Benefits seen in accessible tourism

Dunedin can gain multimillion-dollar benefits by doing more to cater for and promote "accessible tourism", a visiting Australian tourism researcher says.

"Accessible tourism means more travellers and more business in Dunedin," Associate Prof Simon Darcy said this week.

Prof Darcy, who is a tourism researcher at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Business School, is giving several talks at the 10th biennial Australia and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies Conference, which started yesterday at the University of Otago and runs until tomorrow.

After arriving in Dunedin late last week, he has already enjoyed a Taieri Gorge Railway trip and visited the Taiaroa Head Royal Albatross Colony.

Prof Darcy praised Taieri Gorge Railway organisers for providing an accessible carriage, including a wheelchair lift, which had enabled him to enjoy the scenic delights of the Taieri Gorge.

Reaching the albatross colony had proved more difficult because he could not find a visitor coach providing wheelchair access, and had to arrange more costly alternative transport, he said.

Taieri Gorge Railway operations manager Grant Craig said the organisation had been using a wheelchair-accessible railway carriage for more than 25 years and would like to add a second one.

There was a steady demand for the carriage, from not only wheelchair users but also some people who had trouble climbing the steps to the other carriages.

Other tourist operators should also be thinking how they could make their activities more accessible, including for wheelchair users, he said.

Prof Darcy said the tourism industry was not doing enough to ensure travel destinations and services were accessible to people with disabilities, or senior travellers.

Such travellers were sometimes viewed as only a few individuals but, globally, there were more than 650 million people with disabilities, and this figure would rise through the ageing of the population.

About 20% of people with disabilities had above-average incomes, and travel often included a wider group of family members or other colleagues.

Businesses should take a "more proactive approach to ensure that infrastructure, services and information are more accessible".

Dunedin was an attractive visitor destination and he had enjoyed its vibrant cafes and art galleries as well as natural history highlights.

But more could be done to make accessibility information more readily available via the internet so prospective travellers could more effectively plan their visits.

He noted that an Australian internet site, www.sydneyforall.com, provided clear information on the accessibility of cultural and other attractions in Sydney, including about wheelchair access.

Dunedin had "excellent tourist infrastructure" but tourism operators could help themselves by asking several questions, including how they could target the "accessible tourism" market through no-cost or low-cost electronic marketing.

john.gibb@odt.co.nz