Setting an Agenda for Accessible Tourism Research

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Setting an Agenda forAccessible Tourism Research
Tourism Queensland 2000
Tourism Queensland 2000
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Objectives

• Outline disability as a legitimate area of
  tourism research from demand, supply,
  coordination and regulation perspectives
• Introduce participants to alternative conceptual
  frameworks to the dominant medical approaches
  through human rights and social model approaches
  to disability
• Examine the outcome of a Sustainable Tourism
  Cooperative Research Centre agenda for accessible
  tourism and
• Provide NZTRI members the opportunity to discuss
  ideas for collaborative accessible tourism
  research in New Zealand and the Pacific Rim.

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Disability as a legitimate area of tourism
research from demand, supply, coordination and
regulation perspectives.
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Disability, Ageing and Tourism

• Disability as part of an human diversity and
  lifespan
• The ageing of Western Asian populations
• The relationship between ageing and disability
  through life course
• The role of tourism in the quality of life

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Disability Rate by Age and Sex (ABS 2003)
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What is Disability?

• Defined under the Disability Discrimination Act,
  1992
• Physical
• Sensory
• Intellectual
• Psychiatric
• Neurological
• Learning disabilities
• Physical disfigurement and
• Presence in the body of disease-causing organisms
• Past, Present Future real or believed

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What is Access?

• Operationalised as inclusive practices for
  mobility, vision, hearing and cognition
• A persons impairment is not a disability until
  they encounter disabling environments and
  attitudes
• Creation of enabling environments and attitudes
• Embraced through the concept of citizenship

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Dimensions of Access

• Mobility
• Ramps, lifts, circulation space, accessible
  unisex toilets, automatic doors, table heights,
  operational dexterity
• Vision
• Tactile tiles, visual contrast, audible signals
  (lifts/street crossings), braille, large print,
  assistance animal respite areas
• Hearing
• Visual signals, Auslan Sign interpreters,
  captioning or Tele text, telephone typewriters,
  preprepared written material
• Cognition/learning
• Plain English material, iconic signage, time,
  speed of communication, environmental stimulus,
  alternative modes

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Tourism Queensland 2000
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Overseas InitiativesInternational Declarations

• 1991 World Tourism Organisation with the
  resolution Creating Opportunities for Handicapped
  People in the Nineties
• 1997 International Bureau of Social Tourism
  (1997) Montreal Declaration
• 2000 Community Based Rehabilitation Development
  and Training Centre, The Bali Declaration on
  Barrier-free Tourism for People with Disabilities
• 2004 Designing for the 21st Century, Rio de
  Janeiro Declaration on Sustainable Social
  Development, Disability Ageing

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Recent International Conferences

• International Accessible Tourism Conference
  (Taiwan May 2005)
• 1st International Tourism Forum for People with
  Special Needs in the Middle East (Dubai May 2005)
• Designing for the 21st Century III Travel and
  Hospitality Stream (Rio, Brazil Nov 2004)
• NICAN Out of the Blue Valuing the Disability
  Market in Tourism Conference (Perth, Australia
  2004)
• European Ministerial Conference Tourism for All,
  Bruges, July 1-2, 2001

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Demand

• Australia Research
• Murray Sproats (1990)
• Darcy (1998)
• Market and Communication Research (2002)
• Darcy (2002)
• Darcy (2003)
• Darcy (2004)

• Overseas Research
• Woodside Etzel (1980)
• Smith (1987)
• Flavigny and Pascal (1995)
• Turco, Stumbo Garncarz (1998)
• Foggin (2000)
• Burnett and Bender-Baker (2001)
• HarrisInteractive (2002)
• Israeli (2002)
• McKercher, Packer, Yao Lam (2003)
• Ray and Ryder (2003)
• Hunter-Jones (2004)
• Shaw Coles (2004)
• Yau, McKercher Packer (2004)

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Demand-Side Research Summary

• size of the tourism market of people with
  disabilities
• a comparison of tourism patterns of people with
  disabilities with the non-disabled
• role of tourism marketing and the provision of
  tourism access information in tourism planning
  for people with disabilities
• inaccessibility of the transport, accommodation
  and attractions sectors
• disability market segmentation
• impact of anti-discrimination legislation on
  goods and service provision
• medical approaches of disability tourism
  research and
• lack of an explanation for the experiences of
  people with disabilities.

