Executive Summary
Some tourists – such as seniors, people with disabilities, pregnant women, obese people, people with allergies, etc. – might have physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities that limit their tourism experiences. These tourists may require access accommodations. Nevertheless, only a small number of hotels and other hospitality facilities have been catering to these needs beyond the legal minimum so far. To address this gap, we recommend the implementation of sustainable practices for enhancing accessibility in hotels and other hospitality facilities that specifically focus on meeting the needs of senior tourists who may be living with dementia. For doing so, the first step would be to deliver staff training in preparation to welcome guests with access and dementia-related needs. The next step would be to make infrastructure more accessible. These simple steps will boost customer satisfaction and loyalty as well as bolster brand image. Moreso, promoting accessibility would create a more inclusive and safer hospitality space for everyone. More practical and specific suggestions on training employees to communicate with people with dementia and their companions are provided in this work. The key focus is to show hospitality managers that the process of becoming dementia friendly doesn’t start from very expensive infrastructure changes, but from sharing understanding and awareness on how to communicate with people with dementia; different approaches and changing attitudes are some of the main barriers concerning accessibility and this can be achieved easily and relatively cost-free.
Recommended Citation
Ossola, Paola
(2023)
"For more dementia-friendly facilities in tourism and hospitality,"
ICHRIE Research Reports: Vol. 8:
Iss.
2, Article 3.
Available at:
https://via.library.depaul.edu/ichrie_rr/vol8/iss2/3
