Economic Incentives of Non-handicapping Built Environment (Case study: Tourist sites)

Abstract

More than 10% of the world population are persons with disabilities either as a result of mental, physical or sensory impairment. Nevertheless, they are legally entitled to the same rights and obligations as all other human beings. However, too often their lives are handicapped by physical and social barriers in the society that hamper their active and full participation. Because of this, thousands, of them in all parts of the globe often face a life that is segregated and debased. By virtue of citizenship as the rest of the populace, everywhere, the ultimate responsibilities of remedying the conditions that led to the impairment and dealing with the consequences of disabilities rest with the governments. In spite of this, it doesn’t deprive individuals from contributing. In a drive to look at disabilities and related matters from the social perspective – the traditional approach, the study was undertaken to examine the economic benefits of making the built environment accessible to persons with disabilities by focusing on the tourist industry. It concentrated on sites within Stockholm and environ. The major tasks of the study were to:  Examine how the business community view persons with disabilities,  Investigate awareness among decision makers of the market potential of persons with disabilities,  Examine the strategies of integrating them into the overall market mix and why  Identifying some profit indicators and constraints posing as major hindrances. The major findings are: There is a high level of awareness of the potential market of the persons with disabilities and those who have decided to seize the opportunities are reaping the financial rewards as manifested by increase in accessible rooms, high rate occupancy and the reasonable impact the accessible rooms have on the overall occupancy rate. The major constraints are lack of experts and awareness.