Synopsis of the “Accessible tourism and inclusion” discussion

As the title says, the online discussion video is about inclusive and accessible tourism. This

video is organized by WTN (World tourism Network) and moderated by Mr. Pankaj

Pradhananha who is an expert in accessible tourism and is a member of WTN. Other than Mr.

Pankaj there are 4 panelist in the online discussion, Jeju Williams from New Zealand, Mani Raj

Lamichhane from Nepal, Janny Nair from brasil and Suman timsina from United States.

All the member in the panel discuss about Accessible and inclusive tourism. The term Accessible

tourism refer to the tourism which are accessible to all the people regardless of their physical

limitation, disabilities or age. Before watching this discussion, I was totally unaware about such

term in tourism and the fact that people who are disabled enjoys travelling and are travelling

regardless of their disabilities. When Janny Nair mentioned about Alexander Wood who is a

wheelchair user, regardless his disability is a travel and loves travelling. Recently, there was a

man from Russia, MR. Rustham Nabiev who had lost both of his legs but still climbed Mount

Everest with his hand creating a world record and after watching this discussion I truly believe

that the sector for the accessibility of people with disabilities should be more focused and

develop.

According to WHO, 15% of the world population or 1 billion people are living with some sort of

disability. Among these people there are many who are travelling enthusiastic but due to their

disability are unable to travel like normal people due to lack of infrastructure for their disability.

The panelist discuss about the accessibilies for all people in tourism facilities products and

services.
They discuss about the untapped market of inclusive tourism which hasn’t been explored. There

are 80% of people with disability who takes holidays every year but due to the lack of facilities

for them they are unable to travel. By tapping into this blue ocean, not only it provide with an

economic opportunity but also provide the service for all those people who love to travel but

couldn’t. As per MR. Mani Raj Lamichhane, Travelling is just a basic human right so regardless

of their disabilities or age or any other variable, they should have the basic right of travelling.

As I watched the video, I got another insight about inclusive travelling that is value and

significance and contribution of hospitality of local people. As Mr. Pankaj mentioned that people

travel to Nepal for its mountains and also for the people. And every time they return to visit

mountains they try to search for the same local folks who live there because of their hospitality

and behavior. This made me realized how much small gesture can have such a great impact in

our life.