Committee presented to the IPC their plans on different areas including Rio 2016 organizational structure and its focus on the planning of the Paralympic Games. Sport and venues updates were also given after the inclusion of two new sports (Para-Triathlon and Para-Canoe) in the Paralympic Sport programme as well as the progress on the development of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games emblem which will be launched later this year.

Another important part of the visit was the progress reports from all levels of Government which made clear of the intention to leave a long and lasting legacy for people with an impairment in Rio after the Games.

Xavier Gonzalez said: "A lot of progress has been made since the last time we met which is extremely encouraging and I'd like to thank Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman and his team for their continued hard work. 

"One area which we are particularly excited about is the launch of the Paralympic Games emblem.

"The emblem will gain national and international exposure and will be the symbol of the event. It needs to have the right look and feel for the Games and feature the Agitos, the symbol of the Paralympic Movement. We are confident the final design will achieve this."

The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games will take place 7-18 September 2016 and will consist of 22 sporting events. For further information, please visit www.rio2016.com

References

2010 Legacies Now. (2010a). Accessible Tourism Strategy: accessibility rating icon guidelines business   Retrieved from http://www.2010legaciesnow.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Accessible_Tourism/Brand_Standard-Business.pdf

2010 Legacies Now. (2010b). Disability programs  Retrieved 9 February, 2010, from http://www.2010legaciesnow.com/disability/

Cashman, R., & Darcy, S. (Eds.). (2008). Benchmark Games: The Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. Petersham, NSW Australia: Walla Walla Press in conjunction with the Australian Centre for Olympic Studies.

International Paralympic Committee. (2011). Media release - IPC COMPLETE WEEK OF MEETINGS IN RIO, BRAZIL - 16 June 2011. Bonn: International Paralympic Committee.

Legg, D., & Gilbert, K. (Eds.). (2011). The Paralympic Legacies. Champaign, IL USA: Commonground Publishing.

Marketing Accessible Information Provision For Destinations

A number of previous blog entries have focused on the importance of accessible information provision for successful accessible tourism experiences and a great deal of the demand research has identified information provision as an important constraint (Avis, Card, & Cole, 2005; Bi, Card, & Cole, 2007; Daniels, Drogin Rodgers, & Wiggins, 2005; Darcy, 1998, 2002; Pegg & Stumbo, 2010; Smith, 1987; Turco, Stumbo, & Garncarz, 1998; Yau, McKercher, & Packer, 2004). In particular, web accessibility for people who are blind and vision impaired has been an evolving area of research over the last decade (Foggin, Darcy, & Cameron, 2003; Lazar et al., 2010; Mills, Han, & Clay, 2008; Shi, 2006; Williams, Rattray, & Grimes, 2006; Williams, Rattray, & Stork, 2004). More recent research has moved beyond identifying barriers and constraints and have started to examine the requirements for developing specific and detailed approaches to accessible information provision for tourism. These have included the overall importance of e-tourism systems for people with disability (Eichhorn, Miller, Michopoulou, & Buhalis, 2008), the complexities of information for hotel accommodation (Darcy, 2010) and the operationalisation of accessible information provision within the triple bottom line approach to assessing the business case for a ecotourism accommodation provider (Darcy, Cameron, & Pegg, 2010).

A new addition to this literature is Buhalis & Michopoulou (2011), which examines the complexities of information provision for individuals with disability. Using a focus group approach the paper challenges the notions of information provision based on dimensions of access and instead proposes an individualised understanding of access provisions. The arguments are based on the findings of 16 focus groups and a review of market segmentation literature. The paper presents implications for information provision and the marketing of destinations to people with disability.

The reference and abstract for the research is:

Buhalis, D., & Michopoulou, E. (2011). Information-enabled tourism destination marketing: addressing the accessibility market. Current Issues in Tourism, 14(2), 145 - 168.

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that the accessibility market is not homogenous, but it entails different sub-segments with distinct needs and requirements. Ultimately each person is unique in his/her abilities and preferences and this is more evident in this market. Secondary research revealed the size of the accessibility market in Europe to be 127 million people. Extensive qualitative research through 16 focus groups has demonstrated that the main requirements of these segments focus on three interlinked elements, namely accessible built environment, information regarding accessibility and accessible information online. Traditional segmentation contradicts the central concept of participation, as directed by the social model of disability, and it entails assumptions regarding the requirements of the market segments. Information communication technologies (ICTs) can assist destinations to effectively address the particular requirements of these market segments through the use of profiling and personalisation features, which will allow users themselves to specify their requirements. Through the use of ICTs, users are enabled to declare their needs and requirements. Destinations can then offer suitable products and services according to the particular needs of each traveller, encourage participation, congruent with the social model of disability.

