Families Travelling with a Disabled Member: Analysing the Potential of an Emerging Niche Market Segment

Abstract

The 2000 Census of Population indicated that 50 million Americans, or 19.3 per cent of the US population, were people with disabilities and covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is estimated that the number of families with a member with a disability will grow significantly. Although people with disabilities and their families have sufficient discretionary income and time to take pleasure trips, tourism and hospitality marketers and practitioners to date generally have not much considered this group to be a focal market segment. The objective of the study was to determine whether families with a member with a disability should be considered a viable niche market by tourism and hospitality industry. Two secondary data sets from US Census reports and a six-state longitudinal travel market survey were used to evaluate the viability of this group as a market segment according to Kotler's criteria for market segmentation. Substantiality, differentiability and actionability were identified as the three most important criteria to determine that this segment is a viable niche tourism market. The findings indicate that this market can possibly be attracted through discount deals and reached through auto club publications and specially designed web pages. The marketing implications of this study are discussed.

Transformative consumer service

“…This progress can be seen as an upward movement from the medical model, which views people with disabilities as patients, through the social model, which sees them as dependent individuals (Oliver, 1990), and into the economic model, which recognizes their consumer power as a lucrative market segment (Gröschl, 2007;Huh and Singh, 2007;Shaw, 2007;Shaw and Coles, 2004). Yet progress remains slow and myopic.…”

“…Il a pour mission la promotion et la valorisation de la recherche. www.erudit.org People with disabilities, together with family, friends and caregivers, constitute a large potential consumer market segment for the tourism and hospitality industry (Huh and Singh, 2007;Darcy and Dickson, 2009). Government authorities have reported that a considerable number of people have disabilities or are likely to acquire them over the coming decades (Cameron et al, 2010).…”

“…For example, while it has been supported that in general, people with disabilities like to travel (Huh and Singh, 2007), the extent to which one disability segment differs from the others in this regard is not clear and empirical data about their respective tourism patterns are not available. Furthermore, are there differences between disability type in terms of tourism-related service perceptions (Michopoulou and Buhalis, 2013), information availability, or inclusion?…”

“…Attention given to research on people with disabilities in advanced developed countries has gone through complementary stages: the medical, social, and economic models (Oliver, 1990;Scope, 2013;Huh and Singh, 2007). Recently, Omar MOUFAKKIR : Toward a better tourism enjoyment for tourists with disabilities there has been a move toward the service model (Poria et al, 2010;Freeman and Selmi, 2010).…”

Engelli Bireylerin Erişilebilir Turizm Beklentilerinin Değerlendirilmesine Yönelik Nitel Bir Araştırma

“…Bununla birlikte turizm alanyazınında engelli turistlere giderek dikkat çekildiği görülmektedir (Chou ve Chao 2007;Huh ve Singh 2007;Gröschl 2007;Yates 2007;Eichhorn vd. 2008).…”