Fundamental Accessibility and Technical Accessibility in Travels—The Encounter of Two Worlds Which Leads to a Paradigm Shift

Abstract

It is a positive phenomenon that more and more studies are being published on the diverse relationship between accessibility and tourism nowadays. This indicates that now at least tourism researchers are showing an interest in the examination of the different aspects of accessibility. Nevertheless, it is a well-known fact that service providers still do have much room for development in this respect. It is sad the examinations mentioned practically totally neglect the definition of accessibility from a philosophical perspective—or its need to be defined, so evidently its applicability in practice and its empirically justifiable positive impacts are not discussed, either, though in the authors’ view it is a prerequisite for the realisation of a traveller’s good and independent experiences. Unfortunately, very little is said in the previously mentioned scrutinies about the philosophy of accessibility which, in the authors’ opinion, is a prerequisite for the accomplishment of adequate accessibility. Coming from all these and also on the ground of their previous researches, and also from the international empirical research conducted in five countries on the travel habits of people with disabilities by the authors, they are convinced that accessibility in itself shows, and leads to crisis phenomena, because the spirit of accessibility is simply missing from both the professional and everyday practical thinking. One explicit manifestation of this is the fact that travel becomes free from experience as a result of partial accessibility—or it generates “specific experiences” that can be interpreted as the negative pole of Michalkó’s paradigm of beatific travel. The conclusion of the paper is that the creation of the paradigm of fundamental accessibility is a justified must.