
Heritage, Access and Ancient Greece

Getting away from it all is something we all need for our health and wellbeing. But not everyone has the means of doing this. Being excluded as a tourist goes beyond physical and other levels of capability. It extends to people without the money to have a holiday. But it goes further than that. In developed countries the concept is applied to people looking for low cost tourism. In developing countries the focus is on the visited community rather than the visitor. This is “social tourism”.
The concept of social tourism has changed over time. It can help both the visitor and the visited community under the banner of Tourism for All. Socially sustainable tourism, community-based tourism and volunteering tourism have also fallen under the banner of social tourism. Consequently, in the literature, it is not clearly expressed as tourism for people who are disadvantaged.
The title of the article is, Inclusions and Exclusions of Social Tourism. Also available from ResearchGate where you can find related articles.
This study attempts to describe three aspects of social tourism: (a) how it is perceived in different socio-cultural and geographical settings; (b) what are the excluded elements of social tourism; and (c) change in demography of potential socially excluded groups. The study also explains the trends of special forms of tourism and its relevance to social tourism inclusion.
See also the book, Handbook of Social Tourism. The synopsis reads, “This thought-provoking Handbook considers the impact and challenges that social tourism has on people’s lives, integrating case studies from around the world. Showcasing the latest research on the topic and its role in tackling the challenges of tourism development, chapters explore the opportunities presented by social tourism and illustrate the social imperative of tourism as a force for good”.
There’s a growing realisation that accessibility does not equal inclusion. Getting in and out of somewhere is only the beginning. Being able to participate on an equal basis requires inclusive thinking and design. This includes the tourism sector. Being accessible is not the same as being inclusive.
Martin Heng, formerly of Lonely Planet, has an article in New Mobility that addresses this issue from a tourism perspective. He argues that the term “Accessible Tourism” is unhelpful. It has helped identify a market segment in economic terms, and some operators are on board. But it only goes so far. Change is slow and piecemeal.
Heng’s article is titled, “It’s Time to Move Beyond Access to Inclusion“. He concludes his article by saying we need to go beyond market segment ideas. We need to encourage the tourism industry to adopt an inclusive mindset.
Language and labelling is important. Choosing the right terms can make a big difference. “Accessible” is strongly linked with disability – particularly wheelchair users. “Inclusive” makes us think more broadly – families, people from diverse backgrounds, children and older people.
There are more articles and guidelines on inclusive tourism on this website.
Image courtesy of New Mobility showing Martin Heng interacting with an elephant.
The Inclusive Towns project was about increasing the participation and inclusion of people with disability as customers and employees in small business. The project was a partnership between the City of Greater Bendigo, Loddon Shire & Mount Alexander Shire in Victoria. Initially, the project was supported by a website, but this has been replaced by the Inclusive Towns Guide. The booklet has information business, tourism and employment. Three key areas are inclusive communication, physical environment and disability awareness. The guide is about:
• Why Inclusive Towns is important for your business
• Your legal responsibilities
• Disability statistics
• Tips on how your business can be more accessible and inclusive
• How you can use the Inclusive Towns logo
• Where you can go to get more information
You can find more articles on accessible and inclusive tourism on this website.
What does the international research on accessible nature-based tourism say? That’s what researchers in Sweden checked out. Nine major themes emerged for inclusive outdoor recreation:
This review found that existing research took the perspective of the consumer rather than the tourism operator. The report goes into more detail on the nine factors. It includes evidence from USA, Europe, UK and Sweden. The title of the report is, Enhancing Accessibility in Tourism & Outdoor Recreation: A Review of Major Research Themes and a Glance at Best Practice.
An very academic article, but with important findings. The key point – we need more research on businesses rather than consumers.
Natural landscapes generally receive less attention than landscape architecture. So it is good to see that three Hungarian researchers have taken a serious look at the issues. Their study took the perspective of tourism and looked at tourist habits. They list some of the factors that need to be specifically considered for access to natural waterfront landscapes, including beaches.
