| Session | |
168: Enhancing Tourism Accessibility: Geographic Perspectives and Challenges
Additional Session Chairs: Ignacio Ruiz Guerra, Lourdes Susaeta Erburu, Almudena Otegui Carles, María Milagros Serrano Cambronero, Sandra Sánchez Arcediano
| |
| Session Abstract | |
|
The accessibility of tourism destinations has emerged as a critical issue in ensuring inclusive travel experiences for all individuals, regardless of physical ability. This session seeks to explore the intersection of geography and tourism accessibility, focusing on spatial challenges, infrastructural barriers, and policy frameworks that affect the mobility and inclusiveness of tourist spaces. While many tourism destinations promote inclusivity, disparities in accessibility remain widespread, particularly in heritage sites, rural areas, and urban settings with complex topographies. These disparities not only exclude individuals with disabilities but also affect elderly travelers, families with young children, and other groups with specific mobility needs. We invite contributions that examine a wide range of accessibility-related topics from a geographic perspective. These may include, but are not limited to: the spatial analysis of accessible tourism infrastructures, the role of geographic information systems (GIS) in assessing and improving destination accessibility, the impact of public policies and urban planning on accessible tourism, and case studies from different global contexts that highlight both successful approaches and ongoing challenges. Discussions will also cover how sustainable tourism practices can align with accessibility goals to create more inclusive environments. This session aims to foster a multidisciplinary dialogue among geographers, tourism professionals, urban planners, and policymakers, contributing to the growing body of research that advocates for equitable and inclusive tourism for all. By addressing the geographic dimensions of tourism accessibility, we hope to inform future practices and policies that enhance the travel experience for all individuals, regardless of their mobility needs | |
| Presentations | |
Accessibility in small rural towns: a case study 1Università Telematica Pegaso, Italy; 2Università Telematica Pegaso, Italy The World Health Organisation (WHO, 2023) has estimated that about 16% of the world's population, roughly 1.3 billion people, have a disability; of these, about 2/3 are likely to have the means to travel (Bowtell, 2015) and thus, in fact, represent a segment of consumers who actively contribute to the economy. Making tourist facilities and amenities accessible to all, as well as improving infrastructures to make them usable for everyone, should be central goals to pursue in any responsible and sustainable tourism development policy. These goals are even more urgent to achieve in rural areas where the very conformation of the territory is in itself an obstacle not only in the daily lives of residents, but also in planning a tourism development based on an inclusive offer, accessible and usable to all. After an initial exploratory study, in which existing theories on accessible tourism in small European cities will be analysed, we will move on to the analysis of an Italian case study. After an intensive fieldwork investigation, the state of the art of the case study and the main results emerging from the interviews with decision makers and tourism professionals in the area examined are presented, in particular: the mayor, the tourism councillor, the director of the main tourist attraction, and the director of the body in charge of promoting local tourism. The problem is examined from the point of view of tourist accessibility, investigating the criticality and potential of the area, in order to design forms of intervention and possible scenarios to make the historic centre and the main tourist attractions in the area accessible. The objective of the paper is therefore to illustrate different forms of intervention based on a bottom-up approach in the municipality examined, which can serve as a basis for systematic tourism planning in territories with similar problems and territorial conformations. Transforming Kyiv into a City Accessible for Tourism: Mapping of Stakeholders, Challenges and Handicaps University Of Graz, Institute of Geography and Regional Sciences, Austria Tourism is a sector that is very sensitive to military conflicts and wars and the impacts of violence, terrorism, political instability, and armed conflicts remain a key challenge for tourism researchers. The military aggression of Russia on Ukraine, yearly continuous warfare, and numerous missile attacks on Ukrainian cities caused an increase in the number of people with disabilities, as well as the future need for tourism recovery based on world standards, which have shaped the problem of the accessibility of urban space in Ukrainian cities, also from the tourism perspective. To address this challenge, Ukrainian cities implement programs and measures aiming at the improvement of the inclusiveness of urban space, also from the tourism perspective. For instance, the Tourism and Promotions Department of the Kyiv City State Administration (the public authority that defines the tourism development policy of Kyiv) had approved a project of the City Target Program for the Restoration and Development of the Tourism Sector of the City of Kyiv for 2025-2027, which has a strong focus on the adoption of tourism service for the people with disabilities and increasing the level of the barrierlessness and inclusiveness of urban space for tourism. Thus, inclusive urban space transformation requires time and the synergetic effort of various public authorities, non-governmental organizations, and businesses that provide tourism services. Based on the case study of Kyiv (the capital and the largest Ukrainian tourist destination), combining the analyses of legislative documents with in-depth expert interviews with public servants, and representatives of non-governmental organizations, as well as tourists having disabilities, that advocate the implementation of the inclusiveness approach, the research aims at mapping the stakeholders, who contribute to tourism accessibility of Kyiv and at defining existing handicaps, challenges and conflicts of interests they face on this way from the perspective of each group of stakeholders. Accessibility in Rooftop Terraces: A Neglected Factor in Their Expansion 1Complutense University of Madrid - Faculty of Commerce and Tourism, Spain; 2Faculty of Geography and History, Complutense University of Madrid Recent studies have highlighted the proliferation of rooftop terraces in several Spanish cities and their role in urban experiential tourism. Madrid and Seville exemplify this trend, with a steady post-pandemic increase in these spaces, particularly in historic tourist areas. Research has explored their experiential offerings and how they are marketed online. This study takes a step further by analyzing whether accessibility is a significant factor in this expanding tourism segment. To this end, we examined rooftop terrace websites and conducted a word cloud analysis of promotional language. Additionally, field observations assessed on-site accessibility features. Findings reveal that accessibility is largely absent from the promotion and commercialization of these spaces. Observational research confirms that accessibility measures rarely exceed legal requirements, which are typically enforced only in regulated settings such as hotels. Despite growing attention to inclusive tourism, rooftop terraces have yet to fully integrate universal accessibility as an essential component of the visitor experience. | |