Depopulation and Accessibility: The Combination to Boost a Tourist Destination
By Sandra Campos, Tourism Consultant and Pako Rodríguez, Tourism Manager.
(Originally published in Spanish)
Today is World Tourism Day, promoted by the UNWTO, dedicated to green investments (1), an investment in people, the planet, and prosperity. It is at this point where universal inclusion must not be overlooked as an investment formula, both in everyday life and when traveling. And accessibility is one of the pillars of it.
Making minimally accessible the depopulated rural areas becomes a challenge at the level of public policies, affecting both residents and visitors. Tourism can be a tool for the demographic, social, and economic revitalization of these territories suffering from the loss of residents, who especially move to areas better equipped for people with some kind of access need.
Including universal accessibility in any tourism planning from the ground up not only improves the lives of current residents, but also opens doors to potential new inhabitants and, from a tourism perspective, places the territory on the map of destinations that are visitable by a demand that faces many difficulties when planning their vacations due to a general shortage of suitable or adapted offerings. In other words, we are not only talking about a matter of social justice, but there is also a potential profitability that allows this expense to become an investment for the future. The figures regarding people who have and will have some type of dependency reflect this, which, combined with the data on the growth of rural tourism, form a very interesting combination.
Accessibility of Rural Areas in Data - Growth and Importance of Rural Tourism
The inability to visit rural environments and spaces can hinder people's social interaction, with consequent physical, economic, and social impact, but it is also a matter of exclusion and inequality for people with disabilities. Not only from the perspective of the destinations they can or cannot travel to, but also from the viewpoint of education or training, employment opportunities, or the acquisition of basic services such as healthcare. In fact, almost 40% of people with disabilities (2) have additional healthcare needs. However, a quarter of rural municipalities lack a Health Center (3), despite the fact that 11.7% of the population living in rural areas have some type of disability, according to the 2007 National Congress on Disability in Rural Areas.
Socioeconomic indicators in these areas are usually below average compared to other territories, especially in terms of infrastructure, services, transport, or technologies. Societies are structured and formed based on urban-centric criteria that disadvantage those who are not within the average spectrum, both in terms of territory and capabilities.
Moreover, there is a greater aging population in rural areas than in urban ones. Thus, while in rural areas 37% of people with disabilities are over 80 years old, in urban areas this percentage is 32% (4).
“The accessible offer in Spain (both rural and urban environments) does not exceed 10%.”
Regarding the level of accessible offer, as mentioned at the beginning, the data are alarming. The general offer in Spain (both rural and urban environments) does not exceed 10%, which leads to, according to different studies, 60% of people with disabilities not traveling due to a lack of adapted offer (5). These data can be extended to the rest of Europe, where, according to studies by the Union, 90% of companies do not promote accessibility in their marketing actions (6).
However, the data in rural environments are even more complicated, as they do not even exist. While it is possible to refer to the information provided by different rural accommodation platforms, these data cannot be considered 100% reliable. On one hand, they only focus on terms of lodging, leaving out the rest of the tourism value chain. On the other hand, they do not consider all the accommodations that actually have an accessible offer, as they only count those that are on their platforms, whose promotion, moreover, may be published simultaneously on different websites. Finally, we cannot take for granted the number of accessible accommodations offered, as, in addition to not being subject to audits, many establishments that are accessible are not promoted as such, and vice versa, either due to a lack of information or knowledge, or both at the same time.
This lack of data is nothing more than a symptom of the reality of rural spaces:
Difficulty in extracting, processing, and analyzing data. The reality of rural environments rarely matches the official report. There is a significant gap between the registered population and the one that actually lives in these environments, which not only makes decision-making difficult but also the analysis of their situation.
The insufficiency of basic services is a fact for more than five and a half million people living in rural environments in Spain (7). This fact is, without a doubt, a confirmation of the lack of accessibility in these spaces, diminishing interest in them either for temporary visits or permanent residence.
All this generates a continuous spiral of progressive population decline, of economic and employment opportunities and with it, of services, which in turn feeds back into the loss of population.
Regarding the importance of rural tourism, it not only increases the range of tourist possibilities, but also brings the natural environment and its conservation importance closer to those who practice it. But the benefits offered by this type of tourism go beyond that. The generation of economy derived from tourism contributes to local economic development and, therefore, also to social development, due to the increase in job offers and opportunities for the local population. This, in turn, favors the permanence of these people in rural environments, curbing depopulation. Also, this mitigation of depopulation benefits the environments, caring for the land, avoiding desertification and acidification, and protecting them from the abandonment of fields that cause innumerable fires.