The list of factors covers mobility, vision, and hearing. Parking and approach, jetties, pontoons, bathing, and fishing are all discussed. Several photographs show good examples of accessibility.
“If inclusive design and nature conservation principles are taken into consideration from the very beginning of the whole design process, access to waterfront landscapes can be spreaded [sic], and the natural values of the landscape remain existing and provide the experience of nature for the human race.”
The title of the article is “Access to Waterfront Landscapes for Tourists Living with Disabilities“ by Gabriella Szaszák , Albert Fekete and Tibor Kecskés. It’s open access.
What makes a city or community age-friendly? The World Health Organization has researched this and produced a comprehensive guide. But sometimes it pays to drill down to the detail at a more local level. Older adults’ perceptions of public spaces could be different to younger people. A research paper from Stockholm looked at green spaces, transport infrastructure and urban development and growth. The methods included visual methods and focus groups. The title of the paper is Promoting ‘Age-Friendly’ Cities: Assessing Elderly Perceptions of Public Spaces.
The report concludes that respondents gave a high degree of importance to green spaces, features that promote continuity and connection to local histories. Spaces that encourage social interaction were also important. Loss of identity or character of buildings, as well as being inaccessible and poorly lit, added to feelings of discomfort. Image by Maria Michelle.
Having fun in the sand and surf is the iconic Australian pastime. But not everyone gets an opportunity to join in the fun and swim, sail and relax. The Association of Consultants in Access, Australia newsletter features articles and case studies on beach access, sailing, a resort for people with spinal cord injury, and provisions for people with autism. Plus the general news of the association. The articles mainly feature specialist activities and designs, such as the resort. But that is all part of creating an inclusive society.
The 2020 newsletter is available online where you can view online through Issuu magazine.
The 2023 access consultants association magazine, Insight, is all about beaches, water and access. The lead article by Jane Bryce looks at the damage done by storms and the erosion of once accessible beach access.
Derek Mah covers the accessibility of aquatic facilities from an architect’s perspective. Access for swimming pools was first introduced in 2011. But the standard for the public domain (AS1428.1) is inadequate for ramps and stairs in pools. Mah discusses the issues of design and certification of swimming pools and some of the assistive equipment.
Howard Moutrie adds the technical insights and background information. Swimming pools are covered in the National Construction Code when it is part of another building. But there are exceptions. Swimming pools can be part of an apartment complex, an hotel, and a regular back yard. This is where it all gets tricky. Howard works his way through these in the article.
There’s a related research paper, Practical Applications of Aquatic Physical Activity, Swimming, and Thereapy for People with Visual Impairment or Blindness.
A well designed conference poster published by Ohio State University encapsulates the key points.
The poster poses this question: “Ohio has almost 700 farms with an agritourism feature, which brings visitors to vineyards, orchards, and corn mazes, but are these farms welcoming to everyone?” Using photos it explains how to make farms and vineyards more accessible to everyone. Tasmania also has an Agritourism Strategy, but it doesn’t say anything about inclusion and accessibility.
Listed as one of the world’s most liveable cities, Melbourne is now aiming to be the most visitable. Visit Victoria and Destination Melbourne have produced resources for both business and visitors. For businesses yet to get on board with being visitable, the individual visitor pages serve as examples of what to look for and what actions to take.
Accessible Tourism – it’s your business resource kit has six short chapters with case studies:
Discover what you are missing
Explore your local area
Make low cost changes
Assess your building a facilities
Describe your business
Promote your business
Develop a business plan
The PDF version of the kit with graphics has not thought about accessibility of the document in terms of font contrast. However, the Word version addresses this and also reminds us that not all people can access a PDF document.
The Word version cuts out all the graphics and is not only more accessible for screen readers, it is also a better version for printing pages for checklists.
A separate website, Accessible Victoria has specific information and more links. And one specifically for Melbourne also has brief information and more links.
