Reema Sisodia of Express Travel World ends the first article in the publication's excellent three-part series on Inclusive Tourism with the following:
Bringing about radical changes may be intimidating for India given its position in this area at this point of time. But it can hope to reach a respectable level of sympathy and infrastructural sophistication only with singular efforts towards this direction. Trained and sensitive manpower is probably the first step.
The article is yet another affirmation of the leadership shown by the India Chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA). Sisodia quotes ASTA India president Rajeev Kolhi:
What India needs if for service providers to see people with disabilities as a viable economic segment and not as one that calls forth their charity. Kohli for one believes this to be a segment where one can make money by providing quality travel services. "I don't mean to trivialise this issue or ask the industry to take advantage of disabled travellers, but basic laws of economics dictate that a smart entrepreneur will see opportunity in a challenge. Quality service can afford to ask for a good price," he says.
She continues:
Rajeev Kohli, director (Marketing) at Creative Travel and India Chapter president of ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents), which recently organised seminars on accessible travel across India, had something to share as well. "When we travelled with the speakers on the domestic flights, we saw the attitude that the ground staff had while handling guests on wheelchairs. There was no reason for that; it’s just an in-bred reaction to immediately say no. These are also one of the barriers we need to break down. It's easy to build ramps but what is more important is to train the staff that provides the services," he said. The ministry too needs to be proactive on this by making destinations and tourist spots friendlier to the disabled.
For the full article see:
http://expresstravelworld.com/20080831/management01.shtml
Posted by rollingrains at September 2, 2008 06:22 PM