Accessible Tourism

Dimitrios Buhalis is Professor of eTourism and Director of eTourism Lab at Bournemouth University. His research focuses on strategic management and marketing, tourism marketing, technology and eTourism.Dr Simon Darcy is an Associate Professor and Research Director in the School of Leisure, Sport and Tourism at the University of Technology, Sydney. Simon's research and teaching expertise is in sport, tourism and diversity management. He currently holds research grants investigating organisational responses to accessible tourism, sports management practices and protected area visitor management systems.

• Chapter 1 – Introduction (Darcy and Buhalis)Chapter 2 – Conceptualising Disability: Medical, Social, WHO ICF, Dimensions and Levels of Support Needs (Darcy and Buhalis)Chapter 3 – Accessibility: A Key Objective for the Tourism Industry (Eichhorn and Buhalis)Chapter 4 – Disability Legislation and Empowerment of Tourists with Disability: The UK Case (Shaw and Veitch)Chapter 5 – Understanding Tourist Experience through Embodiment: The Contribution of Critical Tourism and Disability Studies (Small and Darcy)Chapter 6 – Tourism in the Leisure Lives of People with Disability (Foggin)Chapter 7 – Travelling with and beyond Depression: Women’s Narratives of Recovery and Identity (Fullager)Chapter 8 – Encounters of Disabled Customers on the Tourism Stage (Arola – Edited by Cooper, C.)Chapter 9 – Blind People’s Tourism Experiences: An Exploratory Study (Poria, Reichel and Brandt)Chapter 10 – Demographic Drivers of Change in Tourism and the Challenge of Inclusive Products (Shaw and Veitch)Chapter 11 – Ageing Travellers: Seeking an Experience and not just a Destination (Patterson and Pegg)Chapter 12 – Ageing Travel Market and Accessibility Requirements (Wang)Chapter 13 – Attitudinal and Experimental Differences of Disabled and Ablebodied Visitors to Heritage Sites (Pearn)Chapter 14 – Economic Contribution of Tourists with Disabilities: An Australian Approach and Methodology (Darcy and Dwyer)Chapter 15 – Developing a Business Case for Accessible Tourism (Darcy, Cameron and Pegg)Chapter 16 – Stakeholder Analysis (Michopoulou and Buhalis)Chapter 17 – Webdesign, Assistive Technologies and Accessible Tourism (Puhretmair and Nussbaum)Chapter 18 – Technology Platforms and Challenges (Michopoulou and Buhalis)Chapter 19 – Conclusion: A Call towards Universal Approaches to Accessible Tourism (Darcy, Ambrose, Schweinsberg and Buhalis)

As one would expect from two scholars at the height of their academic abilities, Dimitrios Buhalis and Simon Darcy have delivered a hugely timely and much needed contribution to the under-served area of accessible tourism. Harnessing the best conceptual developments on the topic, Accessible Tourism is a scholarly yet hugely readable collection and readily communicates the various contributors’ passion for and command of their subject. This collection is a must have text for anyone engaged in the theory, practice and policy of accessible tourism and will be essential reading on undergraduate and postgraduate courses across a range of disciplines and fields. I cannot speak highly enough of this endeavour and I’m sure it will take accessible tourism and universal design debates into the mainstream of academic enquiry and industry practice.