The tourism sector continues to follow the medical model of disability where it’s the fault of the individual’s body rather than the design of the world around them. This approach affects the language used in promotional material. It also reinforces the mistaken idea that accessible “products” need to be special and separate. Stefania Gandin’s article looks at the language used in the tourism sector and the way tourism and travel is promoted. Understanding the social model of disability could help operators understand it is more than just catering to a particular physical condition. It is a matter of thinking of disability as a human characteristic and not being afraid to talk about it in promotional material and websites. Or, of developing only specialised disability-specific products as being “accessible tourism”. The underpinning principle of inclusive tourism is being able to independently enjoy holiday or leisure time without any barriers or problems. The move from the terminology of “accessible” tourism to “inclusive” tourism could also help.
There will always be a need for specialist tourism products, particularly for people with physical disabilities who want adventure activities. But this does not take account of everyone, including people with health conditions who want to travel in groups. After all, many disabilities are invisible.
The title of the chapter is, Tourism, Promotion and Disability: Still a (Linguistic) Taboo? A Preliminary Study. The chapter is from Innovative Perspectives on Tourism Discourse and can be purchased separately. It can also be accessed via ResearchGate where you can ask the author for a copy.
Abstract: This study illustrates the preliminary results of a corpus-based analysis aimed at discovering the main linguistic features characterising the promotion of tourism for special-needs travellers. Even if accessible tourism represents an important sector in the market, not only for its social and moral importance but also for its strong economic potential, detailed research on the linguistic properties of tourism for disabled people is still rather limited and mainly tends to focus on the problems of physical access rather than considering the ways to improve its promotional strategies. Through a comparative corpus-based analysis, this paper will investigate the relevant linguistic features of a corpus of promotional materials advertising holidays and tourist services for the disabled, and relate them to the communicative strategies of two other corpora dedicated to the standard and translational language of tourism. The aim of this research is to show how mainstream tourism discourse still considers disability as a taboo topic, mostly ignoring or vaguely mentioning it in the general promotion of tourist destinations. The study will also attempt to suggest new linguistic and social attitudes aimed at stylistically improving and further including the accessible tourism sector within the overall tourism promotion.
Tourism Australia has a web page titled Accessible Tourism. It is not a “how to” page. It gives a brief description of what accessible tourism is and Australian policies and legislation. Then it refers readers to a list of other organisations or guides listed below. This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a good start for tourism businesses, planners and local government.
Including people with disability also includes people with young children in prams, older people, and people with temporary disabilities. Accessible, or inclusive tourism is about ensuring tourist destinations, products and services are accessible to everyone, regardless of their physical limitations, disabilities or age.
According to a research paper on designing information kiosks, they should be designed based on the following five principles if people are going to use them:
1. Do not make me think.
2. Do not make me wait.
3. Do not allow me to feel annoyed.
4. Do not take control away from me.
5. Do not take advantage of me (do not be evil).
These principles of human–computer interface design serve as critical concepts in kiosk design. Height setting, tactile feedback, and text colour should also be considered.
In a paper from Taiwan, the authors use the seven principles of universal design for the design of kiosks in the context of tourism and user centred design. The results of the study show different preferences for different aspects of temples. For example, participants preferred interactive representations of gods, but textual and graphic content for temple carvings.
There is lots of statistical analysis to back up their claims. This study has much to offer those who design museum-type interactive kiosks for visitors. The main aim of the study was to maintain commercial development of tourism in general and visitation of temples. The title of the paper is, Cultural tourism and temples: Content construction and interactivity design.
Cultural and creative industries have a crucial role in the post-industrial knowledge economy. However, our understanding of the importance of temples in connecting people with society is limited. To fill this gap, this study explores points of interest for tourists in Taiwan to analyse the design of cultural interest operation modes in temples’ interactive kiosk interfaces.
We also examine three cultural levels related to the design of interactive kiosks in temples. Results reveal that participants’ levels of interest vary depending on temple complexity.
Most participants prefer animated presentations of content related to two- and three-dimensional murals and the history and origins of temples. We illustrate how to develop a process for designing cultural and creative digital products. We construct a flowchart for guided temple tours and present an effective and suitable design method and its prototype product. This research has implications the revitalisation of historic sites to create new value.