Leaders in Inclusive Tourism
Leaders in this field tends to draw their motivation and resilience
these two poles - meeting market opportunity and leaving social
inclusion as a legacy of justice.
In
this section you will find interviews profiling leaders in Inclusive
Tourism. The interviewers are themselves often active in the field
making this section a network of trustworthy sources of experts.
Laurel Van Horn and José Isola have written the first history of Inclusive Tourism, Toward a Global History of Inclusive Travel,
with an emphasis on key organizations and events. This section profiles
individual leaders who have moved the tourism industry toward inclusion
of travelers with disabilities. Van Horn and Isola note:
While the history of accessible travel
and tourism is intertwined with the disability rights and independent
living movements, sharing their triumphs and setbacks, it has its own
landmark events, advocacy organizations, heroes and villains.
Initially
a beneficiary of the struggle for accessible transportation and public
facilities and services in North America and Western Europe, tourism
that accommodates the needs of travelers with disabilities has by now
become, in the words of the World Tourism Organization, a "motor of
accessibility" worldwide (1997). This opinion was echoed by UN ESCAP at
the Asia-Pacific Conference on Tourism for People with Disabilities
(2000):
"In view of the changing consumer demand, tourism for
all is an increasingly important sales argument in a competitive
market. At the same time, it can serve as an effective tool in
furthering the human rights of people with disabilities in the
destination communities."
Source: Toward a Global History of Inclusive Travel, Laurel Van Horn, and José Isola