Dear Colleagues,

Accessible tourism signals an emerging market segment in the global tourism industry that can catalyze sustainability excellence via promoting social inclusiveness and human rights for the vulnerable population (Natalia et al., 2019; Sica et al., 2021), along with destination competitiveness (Natalia et al., 2019). Except for the marketing perspective, accessible tourism is an evolving field in public health and public policy agendas, as it concerns a range of primary stakeholders including people with some form of disability, seniors, and families with young children (Darcy and Dickson, 2009). Specifically, people living with a permanent or temporary disability are attracting the increasing interest of respective policy and private actors, and the WHO (2020) states that “The number of people living with disability is increasing, in part due to ageing populations and an increase in chronic health conditions.” Indicatively, according to The World Bank (2020), about one billion people, globally, experience some form of disability, not to mention the people that support those living with disability. In this context, the World Tourism Organization of the United Nations embraced the endeavor of accessible tourism as part of its vision and further considers it as a “game changer” for global tourist destinations to respond to the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic (UNWTO, 2020).

Accessible tourism posits a nascent interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary field of research and business practice (Michopoulou et al., 2015). However, the extant research studies that theoretically contribute to the topic, while investigating particular cases and cultural backgrounds, are limited. A collaborative dialogue among inquiry, industry, and community is necessary to progress academic research and creative social solutions (Gillovic and McIntosh, 2020). Furthermore, the role of digitalization in the field of accessible tourism has to be explored to inform about feasible services that can lay out the enabling conditions of accessibility and enhance the traveling experience of visitors. Ultimately, research and practice contributions to the topic of accessible tourism must have a supply chain perspective to enable the efficient and effective delivery of accessible tourism services across all respective echelons of operations (UNWTO, 2016).

The Special Issue “Accessible Tourism Destinations” aims to collect innovative ideas, solutions, decision-making frameworks and tools, experimental research, ICT tools, and state-of-the-art studies in order to support the improvement of tourism products (prior, during, and after the visit), relevant services, and infrastructures by improving accessibility for people with disabilities. Submitted contributions are expected to include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Theoretical underpinnings on accessible tourism and the hospitality sector, preferably with a sustainability outlook;
• Empirical evidence of accessible tourism from stakeholders across the tourism supply chain who aim to contribute to the promotion of their regions as competitive international tourist destinations for people with disabilities and reduced mobility;
• Evidence from representatives of the disability movement and from individuals coming from population groups with similar needs to inform about the actual accessibility requirements and needs and to guide future research in the field;
• Policy-making initiatives on creating common strategies toward improving accessibility, in parallel with regional economic development and tourism business sustainability;
• Innovative services and technological applications that enable and improve accessibility to tourist destinations for people with some form of disability.

References:

Darcy, S., Dickson, T., 2009. A whole-of-life approach to tourism: The case for accessible tourism experiences. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 16(1), pp. 32–44.

Gillovic, B, McIntosh, A., 2020. Accessibility and inclusive tourism development: Current state and future agenda. Sustainability, 12(22), 9722.

Michopoulou, E., Darcy, S., Ambrose, I., Buhalis, D., 2015. Accessible tourism futures: The world we dream to live in and the opportunities we hope to have. Journal of Tourism Futures, 1(3), pp. 179–188.

Natalia, P., Clara, R.A., Simon, D., Noelia, G., Barbara, A., 2019. Critical elements in accessible tourism for destination competitiveness and comparison: Principal component analysis from Oceania and South America. Tourism Management, 75, pp. 169–185.

Sica, E., Sisto, R., Bianchi, P., Cappelletti, G., 2021. Inclusivity and responsible tourism: Designing a trademark for a national park area. Sustainability, 13(1), pp. 1–11.

The World Bank, 2020. Disability Inclusion. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/disability (accessed 11 January 2021).

UNWTO, 2016. World Tourism Day 2016, “Tourism for All – Promoting Universal Accessibility”: Good Practices in the Accessible Tourism Supply Chain. Madrid: United Nations World Tourism Organization.

UNWTO, 2020. Accessible Tourim Identified as ‘Game Changer’ for Destinations. Available at: https://www.unwto.org/news/accessible-tourism-identified-as-game-changer-for-destinations (accessed 11 January 2021).

WHO, 2020. Disability and Health. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health (accessed 11 January 2021).

Prof. Dimitrios Aidonis
Prof. Charisios Achillas
Dr. Naoum Tsolakis
Guest Editors

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• accessible tourism
• people with disability
• sustainable tourism
• mobility
• digitalization of tourism
• tourism services and infrastructures
• tourism supply chain management