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Supply

• Overseas Research
• Cavinato Cuckovich (1992)
• Ross (1994)
• Gallagher Hull (1996)
• Upchurch Soe (1996)
• WADSC (1997)
• Daruwalla (1999)
• Goodall (2002)
• Miller Kirk (2003)
• Goodall, Dixon Russell (2004)
• Cameron, Darcy and Foggin (2003)

• Australia Research
• Weiler Muloin (1989)
• Murray Sproats (1990)
• DSC (WA) 1987
• Daruwalla (1999)
• ONeil and Ali-Knight (2000)
• Darcy (2000)
• Darcy (2002)
• Daruwalla and Darcy (2005)

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Supply-Side Research Summary

• self-reported assessments of the accessibility of
  Tourism Industry (TI) product
• interviews that seek to document current TI
  approaches to people with disabilities
• instruments that review TI attitudes towards
  people with disabilities and
• assessments of compliance with human rights
  legislation.

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Coordination and Regulation Research

• Little published research
• A great deal of government reports, policies and
  initiatives

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Government Initiatives

• What exactly are you aiming for..
• Oz DDA Draft Disability Standard for Access to
  Premises
• UK work DDA (similar to Australia)
• US ADA industry sector compliance
• Kèroul disability partnership with Montréal
  Tourism Authority
• UK Holiday Care Service RADAR
• Europe - OSSATE
• USA Websites?
• NZ disability strategylater

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Conclusions People with impairments

• travel at significantly lower rates than the
  non-disabled.
• constitute proportionally less of the travelling
  public than their proportion of the population.
• do not perceive their impairment as the reason
  for their non-participation
• barriers and tourism requirements are dependent
  on their impairment.
• Constraints are socially constructed through in
  government and industry practices and discourses

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2. Alternative conceptual frameworks to dominant
medical approaches
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Medical versus Social Model

• PERSONAL problem vs SOCIAL problem
• medical care vs social integration
• individual treatment vs social action
• professional help vs individual collective
  responsibility
• personal vs environmental
  adjustment manipulation
• behaviour vs attitude
• care vs human rights
• health care policy vs politics
• individual adaptation vs social change

WHO 2002
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Social Model of Disability

• The Social Model challenged that disability is
  the result of an individual's impairment, their
  'personal tragedy, (Oliver 1996) and instead
  conceptualizes disability as the product of the
  disabling social environment and the prevailing
  hostile social attitudes (Barnes 199643)
• Based on
• 1. the lived experiences of disabled people
• 2. disability as socially constructed barriers
  attitudes
• 3. an attack on the barriers that oppress
  impaired people and lead to their disabled social
  participation (citizenship).

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Medical Model vsSocial Model of Disability

• Why cant I access this facility?
• Medical Model
• 1. Because of my impairmentI cant walk down
  stairs
• Social Model
• 2. Because of the stairsWhy was the building
  constructed with only stair access?

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Social Model of DisabilityCitizenship Literature

• Disabling Barriers - Enabling Environments
• Community Participation Live, Work and Play
• Segregated ? Integrated ? Inclusive ? Universal
• Socially Constructed BarriersImpairment vs
  Disability
• Social IsolationPerson Cannot Participate in the
  CommunityCommunity Loses Contribution of the
  Person (Tax, Social Capital Etc.)
• Organization of Social RelationshipsPhysical,
  Economic, Political, Social and Spatial

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Human Rights

• United Nations (1948) Universal Declaration of
  Human Rights
• United Nations (1975) Declaration on the Rights
  of Disabled Persons.
• United Nations (1976) declared 1981 as the
  International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP).
• UN General Assembly (1993) The Standard Rules on
  the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons
  with Disabilities
• identified recreation and tourism as target areas
• Up to signatory countries to operationalise the
  declarations

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10 Years of the DDA
Source HREOC 2003
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NZ Disability StrategyMinistry of Health 2001
MAKING A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE WHAKANUI ORANGA
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Objective 9 Support lifestyle choices,
recreation and culture for disabled people

• Actions
• 9.1 Support disabled people in making their own
  choices about their relationships, sexuality and
  reproductive potential.
• 9.2 Provide opportunities for disabled people to
  create, perform and develop their own arts, and
  to access arts activities.
• 9.3 Educate arts administrators/organisations and
  other recreational and sporting organisations
  about disability issues and inclusion.
• 9.4 Support the development of arts, recreational
  and sports projects, including those run by and
  for disabled people.