Keywords: destination marketing; market requirements; market segmentation; accessible tourism; disability; information communication technology

© http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a923318482~db=all?jumptype=alert&alerttype=new_issue_alert,email

Photo 1: To have any cool accessible destination experience like wheelchair bungee jumping (Cairns, Australia) requires good quality accessible information that is marketed and promoted in ways that are appropriate for different disability types and individual preferences (Photo © Ian Chill 2010) 

References

Avis, A. H., Card, J. A., & Cole, S. T. (2005). Accessibility and Attitudinal Barriers Encountered by Travelers With Physical Disabilities Tourism Review International, 8, 239-248.

Bi, Y., Card, J. A., & Cole, S. T. (2007). Accessibility and Attitudinal Barriers Encountered by Chinese Travellers with Physical Disabilities. Int. J. Tourism Res, 9, 205-216.

Buhalis, D., & Michopoulou, E. (2011). Information-enabled tourism destination marketing: addressing the accessibility market. Current Issues in Tourism, 14(2), 145 - 168.

Daniels, M. J., Drogin Rodgers, E. B., & Wiggins, B. P. (2005). "Travel Tales": an interpretive analysis of constraints and negotiations to pleasure travel as experienced by persons with physical disabilities. Tourism Management, 26(6), 919-930.

Darcy, S. (1998). Anxiety to Access: The Tourism Patterns and Experiences of New South Wales People with a Physical Disability: Tourism New South Wales.

Darcy, S. (2002). Marginalised participation: Physical disability, high support needs and tourism. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 9(1), 61-72.

Darcy, S. (2010). Inherent complexity: Disability, accessible tourism and accommodation information preferences. Tourism Management, 31(6), 816-826.

Darcy, S., Cameron, B., & Pegg, S. (2010). Accessible tourism and sustainability: a discussion and case study. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 18(4), 515 - 537.

Eichhorn, V., Miller, G., Michopoulou, E., & Buhalis, D. (2008). Enabling access to tourism through information schemes. Annals of Tourism Research, 35(1), 189-210. doi: 10.1016/j.annals.2007.07.005

Foggin, S. E. A., Darcy, S., & Cameron, B. (2003). Vers un tourisme sans barrières: Initiatives dans la région Asie-Pacifique. TÉOROS: Revue de recherche en tourisme, 22(3), 16-19.

Lazar, J., Jaeger, P. T., Adams, A., Angelozzi, A., Manohar, J., Marciniak, J., . . . Walsh, J. (2010). Up in the air: Are airlines following the new DOT rules on equal pricing for people with disabilities when websites are inaccessible? Government Information Quarterly, 27(4), 329-336. doi: DOI: 10.1016/j.giq.2010.04.005

Mills, J. E., Han, J.-H., & Clay, J. M. (2008). Accessibility of Hospitality and Tourism Websites: A Challenge for Visually Impaired Persons. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 49(1), 28-41. doi: 10.1177/1938965507311499

Pegg, S., & Stumbo, N. (2010). Creating opportunities and ensuring access to desirable heritage and cultural tourist services and leisure experiences. In B. Prideaux, D. J. Timothy & K. Chon (Eds.), Cultural and Heritage Tourism in Asia and the Pacific (pp. 250-256). New York, USA               Routledge.

Shi, Y. (2006). The accessibility of Queensland visitor information centres' websites. Tourism Management, 27(5), 829-841.

Smith, R. W. (1987). Leisure of disable tourists : Barriers to participation. Annals of Tourism Research, 14(3), 376-389.

Turco, D. M., Stumbo, N., & Garncarz, J. (1998). Tourism Constraints - People with Disabilities. Parks and Recreation Journal, 33(9), 78-84.

Williams, R., Rattray, R., & Grimes, A. (2006). Meeting the On-line Needs of Disabled Tourists: an Assessment of UK-based Hotel Websites. International Journal of Tourism Research, 8(1), 59.

Williams, R., Rattray, R., & Stork, A. (2004). Web site accessibility of German and UK tourism information sites. European Business Review, 16(6), 577-589.

Yau, M. K.-s., McKercher, B., & Packer, T. L. (2004). Traveling with a disability: More than an Access Issue. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(4), 946-960.

Sydney for All adds Darling Harbour Precinct's Accessible Destination Experiences

As discussed in previous blog entries, the concept of quality accessible tourism experiences has gained little attention in the literature with most work concentrating on “access” as literally stopping at getting in the door. Access to the physical premise or alternative information provision should be the starting point for developing truly accessible destination experiences across including mobility, vision, hearing and cognitive dimensions of access. Understanding accessible destination experiences also needs to incorporate the level of support needs of the individual whether they are independent in their tourism interactions through to those who have very high support needs and require one on one assistance 24 hours a day. These conceptual foundations have been brought together in a forthcoming chapter that develops a more complex understanding of disability, tourism and accessible tourism (Darcy, Ambrose, Buhalis, & Schweinsberg, 2010).

