Activity 2

The literature reveals an absence of customer-oriented services of the tourism industry to serve the ATM. Therefore, this activity intends to identify the improvements that should be made in the tourism industry to close this gap.

Three types of TSA will be analysed:

• Producers – accommodation, food & beverage, transport and tourism attractions;
• Intermediaries – travel agents and tour operators;
• Public organizations with responsibilities in planning and promotion of tourism activities.

In this activity, the ACTION project aims to answer the following questions:

• What are the legal requirements that TSA must achieve regarding the accessibility of their products?
• What types of disabled customers do the Portuguese tourism industries serve?
• What is the appropriateness of the tourism sector for the accessible tourism market?
• What kind of information regarding accessibility is disseminated by TSA?
• What are the information needs of TSA to offer customer-oriented services?

To answer the questions identified, the following methodological process will be used:

1. A content analysis of the international and national laws and regulations that impose obligations on tourism enterprises regarding provision of services to the ATM;
2. A systematic literature review concerning the studies published that analyse the accessibility of tourism products and about the perception of TSA of the needs and constraints of the travels with disabilities (TWD);
3. A survey of supply tourism agents.