Tourism not explicitly mentioned!
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• Towards 2010 implementing New Zealand tourism
  strategy
• No mention of disability in the strategy or on
  the website
• Niche tourism is largely restricted to cultural
  tourism
• Focus on yield

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Disability Specific Travel Information

• http//www.weka.net.nz/Weka/Weka.Nsf/Wpgsectionind
  ex/LivingWithADisability--TravelAndTourism
• Example
• http//www.toursnz.com/
• Apparent solid core of SME providing services for
  people with disabilities
• Predominantly mobility based

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3. Outcomes of the Sustainable Tourism
Cooperative Research Centre agenda for accessible
tourism
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STCRC Research Agenda Program Participatory
Action Research Approach

• Welcome to Country - Lester Bostock OA
• Introductory Address - Bill Healey, Australian
  Hotels Association
• The State of Disability and Tourism Research -
  Simon Darcy, University of Technology, Sydney
• Breakout Session 1 4 groups
• Sectoral Approaches to Tourism - Bruce Cameron,
  Easy Access Australia
• Breakout Session 2 4 groups
• Competing Discourses
• Human Rights Tourism - Michael Small, HREOC
• Market Issues - Shane Pegg, University of
  Queensland
• Identifying a Research Agenda - Tanya Packer,
  Curtin University
• Prioritising A Research Agenda all participants
• Closing address - Tim Fischer, Chairman Tourism
  Australia

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Outcomes

• Information Provision, Marketing and Promotion
• Dimensions of Disability
• Market Dynamics and Segmentation
• Total Product Development
• Industry Engagement - Profile, Partnerships and
  Understanding
• Education and Training
• Access to All Sectors of the Tourism Industry

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Detailed Outcomes 1

• 1. Information Provision, Marketing and
  Promotion
• determine relevant information requirements,
  format and presentation preferences for each
  dimension of disability across each sector of the
  tourism industry
• test the validity or otherwise of rating systems
  and alternative information formats for tourism
  accommodation
• pilot the outcomes of the above for inclusion on
  the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse
• establish collaborative projects with OSSATE and
  other accessible tourism information projects in
  other parts of the world
• 2. Dimensions of Disability
• understand the different tourism requirements of
  people based on hearing, vision and cognitive
  dimensions of disability
• 3. Market Dynamics and Segmentation
• establish a commitment to ongoing collection of
  domestic and international data sources that
  include a disability module
• undertake analysis of the size and role of
  accessible tourism within Australian tourism
• develop market segmentation studies of disability
  in tourism

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Detailed Outcomes 2

• 4. Total Product Development
• operationalise universal design and easy living
  principles within tourism product development
• test the operationalisation of the above concepts
  through place based approaches, local access
  precincts and access trail development
• understand the diversity of experiences of people
  with disabilities through an application of the
  recreation opportunity spectrum to industry
  sectors
• 5. Industry Engagement - Profile, Partnerships
  and Understanding
• development of best practice cases
• establish the business case for accessible
  tourism
• provide resources for identified SME to enter the
  Australian Tourism Awards
• encourage industry linked research between
  disability groups, tourism enterprises and
  tourism industry representative groups
• establish accessible tourism organisation/associat
  ion/lobby group
• establish an internal government driver of
  accessible tourism through cooperative
  Commonwealth and State government Tourism
  Minister's Council

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Detailed Outcomes 3

• 6. Education and Training
• extend information provision to interactive
  industry based disability awareness training that
  is tested using recognised Australian/internationa
  l scales
• undertake disability awareness training with a
  key industry group to provide the basis for
  ongoing industry engagement
• incorporate disability awareness
  training/curriculum into industry, TAFE and
  university courses
• 7. Access to All Sectors of the Tourism Industry
• reinforces the need for best practice case
  studies that also investigate the business case
  for accessible tourism (see Industry Engagement)
• develop experiential case studies of disability
  tourism activities to provide the industry with a
  diverse understanding of what constitutes
  disability tourism experience and
• promote the designation of a specific universal
  design or accessible tourism award within the
  Australian Tourism Awards to highlight the
  importance for the triple bottom line.

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4. Discussion, questions and opportunities for
collaboration
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Notes