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Chapter 1
Tourism for All: Economic Opportunities and Territorial Constraints for Sustainable Development
Carmen Bizzarri
Abstract
‘Tourism for all’ is a way to consider tourism activities and services inclusive, involving all people, guests and residents, in the same activities and creating the dialogue, peace and human development.
This tourism is able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in two ways: first, it implements human rights, respecting the possibilities of everyone and second, it activates the process of development from the local to global impacts for sustainable development, thus eradicating the poor in the local level.
These are ambitious goals; on the one hand they are certainly difficult to achieve, but on the other hand they are necessary to implement in order to make tourism a more and more sustainable economic activity, given its international spread. Certain sustainable development is ambiguous ground but in the tourism activities it is very pressing for the negative impacts of the classical tourism model.
These assumptions are useful to analyze the costs and benefits of inclusive tourism, thanks to the pyramid of accessibility. This study will in fact make it possible to determine, on the basis of the resources present in the territory, the opportunities and limits of this type of tourism.
In European destinations, above all, in Italy, the openness to inclusive tourism can constitute a new cycle of tourism product such as to activate that interest and curiosity that drives tourists to visit the destination. This chapter describes at first the criteria for the planning of tourism for all, and finally, in the second part, it will deal with the international policies for the realization of tourism for all.
The traditional model of tourist destination is characterized by tourist attractions and related infrastructure, often avoiding the local people. The resort or tourist villages are born to entertain tourists, but they did not involve local people. Nowadays the tourism and the resorts are changing, and so a lot of destinations are involving a new idea of tourism with the accomplishment of the local people that can support the persons with specials needs to live an independent travel as inhabitans.
It is therefore necessary to look for new models in tourism that can create a dialogue, peace and fruitful encounter between guests and the local community. This involvement, in fact, can be activated directly or indirectly – with or without the presence of the local community in all activities of tours – but always in accordance with the need of each other. Tourism for all is a new idea but is the future of tourism for different reasons: the first is that the needs of people, especially those with differences or disabilities, are increased in all parts of the world and they required the solution immediately and tailor-made; the second consists in the hypothesis that if guests can have more economic and especially technological potential, they can support and transfer their know-how to all those who suffer from that particular disorder, providing this benefit; and the third gives sustainability using the appropriate resources to enhance tourist activities.
In this new vision, the World Tourism Organization has attributed to tourism for all a broader vision than accessible tourism alone, combining sustainable and social tourism in a single form of tourism, including every person regardless of gender or other forms of diversity.
In the innovative strategy of inclusive tourism, it should be pointed out that destinations will have to develop plans and appropriate policies for sustainability and accessibility. This form of tourism, which certainly has social aims, could also be conflicting if, for example, accessibility makes use of very invasive technologies or not too much in line with the efficiency and protection of the environment. Tourism for all, therefore, becomes an ambitious project to be implemented at the local level to create a model, so valid to the global level.
Keywords: Tourism for all; sustainable and inclusive tourism; local tourist economy; tourist and local community; new model of tourist development; tourist supply chain; tourist destination for all
1. Tourism for All: Benefits from Local Destination to Global Environment
In high-income countries, as has been shown, people with special needs are on the increase and are more likely to be in high-income regions of Europe. This number is significant in terms of the social changes underway and suggests a demand for high-quality and flexible services to meet different needs.
Among the most requested requirements, accessibility plays the main role as its declination activates quality and safety in all the most requested services:
(1)Accessible roads for all contribute to the independence of people and their free mobility;
(2)Accessible food is traceable, local, certified and of quality;
(3)Accessible health means that hospitals and nursing homes are directly bookable by people, structurally prepared to receive people with various diseases and therefore with staff in charge of the care.
Accessibility in tourism, therefore, can and must improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, especially in the countries of incoming tourism, as these efforts benefit society as a whole.
At present, many efforts have been made to achieve universal accessibility in tourism. Regulations for applying accessibility have been drawn up both internationally and at regional and local level. However, their implementation is lagging behind, and for this reason the authorities are developing strategies aimed at greater supervision to ensure the accessibility of environments.
Very often the application of international conventions and regulations is delayed due to the difficulty of reconciling profitability with accessibility, especially when it comes to building or renovating new and innovative structures.
Accessible tourism, in fact, has a strong impact on all tourist services: booking, reception, catering, entertainment, return travel, etc. It is therefore necessary to carefully assess the costs and benefits inherent in this type of tourism before.
If a single structure were to bear the costs of disposal and adaptation to different needs, it is clear that these costs would fall on demand, without the latter obtaining a real benefit, in social terms. If the costs were to fall on demand, i.e. on individual tourists, the services would not be sustainable because the high price imposed by the accommodation or tourist services could discourage customer loyalty, so as not to return to the destination. The high price imposed on tourists, however, would encourage the tourist to lock himself up in the structure to receive the goods and services included in the travel package.
Another solution could be tried, receiving financial support from public institutions for the development of accessible tourism.
This solution, however, would not be efficient and optimal from a social point of view, since public institutions, in order to encourage this form of tourism and consequently to activate investments in accessible services and infrastructures, could increase taxes and prices of goods to the population, while tourists would remain unaffected by this inflation; such situations would imply a social conflict between residents and tourists, not facilitating the permanence of the latter.
The conflict would arise from the excessive cost of living of the local population and could widen the gap between rich and poor within the same local community. It is clear that such tourism would not be economically sustainable.