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 across the continuum of support needs. 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 . The work also encapsulated outdoor environments including national parks, Sydney Harbour and open space areas within the Sydney central business district including the Royal Botanic Gardens. A more detailed examination of presenting outdoor access information has been outlined in an article for the Australasian Parks and Leisure Journal that focused on the Sydney Harbour National Park North Head Look Out (Darcy, Cameron, Dwyer, & Taylor, 2008).

Photo 1: Stop Press - Sydney for All wins World Leisure Organisation's 2010 Innovation Prize IN

The Sydney for All project has now been extended through a grant from the City of Sydney to include the Darling Harbour Tourism Precinct. This work has been carried out by Bruce Cameron, Director Easy Access Australia, and sought to provide a series of additional accessible destination experiences within this precinct. To this end, the following providers have been highlighted as providing high quality accessible destination experiences:

• The Chinese Gardens of Friendship;
• IMAX theatre;
• Australian National Maritime Museum; and
• Powerhouse Museum.

Within each of these providers, there are a series of mobility, vision, hearing and cognitive activities that can be undertaken across the continuum of support needs. Part of the project includes a built in research loop that both quantitatively and qualitatively assesses the experiences that individuals have in undertaking these destination experiences. Sydney for All has received a 2009 Vision Australia’s Making a Difference Award for W3C compliance for website accessibility for people with vision impairments or those who use screen readers, has received a highly commended award from Uniquest for innovative social media development and a University of Technology Sydney human rights award for social media development.

Photo 2: Bruce Cameron completing access audits for the Darling Harbour precinct (©  2010 Patty Mazza)

References

Darcy, S., Ambrose, I., Buhalis, D., & Schweinsberg, S. (2010). Chapter 20 - A call towards universal approaches to accessible tourism. In D. Buhalis & S. Darcy (Eds.), Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues (pp. 320-340). Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications.

Darcy, S., Cameron, B., Dwyer, L., & Taylor, T. (2008). Research Note: Understanding accessible spaces and places: www.sydneyforall.com Web portal and the North Head Lookout Case Study. [refereed research note]. Australasian Parks and Leisure, 11(3 Spring), 28-34.

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

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

Accessible tourism and sustainability: a discussion and business case study

An article has been published by the Journal of Sustainable Tourism that links accessible tourism and sustainability to triple bottom line reporting (Darcy, Cameron, & Pegg, 2010). The article was one outcome from a broader study looking at the business case for accessible tourism funded by the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC) (Darcy, Cameron, Pegg, & Packer, 2008). While the article focuses on O’Carollyns Resort, Port Stephens New South Wales (O'Carrollyns, 2006), the report investigates business cases from the convention and exhibition, transport, accommodation and recreation provisions sectors. More importantly, the report provides a foundation on which to collect data to create business case studies for accessible tourism through triple bottom line approaches as the abstract the report states:

"The research project was an STCRC scoping project to formulate a procedure for undertaking accessible tourism business cases. The project sought to case study examples of high standard accessible tourism product, facility or experience. The accessible tourism market is comprised of seniors and people with disabilities with access needs. It is recognised in the literature that there are significant barriers that constrain the tourism experiences of the group. A key component in the constraint is the supply of accessible tourism product and the understanding of the elements of business success with the market by the tourism industry. The methodology was informed by a case study approach and the triple bottom line scorecard. The research design sought to expand the thinking in general business performance more broadly than financial measures. The evaluation of environmental and social benefits has become part of core corporate practice. The preliminary work utilised a Delphi group to identify a range of high standard of accessible product, across states, segments and reflecting a range of ownership structures. The next stage involved developing Business Case Instrument to ‘capture’ triple bottom line metrics. The ‘metrics’ were collected through reviews of management information systems, in-depth interviews with key informants and review of other performance information. The research resulted in five business case studies on which the refined Business Case Instrument was based. This will assist the industry stakeholders to understand the components likely to be present when a destination experience meets the needs of travellers with a disability. The research suggests that provision can be improved by each organisation but that provision of access will not be the only factor present in a business successfully meeting the needs of travellers seeking an accessible destination experience. The purpose of this technical report is to document and present the business case instrument" (Darcy, et al., 2008, p. v).

I call for followers of this blog to bring our attention to other case studies of accessible tourism that provide the evidence required to create interest from the business community to invest in accessible tourism product.

References

Darcy, S., Cameron, B., & Pegg, S. (2010). Accessible tourism and sustainability: a discussion and business case study. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, published online 24 April. doi: 10.1080/09669581003690668

Darcy, S., Cameron, B., Pegg, S., & Packer, T. (2008). Technical Report 90042: Developing Business Cases for Accessible Tourism STCRC technical report   Retrieved from http://www.crctourism.com.au/default.aspxg

O'Carrollyns. (2006). O'Carrolyns at One Mile Beach - Accessibility  Retrieved 12 October, 2006, from http://www.ocarrollyns.com.au/accessibility/cabin_accommodation.php

Photo 1: Preparing to board  an accessible dolphin watching cruise at Port Stephens, NSW  (© Fiona Darcy 2008)