Benefit of Tourism for the Rural Tourism Industry
Accessible tourism is not only positive (and essential) for people with disabilities, but also for those who require accessible measures: elderly people, those with temporary disabilities, those accompanying small children or pushing strollers, etc. Specifically, the World Health Organization estimates that the number of people who will need disability-related services at some point in their lives is 40% (8). Therefore, the idea of making destinations accessible becomes an opportunity for differentiation and a basic element of their quality (9).
In fact, there are multiple benefits associated with implementing accessibility in territories and organizations (10):
Increase in market share: Including the population with access needs in the potential demand of the destination increases the available market share, enhancing the viability of the organization or destination.
Improvement of the destination or organization's image: The progressive creation of the corporate or destination image influences habits and shapes consumption behaviors.
Attraction of 'multi-client' travelers: According to the European Commission's report 'Towards an Accessible Europe for Tourists with Disabilities', half of these tourists travel with companions, so the traditional figures on the tourism potential of accessibility are not accurate.
Destaging effect: The broad availability of many people with access needs contributes to travel throughout the year, even strengthening in low seasons.
Segment with higher average daily spending: Tourists linked to special needs spend 28% more on their trips than those tourists who do not have any limitations (11).
This adaptation, along with the aforementioned aging, also derives other opportunities for the tourism industry:
Increases demand for experiential products and services.
Increases spending on health and wellness and care products.
Increases products related to aging.
The integration of accessibility in environments promotes green investment and development of destinations and organizations, being positive not only for travelers but also for the resident population. These populations, especially in rural environments, tend to age. Moreover, this integration contributes to job creation and, therefore, to equality of opportunities from a global perspective, helping all this to curb depopulation.
Impact of Tourism on the Development of These Areas
It is possible to practically visualize the positive impacts of implementing accessibility in the development of rural areas through initiatives that have already been launched and have demonstrated positive impact.
An example of this is the municipality of Kaunertal (Austria), a member of the UNWTO's Best Tourism Villages network since 2021 (12). With a population of just 600 inhabitants, Kaunertal is a small town located in the southwest of the country, in the region of the famous “Gepatschferner” glacier. From the beginning of its development as a tourist destination, it has committed to inclusion and accessibility in the creation of offers and services related to high mountain. The opening of the first barrier-free hotel in the Alps by a local entrepreneur had a cascade effect that spread to the rest of the tourism players, being adopted by local entities throughout the region and even by the Natural Park itself. The value of this 'Kaunertal mountain freedom' initiative has not only fostered the development of the destination through universal inclusion but has also served as inspiration for other destinations and actors, who see in accessible tourism a market niche yet to be discovered.
Conclusions: The Removal of Barriers as a Formula for Territorial Revitalization
“People with disabilities in an accessible environment are non-disabled persons. Non-disabled persons in an inaccessible environment are disabled persons.”
The configuration of spaces around the potential of tourist activity, hand in hand with the design of territories linked to it, makes the tourism sector not only a source of space development, but also acts as a key player in the elimination of barriers and limitations imposed by the environment. The result, as we have seen, can stimulate a halt to depopulation. This improves not only the quality of the tourist experience but also the quality of life of the residents, in pursuit of a universal, responsible, sustainable tourism industry with a positive impact.
Continuing with the theme of World Tourism Day, there is no greener investment than betting on the revitalization of territories and their inclusive and universal development.
References:
https://imserso.es/documents/20123/1839485/162reportaje.pdf/8f6de357-d730-22e3-7a51-e9084e5fa20e
World Health Organization, (2011). World Report on Disability. Malta: World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/summary_es.pdf?ua=1
World Tourism Organization, (2014). Manual on Tourism Accessible to All: Principles, tools and best practices - Module I: Accessible Tourism - definition and context, Madrid: UNWTO. https://www.tur4all.es/documents/publications/otras-publicaciones/2.pdf
Pérez Marcos, D. and González Velasco, D.J., (2003). Accessible Tourism: Towards Tourism for All (4). Galenas: Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities – CERMI.
Observatory of Universal Accessibility in Tourism in Spain, (2017). Madrid: Royal Board on Disability and Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda. http://www.ttd-congress.com/sites/default/files/observatorio_de_turismo_110917_4.pdf
https://www.unwto.org/tourism-villages/es/villages/kaunertal/
