An intrepid adventurer wandering in the wilderness might want the excitement of the unknown. Most of us want to know what to expect before we leave home, even for a day. For people who find everyday places inaccessible, excitement comes from knowing exactly what to expect at a new destination. That’s why the journey begins at home with information. The Sensory Trust in the UK developed an Access Chain inclusive design tool to help businesses see things from a visitor perspective.
The graphic below shows four key elements: the decision to visit, journey and arrival, on-site experience and return home. The tool is to the point, clearly written and easy to follow. Each of the four steps is explained further.
The last step is easy to forget, but a problem at this point can ruin a good day out. For example, a long walk back to the car or poorly signed routes aren’t great at the end of a tiring day.
The Sensory Trust has more resources on their website.
Information: A critical factor in inclusive tourism
“The basic task of accessible tourism is to stop focusing on the features of disability and to concentrate on various social needs and adjusting the conditions of geographical (social and physical) space to them”.
This quote from a 2019 research paper sums up the situation well. The paper focuses on the information aspects of inclusive tourism, particularly online information. It reports on a case study and lists several “rules” for accessible tourist information. The author, Anna Kolodziejczak, laments the lack of consistency of language and description across the inclusive tourism platform. The conclusion sums up the issues well:
Visibility, reliability and up-to-date facts are the basic features of tourist information. However, due to the principles of both universal design and costs of publication it is advisable to include information on the accessibility of facilities and services in all publications intended for tourists. It ought to be emphasised that tourists, as main subjects of all activities aimed at enabling them to relax in the way they dream, need information at all stages of their journey. To this end, they use various databases of tourist information which, despite having many recipients, have also many creators. Only consistent and systematic cooperation of all information providers and the ability to react quickly to the needs of tourists can make the system work efficiently and the desired results will be achieved.”
The title of the paper is, Information as a factor of the development of accessible tourism for people with disabilities.