Talking Points on the Worldwide Rise of Inclusive Travel
Below is a brief outline of an upcoming talk Scott Rains will be giving on inclusive travel.
Talking Points on the Worldwide Rise of Inclusive Travel
Dr. Scott Rains, San Jose, CA, USA
Awareness of the need for accessibility has resulted in legislative guidelines worldwide.
The era of accessibility-by-mandate led certain retailers and suppliers of travel and hospitality to develop sustainable business models for reaching the market of travelers with disabilities.
The best practices developed in these models tend to utilize the principles of Universal Design.
They also correspond well to the broader United Nations definition of disability. More so than the definition embed in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) it assists suppliers in achieving savings in product design, marketing, and sales by more clearly describing the character of the market.
This post-mandated, Universal Design-inspired era of innovation is fueled by research such as “From Anxiety to Access” on the travel behavior of persons with disabilities (Darcy, 1998), the study of the purchasing power of U.S. travelers with disabilities published by The Open Doors Organization (2000), and others.
It is not insignificant that this is occurring simultaneously with the graying – and disablement - of the Boomer generation. The aging of this traveling cohort will require sellers of travel to become knowledgeable of the principles, research, and products sustaining inclusive travel.
The current era is one where reliable data on market definition, scope, behavior, as well as its economic potential of this niche has become available to decision makers in the travel industry.
With the tools to systematically evaluate itself in relation to this data, the industry now has an unprecedented opportunity build the capacity to capture an underserved market during this wave of resurgence in travel.
Additional Resources:
The Rolling Rains Report
http://www.RollingRains.com
Definition of Universal Designhttp://tinyurl.com/2n5tz
Designing for the 21st Century III
http://www.designfor21st.org/
"Anxiety to Access" - Study of Travel Behavior
http://tinyurl.com/27ap6
History of the Concept of Universal Design
http://tinyurl.com/yt8bz
Adaptive Environments
http://www.adaptiveenvironments.org/
UN Definition of Disability
http://tinyurl.com/2gvg2
NICAN Conference
http://www.nican.com.au/education/conference.asp
Open Doors Organization Market Study
http://tinyurl.com/2t2mw
Posted by rollingrains at June 30, 2004 07:36 PM
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