People with Disabilities: Accessible Tourism Introduction to the Special Thematic Session.

Making tourism accessible means to make tourism enjoyable for everyone, whether the tourist is a young or an old tourist, a wheelchair user, a visually or hearing impaired person, a mother with a baby carriage, a single parent family, a traveler with heavy bulky baggage or someone recovering from an accident or an illness. The accessibility itself refers to the physical accessibility of the infrastructure, facilities and services at the holiday location as well as to the accessibility and availability of information regarding on-site accessibility. Addressing accessible tourism, the tourism industry can gain an economic advantage and an added value for tourism destinations, which attract the expanded market of all tourists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]