Tourism constraints for Spanish tourists with disabilities: Scale development and validation

Abstract

In Spain, more than 2.5 million people live with some form of disability (Imserso, 2014). Tourism constraints are defined as factors influencing travel participation and behaviour, and can be divided into three categories: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural. The aim of this exploratory study is to develop and validate a measurement scale for each of these types of tourism constraints faced by 248 Spanish tourists with disabilities. The results show that intrapersonal constraints are due to three factors: lack of knowledge, health-related problems, and physical and psychological dependency. Interpersonal constraints are divided into two factors: skill-challenge incongruities and communication. Structural constraints are classified into four factors: information and communication, cost and attendant, socio-spatial, and attitudinal. Taking into consideration the importance of this market segment both in Spain and all over the world, this study provides tourism destinations with a quantitative tool for evaluating the barriers tourists with special access needs may encounter at a destination.