A destination that is accessible for tourists will also be accessible for residents, with commensurate benefits in social engagement, health outcomes and economic benefits (WHO, 2007; Darcy and Dickson, 2009). The social model of disability views disability as a product of the disabling environmental, social and attitudinal barriers that compound a person’s impairment and prevent their participation in society. The model implies the removal of disabling barriers serves to improve the lives of PWD, giving them the same opportunities as others (Dacrcy and pegg, 2011). Zenko and Sardi (2014) discussed issues around how tourists with disabilities are often poorly integrated, even in the advanced societies. Also, TWD need more innovative management …show more content…
Alén, et al., (2012) indicated that some of the more important disable market opportunities are; business opportunity, growing market segment through demographic and lifestyle changes, increased market, competitive and quality tourism, and social rights for all. There is a widespread consensus that this demand has the following characteristics (UNWTO, …show more content…
Medical tourism market is now marketed as a niche product that encompasses both medical services and tourism packages (Connell, 2006). Yu and Ko (2012) identifies the cultural differences among medial (health) Chinese, Japanese, and Korean tourism visitors toward factors of choice, discomfort and preferred product items where the differences were found to be all significant, the factor analysis include medical and care services, stay and cost, and information and insurance elements. A greater understanding of the accessible tourism market has been promoted through research commissioned by the European Commission where a stakeholder analysis has provided an insight into the complexities of accessible tourism (Buhalis, et al., 2005). Similarly, the Australian sustainable tourism cooperative research centre funded an accessible tourism research agenda (Darcy, 2006) that sought to outline a research base on which to develop the supply, demand and coordination/regulation information required to develop the market segment. The research agenda has now seen three other funded projects contribute towards a research base on which the tourism industry and government marketing authorities can make more informed decisions (Darcy, et al., 2008a; Darcy, et al., 2008b;