An effort to develop accessible tourism in Greece and Turkey: the MEDRA project approach (original) (raw)
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Accessible tourism is a new emerging segment of tourism in Greece, as well as worldwide, related to the tourist activity of disabled people and elderly age groups. Travelers with disabilities and elderly people have their special needs when engaging in tourism. This paper attempts to present the existing status of the accessible tourism in Greece. More particularly, our research focuses on the travel needs and barriers faced by people with disabilities in order to evaluate the current accessibility level of the Greek tourism industry, as well as the quality of infrastructure, tourist services and products offered to disabled and aged people throughout the Greek tourist chain. For this purpose, questionnaires with experts involved in the Greek tourism industry were undertaken and a quantitative analysis has been used to present our results. Whenever it was possible, our results have been compared with those of other academic studies, conducted for Greece or other similar tourism dest...
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MANAGEMENT OF ACCESSIBLE TOURISM AND ITS MARKET IN TURKEY
Over one billion people live with some kind of disability in the world. The prevalence of disability and the likelihood of elderly people becoming disabled have increased with the aging of populations. It is a fundamental right of disabled people to take part in any domain of life under equal terms with all others else. Disabled people have needs like travelling, vacationing and sightseeing in different places as other people do. It is their fundamental right to benefit from tourism services equally, hygienically, comfortably, honourably and more actively. Accessible tourism is not a process of assimilation but a process of integration. Turkey should manage this process well to benefit from the special, important accessible tourism market adequately. Action is needed at local, national, and global levels, to remove the barriers (e.g., physical, social, behavioural, environmental) that hinder disabled people and to put into practice the necessary, neglected regulations for both the public and tourism sectors.
Accessible tourism: the golden key in the future for the specialized travel agencies
Journal of Tourism Futures, 2016
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the comprehension of the importance of “Accessible Tourism” for the specialized travel agencies by proposing suggestions and key factors to improve the supply of accessible tourism offers. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts specialized travel agencies on the accessible tourism perspective of disabled tourist flows. Also, this paper describes the circumstances, social, politic, economic consequences and key decisions that thereby Turkey would be recognized, preferring, establishing on the intention of purchased and suggested positive word of mouth among people. Findings According to European Commission (EU) (2013) more than half of the individuals with disabilities in the EU made approximately 170 million day trips and a similar number of overnight trips within the EU during the 12 months between mid-2012 and mid-2013. Despite the developments in tourism, lack of product/service appropriate to the travel rights of the in...
AWARENESS OF TURKISH SOCIETY ABOUT ACCESSIBLE TOURISM
ABSTRACT Turkey is among the countries which cannot have a share of accessible tourism although it is challenging and has a big market in tourism. People with disabilities represent a significant market share and Turkey can have a share of this market to increase its tourism revenues. Aim of this study is to present the awareness level of Turkish society about accessible tourism. This study concluded that Turkish society has an awareness of accessible tourism, but tourism establishments are required to make improvements both in service and structure.
