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A pathway for rapid post-Covid economic recovery: The huge opportunities in ‘accessible tourism’

15 Jan 2021

In the background of much criticism over the arrival of Ukrainian tourists last week, let's look at what type of tourists Sri Lanka should practically try to attract in the near future, while we wait for efforts to upscale our tourism product in the long term in bringing more affluent visitors. It is estimated that 15% of the world population (one billion people) lives with a diagnosis or condition of disability, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) believes the key to responsible, sustainable tourism policies should be accessibility for all tourism facilities, products, and services. This is an outstanding business opportunity to make travel easier for people with disabilities. However, to meet this large demand of the market, a change in thinking and in the model of tourism services is needed. Accessible facilities and programmes help boost the quality of the tourism products and can create more jobs for differently abled people. Therefore, accessibility needs to be an integral part of every responsible tourism policy and strategy for sustainable growth. Accessible tourism must be an ongoing project, irrespective of mechanical limitations, disabilities, or age, to ensure visitor destinations, goods, and services are accessible to all people.   Sri Lanka’s current tourism situation   We’d like to attract top-dollar tourists who will spend tens of thousands of dollars during their stay in our Emerald Isle. But let’s face it: Our hospitality product, our attractions, and our transport infrastructure simply aren’t geared for that. While it’s heartening to see more upscale resorts and city hotels coming online, 75% of our hotel rooms are less than four-star. The vast majority of our visitors are retired persons who come with large tour groups and travel in big coaches around the usual route of Colombo/Negombo, the Cultural Triangle, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Bandarawela, Yala, and the southern and western beaches. One key market segment that Sri Lanka can rapidly tap into is the mobility-restricted market. This comprises not only those classified as differently abled, but those who are elderly and also overweight; in short, the ideal market that is very close to the market segment that Sri Lanka already attracts. This would be one quick way to fill our hotel rooms as 2021 progresses, and speed up the recovery of the tourism industry and the economy.   Objectives of any tourism industry   The two objectives of the tourism industry in any country are: 
  1. To earn money, and it is just as important that it comes in foreign exchange; and 
  2. To provide jobs for as many people as possible.
Thus, a million foreign visitors who spend $ 200 a day would bring in just as much money as two million visitors who spend $ 100 a day. But larger numbers of tourists might employ more people. So, it’s a fine balance of getting the most money and a large number of tourists. Sri Lanka Tourism’s long-term plan   When Covid shut down Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, and almost our entire economy, last March, Sri Lanka Tourism quite admirably focused on not just opening the industry back up again, but in using this shutdown as an opportunity to reposition Sri Lanka’s tourism industry to attract higher-spending tourists. However, a key challenge is that when marketing any type of product or service, once that product or service has already earned a reputation as having been priced at a certain level, one needs to provide significant value-addition in the minds of consumers to reposition the product or service to a more upscale customer. This requires investment. One cannot take a bar of soap that one was selling at Rs. 10 and sell it at Rs. 50 without investing in value-addition a more attractive wrapper, more aesthetically pleasing product, more efficient means of purchasing through technology, etc. While it is encouraging to see many hotel projects in Sri Lanka that are targeting more affluent tourists, the vast majority of hotel room infrastructure in Sri Lanka still caters to the less-affluent tourists – from backpackers in Ella to mass tour groups going around the tourist circuit in big coaches. Many of the owners of these less luxurious properties – homestays, small hotels, medium hotels, guest houses, and low-end large hotels – can’t afford to invest in upgrading their products. Thus in the short and mid-term, it makes more sense to look at optimising revenue from existing hotels with small investments, while working on long-term transformation that requires larger investments.   The types of tourists visiting Sri Lanka   One key market segment that Sri Lanka has virtually ignored is the mobility-restricted tourist segment. Mobility-restricted can be defined as anyone who has any kind of handicap in mobility – elderly persons, pregnant persons, temporarily injured persons (e.g. broken leg), as well as those permanently classified as differently abled due to a mobility restriction (e.g. wheelchair-bound, use of crutches, etc.). In Sri Lanka, we are culturally accustomed to our elderly people staying at home for most of their lives after retirement. But in many countries, retired persons actually form a huge market segment in travel, since they have lots of leisure time. However, many of these elderly people may have mobility restrictions due to their age and fitness issues.  This is where countries that focus on making their entire tourism infrastructure accessible to mobility-restricted tourists can earn a significant amount of money. This is in fact rather a strange situation in Sri Lanka, since our tourism industry already attracts large numbers of elderly persons. Take a look at the tourists in the big coaches. You hardly see families with either young or teenaged children, because there isn't much for children to do in Sri Lanka. Neither do you see a lot of business travellers. A large market segment is in fact elderly or middle-aged couples. In other words, we have the market segment already. But our tourism infrastructure is all too often not very friendly towards mobility-restricted persons. This is quite silly, since it costs very little to do so, by simply investing in the following:
  1. Wheelchair ramps wherever there are steps;
  2. Lifts where necessary that can accommodate wheelchairs;
  3. Corridors and rooms of international standard for wheelchair use; and
  4. Vehicles that can accommodate wheelchairs, including buses and trains.
Let's start with hotels. While many of the larger hotels have such facilities, too many of the smaller hotels and older hotels simply don’t. But it’s not just about hotels. Think about public transportation – our trains and buses. Think about our shops, our roads and pavements. Very importantly, our tourist attractions need to be accessible – from Sigiriya to Koneswaran, as we see in Fig. 1.   The global context   The idea of "tourism for all" addresses a growing segment of travellers with a variety of interests and needs. For example, the accessibility factor of a wheelchair user, compared to another passenger with a different form of impairment, mobility disability, or other condition, may make many locations very hard to access, or even entirely inaccessible.  Inclusive tourism does not only require wheelchair-accessible facilities. There are senior tourists, parents with infants, tourists with allergies and other conditions, etc. These are all various groups of travellers with different levels of constraints on accessibility and mobility, as we see in Fig. 2. Key highlights
  • The US national parks: In 2012, an Accessibility Task Force was created for the National Park Service (NPS), which has since initiated a five-year plan to improve accessibility across parks from 2015-2020.
  • Australia Sydney: Sydney is rapidly becoming a disability-friendly destination with 2,100 tactile and braille road signs, and connectivity to almost all its public transport routes. Their currently beta “Accessibility Map” offers valuable details – for example, where mobility parking spaces can be located and accessible public toilets. It also warns of possible obstacles like escalators or steep slopes. Starting with “A Community for All: Inclusion (Disability) Action Plan 2017-2021”, the city is moving to change and to progress.
  • South Africa: “Access 2 Africa Safaris” is operated by safari experts in South Africa who rely on their personal experiences with people that are handicapped. The business was awarded the 2016 Lilizela South African Tourism Award in four different categories. They accommodate families, persons, and organisations who are eligible, but specialise in accommodations for differently abled people. 
In addition to exclusive tours for the hearing-impaired (with visually thrilling scenes and sign language performers), and select wheelchair-accessible packages (with a focus on touch, sound, and smells). You can pick safaris for everyone from one, seven, and 12-day packages.
  • Thailand Pattaya: Pattaya is a perfect choice for people with disabilities looking for an experience in the resort. The Royal Cliff Hotels Group has all the rooms with modified peepholes, braille lifts, portable ramps, and secure swimming pools. 
For instance, the A-ONE Pattaya Beach Resort was built specifically with wheelchair users in mind. It incorporates barrier-free movement design, low-level counter designs with controls, and braille menus in the whole building, including emergency exits. There is restricted access to beaches in Pattaya, and while water cannot be reached in a wheelchair, most of the city's attractions are easily accessible to them.
  • Italy Sicily: Sicily provides disability-friendly features at many of its sights, including the Ursino Museum. Accessible SCUBA, the Tactile Museum and the Sensorial-Botanic Garden are among the disability-friendly events around the island. In fact, Sicily holds two Guinness World records: the first paraplegic diving at 59 m, and the first blind man diving at 41 m!
  • Portugal: Portugal was recognised as the first country to be awarded the "Accessible Tourism Destination 2019" award by the UNWTO. The award, presented for the first time by the UNWTO with the ONCE Foundation, recognises the efforts of Portugal in promoting accessibility for tourism. There are 90 million visitors in the European market with special mobility requirements, meaning that the recognition is a major achievement for Portugal, and underlines its accessibility leadership for everyone.
  Important points  
  • Considering people's health: The physical capacity of a person to engage in tourism contributes significantly to accessible tourism. This includes age-related physical disabilities, disorders, and wellbeing. Tourism stakeholders can do many things to make tourism more available, such as offering ramps for wheelchair users, braille cards, and lifts for people with stairs that are difficult to climb.
 
