The purpose of this study is to examine intention to travel to accessible accommodations by families of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the influence of travel constraints (intrinsic, interactive, and environmental), the severity of disorder, and the families' strategies for coping with such constraints. A structured survey targeted at Spanish families (N = 117) indicated that the intrinsic dimension and the severity of disorder positively influence their intention to travel. The study contributes to extend knowledge about travel constraints related to accessible tourism and provides insights to accommodation providers on how to better enhance the customer experience of families travelling with a child diagnosed with ASD.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of including customers with special needs in the design of cultural and heritage services before the actual experience takes place.
Design/methodology/approach
Inclusive research through co-creation took place in the city of Barcelona, Spain, in 2017, comparing the effect of including (Route 2) or not including (Route 1) customers with visual and learning difficulties in the service design process of heritage walking routes.
Findings
The results show that the most important encounter in the heritage site context is communication, although the usage and service touchpoints were also significant. In addition, results showed that the ideal encounter or touchpoint should take place before the stay.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to learning about the designing of cultural and heritage experiences and including people with special needs in the service design process before the actual experience takes place.
The literature on air travellers with psychiatric disorders is limited. This perspective article highlights various travel-related aspects of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The airport experience can be stressful for families of children with autism spectrum disorder (FwASDs). The aim of this study was to explore the airport experience of FwASDs using the value co-creation process approach to assist airport managers in designing improved experiences for this specific passenger segment. This study responds to the current climate in which airports are developing awareness programmes in relation to children who require special assistance at airports. The prevalence of children with ASD is 1/68. While a number of airports throughout the world have adopted procedures addressing the needs of those with cognitive impairment, these advances are far from universal. As part of an academic–industry collaboration between Vueling airlines and the Spanish airport operator Aena, 25 FwASDs took part in an inclusive airport research project in the city of Barcelona from November 2015 to April 2016. Employing a qualitative methodology that incorporated focus groups, ethnographic techniques, and post-experience surveys, the study contributes to extending the body of knowledge on the management of the value co-creation process for challenging passenger segments within the airport context. The study explains how ensuring adequate resource allocation to this passenger segment can improve the family-inclusive design of the airport experience and offers managerial recommendations.
A fin de apoyar de forma efectiva a los emprendedores, las incubadoras desarrollan una oferta de programas de soporte a la creación de empresas acorde a las necesidades de las que resultan acogidas. La supervivencia y el éxito de las incubadoras dependen de la valoración recibida por estos programas, de tal modo que identificar los factores influyentes en la valoración realizada por emprendedores será clave en su proceso de gestión estratégica. El análisis de una muestra de 29 microempresas instaladas en diferentes incubadoras de Cataluña (España), evidencia la existencia de ciertos factores que influyen notablemente en la valoración de los diferentes programas de apoyo ofrecidos. Su análisis también permite establecer la existencia de diferencias importantes en los niveles de significación de cada factor, en función del grado de especialización del programa evaluado. Un incremento en el grado de orientación hacia el mercado, una especialización su oferta de programas de apoyo atendiendo al tipo de empresa y al perfil del emprendedor, y el establecimiento de una estrecha relación entre la institución y las redes de emprendedores, son algunas de las formulas estratégicas recomendadas para garantizar la supervivencia y la sostenibilidad de la incubadora a través del tiempo.
In the field of cultural tourism, museums have been pioneers in focusing on visitors with disabilities. They have used inclusive orientation to offer the kind of memorable and satisfying experiences that are so beneficial to a group at constant risk of social exclusion. Their task is made more difficult, however, by visitors’ perception of barriers to inclusion, and identification therefore becomes a priority at the strategic level. Based on this idea, the present study analyzes experiences from two tours of the CosmoCaixa Barcelona museum by 32 people with disabilities (PwD). The use of ethnographic techniques and post-experience interviews shows how, despite the legal framework in relation to people with disabilities, hospitality managers find it difficult to put this framework into practice and cater to the needs of this segment of the population. Two factors become particularly clear: the difficulties experienced by museum staff in identifying people with disability, and museum managers’ lack of training and knowledge of the wants and needs of people with disabilities. Academic and strategic recommendations for museum managers are provided at the end of the article.
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