Paving the Way to Accessible Tourism
2010
People do not normally get interested in the problems of limited mobility, unless they experience the problem themselves or they personally know someone who does. In my case, it took 28 years of my life until the second possibility occurred. Craig Grimes was that person. But in his case, he not only suffered the lack of access in travel, he also decided to do something about it and created his own company. This was very inspiring. Soon I realised that not being disabled was nor precisely an advantage to carry out this research. Many 'ableist' misconceptions and misrepresentations were allocated in my imaginary. Moreover, I had to overcome a complete lack of knowledge about disability, impairment and accessible tourism. At the same time, it was so easy to say the wrong word or to make unjustified assumptions. Although I have not suffered the problem, I started to empathise with those who did and I learn to see with their eyes. I did not like what I saw. For some people, every time they want to travel by public transport, go to the pub, stay in a hotel or enjoy a tour they must ask themselves: is it accessible? And worst of all, most of times the answer is "No" or "I don't know". Even when it's "yes" they cannot really be sure! According to what I heard from people who suffered the lack of access, despite some advances, there is still a lot of frustration. I felt the gratitude of many when they knew about this research. To them it is dedicated. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE REPORT 5 2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 5 3. GLOSSARY AND TERMINOLOGY 6 4. BACKGROUND 8 4.1 DISABILITIES 8 4.2. DISABILITIES AND TOURISM 9 4.3 BENEFICIARIES OF ACCESSIBILITY 5. RATIONALE 6. LITERATURE REVIEW 6.1 CONCEPT OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN 6.2 ACCESSIBLE TOURISM RESEARCH 6.3 SOCIAL AND INCLUSIVE TOURISM 6.4 BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE 6.5 LEGISLATION 6.6 CONCLUSION 7. RESEARCH METHODS 7.1 METHODOLOGY 7.2 METHODS 8 ANALYSIS OF RESULTS 8.1 QUESTIONNAIRE 8.2 CASE STUDIES 9 DISCUSSION 9.1 PwLM TRAVEL 9.2 OPPORTUNITIES FOR DESTINATION 9.3 ENGAGING BUSINESSES 10. RECOMMENDATIONS 11. CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES ANNEX 1 ANNEX 2
Accessible Tourism Practices: The Sample Study of 4 and 5-Star Hotels in İstanbul
Modern society is increasingly aware of the concept of integration of people with disabilities. Tourism has recently been defined as an ongoing endeavor to ensure tourist destinations, products and services are accessible to all people, regardless of their physical limitations, disabilities via making it easy for everyone to enjoy tourism experiences. Therefore it is important to make basic adjustments to a facility, provide accurate information, and understand the needs of disabled people in order to increase visitor numbers. In this concept, this study aims to investigate accessible tourism practices in thirty-five 4 and 5-star hotels in the European part of İstanbul. The quantitative research method was used to conduct the data collected through the surveys with the managers of the hotels. The information and investigations about attitudes and policies of hotels in this study will contribute to accommodation establishments in terms of the necessities, limitations, evaluation and development of accessible tourism in Turkey.
Europe without barriers: accessible tourism between places and projects
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In the last few decades, the tourism sector in Europe has been facing growing demands from travellers who want better access in hotels, at holiday destinations and tourist attractions. The number of European travellers in the 55+ age group is increasing and, together with disabled people and their families, these customers are looking for travel options where basic accessibility features are standard. The so-called accessible tourism for all is not about providing separate services for separate targets or niche tourist markets. It aims at full integration or rather the inclusion of people with special needs (age, size, disability) in the tourism sector. Its long-term goal is the creation of a tourist environment in which all tourists can participate actively. Viewed from the perspective of accessible tourism for all, tourism policy in the European Union can be said to unite accessibility targets that are part of the otherwise trade-related aspects of tourism policy and a disability ...
People with Disabilities: Accessible Tourism Introduction to the Special Thematic Session
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2006
The Special Thematic Session is organized to provide a forum to discuss major issues related to Accessible Tourism, to identify existing barriers as well as technologies, strategies and approaches to promote Accessible Tourism. The more Information Communication Technologies and Assistive Technologies increase the potential to enable people with disabilities to take part in almost any area of life, the more eInclusion and eAccessibility become a common responsibility of the mainstream tourism industry. The European Commission appreciates this fact and therefore supports different activities to raise the awareness of the impact and the business opportunities that Accessible Tourism introduces. The forthcoming process of demographic ageing will lead to a growing number of tourists with needs for more accessibility and higher service quality also in tourism.
From tourism and disability to accessible tourism: a perspective article
Tourism Review, 2020
Purpose This paper aims to examine the development of disability and tourism to the conceptualising and defining of accessible tourism. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a limited review of the literature as its main approach. Findings In reviewing the development of the field from disability and tourism to accessible tourism, it became apparent that there has been a change in focus on the accessibility of the key sectors of tourism (e.g. transport, accommodation and attractions) to incorporating an embodied understanding of tourism in developing accessible destination experiences that provide an equality of offering to that of nondisabled tourists. Originality/value This paper makes a contribution by clearly following the development of the field from papers that only considered tourism and disability to conceptualise and define the accessible tourism field. It then goes on to identify a significant challenge due to an underlying empirical data gap through a lack of natio...