    • Considering all the age groups: Accessible tourism should make it possible for people to access tourism, regardless of the stage of their lives. This means that children’s facilities like buggy ramps, and elderly facilities, should be open. In terms of tourist destinations, the goods provided to cater to people of all ages should be separated.
 
  • Transportation access: Some people have more access than others to transportation. This can also be seen in contrasts between towns and rural areas. Usually, a larger variety of transport options exist in cities and towns than in rural areas. Indeed, access to transport is one of the biggest problems facing rural tourism.
  • Attitude towards culture: The cultural behaviour of an individual can be a significant factor in accessible tourism. For starters, people want to feel that their culture is valued. Some people think it is higher or lower than others, and if this is the case, they do not want to go to a specific place where you have that view.
 
  • Destination familiarity: Most people want to go to a destination because they know it. This may be because you have already travelled to this destination, or because you saw your favourite influencer talk about it on Instagram. Familiarity with a destination may be an attraction.
  Implementation of accessible tourism   There are several techniques available to visitor destinations and organisations, including:
  • Promoting social tourism policies and acts at all levels;
  • Safety of this element of social security guaranteed in the European social model, ensuring universal conformity with workers' leave rights;
  • Plan and adaptation to address physical disability needs of visitor facilities and sites;
  • Improvement of disabled and underprivileged groups’ knowledge;
  • To encourage a wide variety of services and experiences in tourism;
  • The implementation of unique arrangements to promote and encourage low-income holidays for citizens, such as voucher schemes, run by governments and operators in some countries based on tax incentives; and
  • Effective methods for marketing and promotion.
  Recommendations/action plan   We should offer a range of tourist and destination marketing services that enable tour operators to benefit from the growing demand for accessible tourism. Our central strategy is to build a culture of creativity to target this highly competitive, fast-expanding market that focuses on the goods and services needs of people with disabilities.
  • Access statement development
  • Development of product, service, and programme
  • Policy and procedures of “soft infrastructure”
  • Training in personnel and management
  • Toolkits and marketing services
  • Access information kit
  • Universal design and property audits
  • Tools for self-audit
  • Guides and maps of the national/state/regional parks
  • Development of the diversity and integration strategy
  • Community plans for disability
  • Planning and development of new projects
  • Travel ability property accommodation listings
  © Niresh Eliatamby and Nicholas Ruwan Dias   (The writers are Managing Partners of Cogitaro.com, a consultancy that finds practical solutions for challenges facing society, the environment, and all types of industries. Dr. Dias is a digital architect and educationist based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and may be reached via ruwan@cogitaro.com. Eliatamby is an author, journalist, and educationist based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and may be reached via niresh@cogitaro.com)

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