On the contrary, the distribution of costs, the valorization of the local area, human and cultural capital (qualifying element in the tourist activity) succeeds in producing an effective balance between costs and benefits to the local community and to the tourists.
In large cities or cities of art, especially those where there is the phenomenon of overcrowding − so-called over tourism − it is worth investing in a similar tourism, which requires attention to the person and his needs. While in fragile areas, in particular, in natural or archaeological areas, the needs of disabled tourists are wrongly considered secondary to the problems related to the environmental, social and economic impact of tourism.
In fact, the benefits of accessible tourism are many and are also described by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO):
- Increase of international tourism in the destination, not only for the disabled;
- Increase in the market opportunities of a tourist destination;
- Improvement of competitiveness and promotion of market differentiation;
- Strengthening of the quality of the travel experience and reception;
- Consolidating the long-term viability of the tourism system and the sustainability of destinations and businesses, including in financial terms (in terms of work and income);
- Promotion of an inclusive approach to development, reflecting social responsibility;
- Contribution to the responsibility and unity of the community living in the destination.
These benefits should also be weighed against investment costs and alternative projects so as to replace capital with other combinations of production factors.
For example, the high costs involved in renovating an old building in an accessible way: only by taking advantage of the economies of agglomeration could the costs be reduced, or by transforming the entire destination into an accessible destination, so that companies will be more flexible in costs, being able to have an entire destination with diversified goods and services.
Making destinations accessible and sustainable is not just a fashion, it responds to the actual demand of millions of tourists to achieve sustainable development.
The accessibility of destination, in fact, has as its objective the simplification and practicability of every movement of the tourist, inside and outside the home, as well as the complete independence and freedom of movement of the individual. Building this type of offer, it means to have a high level of service quality, in which security becomes an essential element and a priority for development itself.
It is a matter of connecting all the companies involved in the tourist service so that each service is connected to the other and the continuous improvements that can be produced, also thanks to the experience, have a cascade effect on the entire chain and in turn throughout the destination.
In fact, the benefits of accessible tourism are many and are also described by the UNWTO:
- Increase of international tourism in the destination, not only for the disabled;
- Increase of market opportunities of a tourist destination;
- Improvement of competitiveness and promotion of market differentiation;
- Strengthening of the quality of the travel experience and reception;
- Increasing opportunities to retain and recommend the destination;
- Consolidating the long-term viability of the tourism system and the sustainability of destinations and businesses, including in financial terms (in terms of work and income);
- Promotion of an inclusive approach to development, reflecting social responsibility;
- Contribution to the responsibility and unity of the community living in the destination.
These benefits should also be weighed against investment costs and alternative projects so as to replace capital with other combinations of inputs.
For example, the high costs involved in renovating an old building in an accessible way: only by taking advantage of economies of agglomeration could the costs be reduced, or by transforming the entire destination into an accessible destination, so that companies will be more flexible in costs, being able to have an entire destination with diversified goods and services.
Making destinations accessible and sustainable must not just be a fashion, it must respond to the demand of millions of tourists.
These objectives are achievable for the already substantial and future demand for tourism by the disabled and for the necessary conversion to the sustainability of development.
2. Investment for Tourism for All: A Choice for Innovative Destination
Investing in accessible tourism, or tourism for all, is not an easy choice and involves all operators in the tourism sector and beyond. The decision to adapt the destination to the needs of the disabled and those with specific needs must be considered and catalogued well, as this offer is additional to the existing tourism product.
In view of the current high technological potential, innovations can be a valid support, but knowing the best benefits and limitations; the application of the principle of prevention, as applied by the European Union, can be a valid model on which to follow, even in extreme cases.
In 2014, however, the UNWTO found that technologies can offer in tourism (and in particular in tourism for all) to improve not only accessibility but the usability of goods and resources. Investing in technologies means, in fact, involving many economic sectors across the board, improving the attractiveness of the destination. A useful tool suitable to detect the benefits and costs of the adoption of technologies and any useful tool to make the destination for all is the pyramid of accessibility.
Using the ‘accessibility pyramid’ and related calculation models, it is possible to estimate the potential benefits that could result from the presence of additional accessible facilities. The accessibility pyramid highlights the relationship between the volume of investment, the degree of accessibility and the number of suppliers and beneficiaries, i.e. tourists and users. The pyramid represents the entire market for accessible tourist facilities in a region. In this model, the more the facilities are at the top of the pyramid, the more they are adapted to the individual needs of users. The main obstacle to remain at the top of the pyramid is the high cost of additional and direct investment to improve the already high accessibility.
The base of the pyramid is made up of companies that offer services and goods suitable for a smaller number of people than those at the top, or to put it another way, the demand has difficulties in knowing how to use the services and consume goods, as they do not meet their needs, or rather, not easily differentiable.
The pyramid is made up of various progressive levels, the boundaries of which are blurred. In a free and functioning market at the base of the pyramid, there will be companies that invest little in accessible facilities because they focus on other target groups or they can reach a relatively high number of tourists (with business limitations and through small investments: improving information and orientation to services by implementing simple and practical solutions). In the central part of the pyramid, there will be companies that invest more than the former, in accessible facilities, because they want their services to be suitable for a higher income and high spending.
This category of companies will invest in infrastructure improvement in order to make their efforts as evident as possible to their customers. Finally, at the top of the pyramid there will be the few structures that make great efforts to offer targeted services and activitie...
