Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to examine the role of the charitable sector in holiday provision for vulnerable consumers. As it will show, given the paucity of academic tourism research currently existing in this area, to understand this relationship we really need to explore beyond this literature base and dabble in fields of marketing and consumer behaviour research, venturing also into practitioner and trade publications, and literature published by charitable organizations. Two simple questions lie at the centre of the discussion: what do we mean by the term accessible/disability tourism? What role do charitable organizations play in facilitating tourism provision for this community? The chapter begins by addressing the first question and in doing so introduces us to the complex term vulnerable consumer. From here we move into a review of the scope and operation of charitable organizations, both within a general context and also more specific to the Tourism Industry. Methods of data collection, primary and secondary, are subsequently reviewed and the findings discussed. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research.

Accessible/Disability Tourism

Our first challenge is to ascertain the meaning and scope of the term accessible/disability tourism. If we take a narrow interpretation of this consumer base then this leads us into the domain of the disabled consumer. In the UK, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) (1995) defines a disabled person as 'someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities' (Directgov, 2008).