Handbook of Accessible Tourism - (De Gruyter Studies in Tourism) by Nigel Halpern & Jillian M Rickly & Brian Garrod & Marcus Hansen (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The Handbook of Accessible Tourism is a crucial resource addressing the need for accessibility in the tourism industry, offering insights, theoretical foundations, and practical strategies to make tourism more accessible.

Combining conceptual and empirical work, the handbook spans various components of the tourism system, considers the experiences of people with different accessibility requirements, and covers a range of geographical settings. It identifies gaps in current knowledge and provides recommendations for future research and innovation, encouraging continuous improvement in accessible tourism.

Featuring 35 chapters, the handbook is organised into three parts:

1. Foundations of accessible tourism: explores the evolution of accessible tourism; integrates concepts like leisure constraints theory; covers institutional frameworks, sustainability, information and communications, functionality, disability mobilities, support for carers and friends, and human-animal relations.
2. Accessible destinations and tourism experiences: examines practical aspects of making tourism accessible, emphasising interdisciplinary collaboration, stakeholder engagement, and universal design; includes case studies highlighting challenges, opportunities, and the role of technology.
3. Designing for accessibility: focuses on making tourism accessible through universal design, transition design, cognitive work analysis, service design, technology, and stakeholder collaboration; addresses the needs of different groups, specific tourism sectors, and the importance of education and training.

• Crucial resource addressing the need for accessibility in the tourism industry
• Offers insights, theoretical foundations, and practical strategies to make tourism more accessible
• Combines conceptual and empirical work that spans various components of the tourism system
• Considers the experiences of people with different accessibility requirements, and covers a range of geographical settings
• Includes case studies highlighting challenges, opportunities, and the role of technology
• Identifies gaps in current knowledge and provides recommendations for future research and innovation, encouraging continuous improvement in accessible tourism

About the Author

Nigel Halpern is Professor of Air Transport and Tourism Management at Kristiania University of Applied Sciences in Norway. His main interests are in accessibility, digital transformation, and marketing. Regarding accessibility, his research has focused on information and communications for accessible tourism, institutional frameworks for accessible tourism, technology-based experiences in accessible tourism, and lived experiences of travelling with guide dogs. Prior to joining academia, he held various positions in adventure tourism, hospitality, transport policy, and the regulation of civil aviation.

Jillian M. Rickly is a Professor of Tourism at the University of Nottingham. She is a tourism geographer with research interests in authenticity/alienation, mobilities, accessibility, and more-than-human relations. Her work has been published widely across the Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Tourist Studies, Cultural Geographies, and Mobilities, as well as in numerous edited volumes.

Brian Garrod is Professor of Marketing at Swansea University. He is founding editor of the Journal of Destination Marketing & Management and is a member of the editorial boards of several other prominent journals. He has published eight textbooks, including "Managing Visiting Attractions", now in its third edition. He has worked as a consultant to the World Tourism Organization and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Marcus Hansen is a senior lecturer in tourism and events at Liverpool John Moores University. He is the director of the Liverpool Centre for Olympic Research on Inclusion. Marcus teaches and conducts research in relation to tourism and events management. His research interests are particularly around the topics of accessible tourism. Marcus has published widely, including in key tourism journals such as Tourism Management and Annals of Tourism Research. Marcus also hosts the Accessible Tourism Podcast, in which he talks to disabled people and people from industry. Through his research, Marcus continues to work with various organisations, nationally and internationally, in an effort to make tourism more accessible to disabled people.