Inciting tourist accommodation managers to make their establishments accessible to people with disabilities

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on the research carried out in Québec as part of a master’s degree for the IÉSEG School of Management on behalf of Kéroul, an organization whose mission is to make tourism and culture accessible to people with disabilities. Established over 30 years ago and active largely in Québec, Kéroul has observed a lingering reluctance on the part of tourism industry operators to meeting the needs of disabled visitors. In the research, we set out to answer the following question: how can Kéroul encourage tourism establishments to develop accessibility? In light of the hotel industry’s key role in tourism, exploratory research was conducted with 30 Québec hotel managers through extensive individual interviews. Design/methodology/approach The exploratory research took the form of in-depth interviews with hotel managers. The sample was selected after conferring with Kéroul and a Québec hotel association. As a first step, a jointly written letter was sent to managers who were association members, inviting them to be interviewed. Findings Some respondents showed an interest in accessibility, seen as a means of attracting group bookings; others confirmed that accessible rooms rented well to guests from all categories. Nonetheless, most were skeptical about the economic value of the disabled market. They were also poorly informed about this type of clientele, the concept of accessibility and the facilities “barrier-free” tourism requires. Originality/value Until now, the literature on accessible tourism has generally accentuated the needs of disabled consumers and analyzed their behavior with regard to tourism. Arguments to demonstrate the market potential of tourists with disabilities have ensued. The need to meet this demand was expressed while highlighting the low degree of consideration given to the disabled market by tourism professionals at present. However, few publications treat accessibility as a viable business opportunity. The study reveals the concerns and views of tourism industry professionals vis-à-vis accessibility and is all the more relevant, given the current context in Québec.

Understanding Stakeholder Attitudes, Needs and Trends in Accessible Tourism: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies

“…Some of these studies reported by the databases appeared in a language other than English; however, when the titles and abstracts were examined, they were discarded along with the rest because they dealt with issues not related to the objective of the study. One hundred thirty-eight (n = 138) papers were selected for a full-text review, of which 16 records [3,13,39,41,48,[78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88] satisfied the selection criteria proposed for this research. Figure 2 shows the total articles deleted and the reasons for their exclusion.…”

“…Eight studies [13,41,79,[84][85][86][87][88] showed moderate quality (representing 50% of the included studies). Seven studies [3,39,48,78,80,82,83] were rated as high quality. However, it should be noted that the studies that obtained the quality classification "high" had scores close to "moderate".…”

“…Most of the samples are made Five of the sixteen studies included dealt with the importance of motivation in disabled travelers [3,48,80,86,88]. Another five studies explored the possibilities and trends of the accessible tourism market, analyzing the perceptions of both travelers with PwD and managers of tourism-related companies [13,41,78,79,87]. Finally, six of the studies involved how to create accessible and inclusive tourist experiences, emphasizing the value of co-creation in the design of tourist spaces and experiences [39,[81][82][83][84][85].…”

“…This requires providers to know the changing needs of their clients, which is why user participation in the design of the tourism product is key. With proper communication, coordination, and with the feedback from the tourist experience, the results can be surprising and can transform a traditional tourist company, which is more likely to set aside its negative views and its aversity to change, and which views accessibility as a "social problem", and to assume new challenges to improve its productivity [13,41,78,79,87].…”

Online communication of accessibility conditions in touristic spots: the design–communication gap in Porto destination

“…When tourists travel to unfamiliar places, they are more Communication of accessibility conditions susceptible to unforeseen events (Eichhorn et al, 2013). The slow adaptation of hospitality infrastructures to accessible tourism (Capitaine, 2016;Agovino et al, 2017) and the different stages of competitiveness of the countries mentioned in the Tourism Accessibility Index (Porto et al, 2019) increase the risks of disabled tourists encountering inappropriate facilities for their personal health conditions (McKercher and Darcy, 2018). In fact, the low participation of disabled people in travel experiences is connected to the perceived lack of accessibility, which strongly influences their motivation to travel (Cole et al, 2019).…”