Understanding Leisure Travel Motivations of Frequent Travelers with Mobility Impairments

Abstract

With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, the U.S. tourism marketers begin to pay attention to one of the most important but often overlooked segments of the market—people with disabilities (Ray & Ryder, 2003). In the past two decades, a number of studies highlighted the potential of people with disabilities as a tourism market segment (Darcy, 2002; Huh & Singh, 2007). However, consumer and travel research on people with disabilities in general is scarce. The purpose of this study was to understand what motivated people with mobility impairments travel frequently. Travel motivation is fundamental in tourism studies and is essential to tourism development (Wahab, 1975). The push and pull framework has been most commonly used in the study of travel motivation (Uysal, & Hagan, 1993; Fodness, 1994). Another important framework in the study of pleasure travel motivation is proposed by Crompton (1979). He identified nine socio-psychological and cultural motivations. A qualitative study method was utilized for the exploratory study of understanding leisure travel motivations of active travelers with acquired mobility impairments. Two focus groups were conducted during the annual congress of the Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality in 2009. A total of nine push factors and three pull factors were identified for frequent travelers with mobility impairments. The push factors were: (a) escape from a perceived mundane environment; (b) exploration and evaluation of self; (c) relaxation; (d) enhancement of relationships with family and friends; (e) facilitation of social interaction; (f) independence: regain of control over destiny, travel as a basic need, and be normal; (g) the desire of being in natural environment; (h) adventure; and (i) “do it today”. The first five factors (Factors a-e) vi were the shared motivations between average travelers (Crompton, 1979) and frequent travelers with mobility impairments. Prestige and Regression, motivations of average leisure travelers categorized by Crompton (1979), were not identified in this study. Results also showed that travelers with acquired mobility impairments shared the same motivating factors as what was identified by Crompton (1979) as pull factors for the average travelers: novelty and education. However, accessibility at the destination was also an important pull factor for people with mobility impairments. Although travelers with acquired mobility impairments have similar travel motivations as the average traveler, there are also motivations that are unique to them. Results of the study suggest that travelers with mobility impairments should be considered as a unique travel population and their needs and behavior should be further studied.