Foreign Direct Investment and Accessible Tourism in India.

Abstract

Disability is an important public health problem especially in developing countries like India. The problem will increase in future because of increase in trend of noncommunicable diseases and change in age structure with an increase in life expectancy. The issues are different in developed and developing countries, and rehabilitation measures should be targeted according the needs of the disabled with community participation. In India, a majority of the disabled resides in rural areas where accessibility, availability and utilization of rehabilitation services and its cost-effectiveness are the major issues to be considered. In modern society, making a holiday trip is one of most popular leisure activities which enhance the quality of life not only for non-disabled individuals but also for individuals for disabilities. As more and more people with disabilities are keen to travel “accessible tourism” has emerged as a potential market segment for the tourism industry. The Indian government is also working hard to elevate the situation of people with disabilities. As a result of the implementation of several laws regarding people with disabilities, their social and economic status has improved. In spite of the Indian government’s effort to develop India as a barrier-free destination, the market of traveler with disabilities has been given little attention by India’s tourism industry. Therefore this study attempts to investigate the current situation of tourist facilities and service for visitors with disabilities in tourist destinations to improve barrier-free tourism in India. Several problems concerning accessibility to serve disabled visitors and a few recommendations to minimize the accessibility barriers were discussed. It is hoped that this paper will assist the development of barrier-free tourism in India by providing useful guidelines to improve the facilities and service for the tourist with disabilities. Foreign direct investment in the field of accessible tourism is a keen and important step to improve the quality of tourism development in India.