With the start of the holidays, 53,9%[1] of Spaniards decide to travel and most of them (90,8%)[2], choose to travel within Spain. In other words, 22.427 million citizens travel to discover other parts of the country.
However, what happens to people who have difficulty travelling? The Adecco Foundation carried out a survey among 500 people with reduced mobility and other disabilities, and one of the most striking results is that 56% decide not to go on holidays due to a lack of accessibility at some of the points in the travel cycle. This data is an indicator of the still distant inclusion of people with disabilities regarding leisure, in this case, tourism, which is one of the basic pillars for their comprehensive development.
Accessible Tourism: an untapped business opportunity
Based on the data from The Potential Market of Accessible Tourism for the Spanish Tourism Sector Report carried out by Acces Turismo, the potential market for accessible tourism is 5,968,261 citizens (people with disabilities, health problems, travel companions, etc.), and in light of the above we could conclude that 3,342,226 (56%) abstain from travelling due to the insufficient supply of accessible tourism.
According to Enrique Rovira-Beleta, architect-director of Rovira-Beleta Accesibilidad SLP: “Accessibility is a big tourist business and it’s not being exploited. Many people with permanent or temporary disabilities would travel more if there were tourist environments and establishments with Universal Accessibility and they would also travel with their family and friends, which would multiply the economic benefits of tourism businesses and increase the country’s competitiveness”.
More than 100,000 new jobs
Tourism has become an indisputable driving force for the Spanish economy. According to figures in the World Travel and Tourism Economic Impact Report by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism created 2.9 million direct and indirect jobs last year.
Spain was the recipient of the record number of 81.8 million foreign tourists, according to the Tourism Movements on Borders Survey (INE): if we add the number of Spaniards who travelled in Spain (22,427,600) to this, we have a total of 104,200,000 tourists who visited Spain in 2017.
Taking these figures as a reference, Spanish tourists alone (22,427,600) created 21% of all jobs in the tourism sector, i.e. 609,000, more than half a million jobs.
Applying the same proportion to people who abstain from travelling due to the lack of accessibility (3,342,226), and assuming a linear approach, we see that 90,806 new jobs could be created linked to accessible domestic tourism, mainly in transport, accommodation, catering, food and drink services.
If we add to this figure an estimated 14,000 new contracts that would be created in the field of accessible information and communication (3% of the contracts signed annually in this sector), the potential number of jobs rises to 104,806. These communication professionals would dedicate their efforts to optimising the user experience of tourists with accessibility needs: making it possible to browse travel booking websites, create mobile apps and other adaptations that allow the user to access the tourist offer under equal conditions, etc.
According to Francisco Mesonero, director general of the Adecco Foundation: “The commitment to accessible tourism is not only profitable for the Spanish economy, but it’s also a fundamental right and a key vehicle for the comprehensive development of citizens. The possibility of employment (work) and tourism (leisure) is the primary duality of personal fulfilment. We cannot deprive anyone of these elements, let alone for reasons of disability in the 21st century”.
A more inclusive society with disability and the elderly
People with disabilities and the elderly are the main public groups demanding universal accessibility and both are on the increase in a country at historic highs of ageing. Today we have a longevity rate of 120%, which means that there are already 120 people over 64 years of age counted for every 100 under 16.
The graph below shows the evolution of how the Spanish population is ageing and shows no sign of declining. The current figures are in contrast with those at the end of the 20th century when Spain was still young: in 1985 there were 46.7 over-64s for every 100 under-16s, so we were facing a rapidly developing society with great potential for economic and employment growth.
In 2000, Spain began to show a higher proportion of senior citizens than of young people and, therefore, to be an ageing society. In other words, since 2000, Spain has had an ageing index of over 100%.
The 5 Challenges of Accessible Tourism
Accessibility has become a basic requirement for measuring the quality of tourism services. However, despite the apparent efforts made in recent years, there are still major challenges that prevent us from talking about accessible and comprehensive tourism. Here are some of them:
- Building a complete “accessibility chain”. When we talk about accessible tourism, we often only think about the accessibility of the destination. However, many phases are identified in planning a trip: online reservations or in the travel agency, travel to the point of departure, access to the tourist accommodation, the return to the place of origin… accessibility must be present in all the links of the chain, but at the moment there is a vast disconnection between them, and quite common that some of them present a lack of accessibility. In this regard, we cannot speak of a complete ‘accessibility chain’ and, therefore, of quality accessible tourism.
- From the catalogue to the whole experience. The development of accessible tourism in our country has traditionally been based on the publication of travel guides that include accessible travel destinations and services. However, these publications are a mere resource inventory that fail to consider accessibility in a comprehensive manner and are therefore found wanting, as they are always weak in some of the links in the chain. In the same vein, the information that appears is not subject to standards and is therefore unreliable.
- Inaccuracy accessibility standard – absence of official badge. There’s no single distinctive badge of accessible tourism in Spain, with standardised guidelines in the different adaptations. As a result, the accessible tourist offer is not reliable, the information is inaccurate, and this results in continuous complaints from users who are forced to call in advance to double check the information. Lack of awareness is what lies behind these situations and could be easily resolved with clear and rigorous guidelines covered by a unique and official badge.
- Normalisation of costs. Accessibility continues to be regularly considered as an extraordinary element on a regular basis. We speak about “adapted rooms” as if they were some kind of breakthrough rather than a standardised element. Not to mention the fact that they are normally located in hotels with a high purchasing power, therefore, increasing the cost that has to be covered by a person who wants to stay in one of these rooms. According to Enrique Rovira-Beleta, an architect specialising in accessibility, “most hotels only have the number of accessible rooms required by law, and if they have carried out renovation work in the hotels, the rooms are sometimes located in the least attractive areas: interior rooms, distant and not used normally. There could be many more accessible rooms if small changes were made to the standard rooms, they could be used by everyone and would be safer and more comfortable”.
- Unnoticed accessibility. At present, accessibility actions are still too evident and special-purpose; however, quality accessibility is the one that goes unnoticed, according to Enrique Rovira-Beleta: “the objective of unnoticed accessibility is to simplify everyone’s life, making products, services, spaces, communications and environments more useful for a greater number of people, with little or no additional economic cost and a standardised design. The concept of unnoticed accessibility is aimed at people of all ages, sizes and abilities and often just a few minor changes are enough to make a product much more flexible and usable for more people”.
[1] Spanish Tourist Movements Survey. Spanish Survey. Institute for Family Tourism.
[2] Resident Tourism Survey. INE.
