The role of social organisations in the promotion of recreation and tourism activities for people with special needs

Abstract

Although leisure and tourism are recognised as rights for all people, many people with special needs (PwSN) still have very limited opportunities for participating in these activities. Social organisations (SO) are potential mediators between the tourism industry and this market, especially for reducing barriers to participation. However, there is a lack of research on the role these organisations perform as facilitators of access to leisure and tourism. This paper aims to identify the difficulties faced and strategies adopted by SO when developing recreation and tourism activities, as well as the benefits of these activities for PwSN. A qualitative approach was adopted, namely semi-structured interviews with representatives of Portuguese SO working with PwSN. The findings highlight that Portuguese SO have had a dynamic and proactive behaviour in the development of recreation and tourism activities, contributing to increased access of PwSN to tourism activities, especially for people belonging to socially and economically disadvantaged groups. However, the results also show that SO face several constraints, specifically financial constraints, lack of specialised human resources and the lack of suitable tourism supply (e.g. accommodation, transportation) for this market. The paper ends with strategies that these organisations may adopt to cope with these constraints.

How to develop accessible Information Systems: an experimental study in tourism and proposal of a roadmap to support the development of accessible solutions

“…In this regard, diverse authors [68-72] suggest the incorporation of three stakeholders within the accessible tourism market: demand agents; supply agents, and teaching institutions. Demand agents are not only PwD but also informal caregivers and social organizations [73,74]. Essentially, it should be considered a demand agent for anyone looking for accessible tourism offers [2].…”

Traveling with special needs: investigating constraints and negotiation strategies for engaging in tourism activities

“…Freund et al , 2019; Landby, 2019; Nyman et al , 2018) and a limited number of studies analyses the view of formal caregivers (e.g. Carneiro et al , 2022). Moreover, a reduced number of studies examine the view of PwoSN, such as people with food allergies.…”

“…Currently the accessible tourism market (which includes PwD, people with other functional limitations and elderly) is already a highly significant market. PwD represent about 15% of the whole world's population (World Bank, 2020), and this is expected to grow greatly due to the aging of the population (Alves et al , 2020; Blichfeldt and Nicolaisen, 2011; Carneiro et al , 2022; Darcy, 2002; Darcy and Pegg, 2011; Eusébio et al , 2022; Ozturk et al , 2008; Pagán-Rodríguez, 2014; Rucci and Porto, 2022; Small and Darcy, 2010; Yim, 2013). Moreover, engagement in tourism activities has a great impact on the well-being of participants (Eusébio and Carneiro, 2014; McCabe, 2009; Moura et al , 2022; Small and Darcy, 2010) and people feel different when they travel.…”

“…Furthermore, some published studies highlight the relevance of participating in tourism activities on well-being and quality of life of people with special needs (PwSN). This group includes PwD and people with other special needs (PwoSN), such as the elderly and people with other functional limitations (Allen, 2003; Alves et al , 2020; Carneiro et al , 2022; Devile, 2009; Edington et al , 1992; McQuoid, 2017; Moura et al , 2022; Rucci and Porto, 2022; Tekin, 2004; Zaluska et al , 2022; Wang, 2017).…”

“…PwSN constitute a heterogenous market in terms of characteristics and needs when planning a tourism trip and during it (Carneiro et al , 2022; Kastenholz et al , 2015). Moreover, studies carried out in Portugal on travel constraints and strategies used by PwSN to overcome the travel constraints are very scarce.…”