With the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) declaring World Tourism Day 2021 as 'Tourism for Inclusive Growth', it nudges all to promote accessible, or inclusive, tourism in their respective countries.

Accessible tourism as a form of tourism involves a collaborative process between the stakeholders so that people suffering from some form of disability or difficulty can enjoy travel and related activities through the delivery of universally designed tourism products, services and environments.

According to the Department of Tourism, 279,927 people visited Lumbini in 2020, out of whom, 70.5 per cent were Nepalis while 13.3 per cent were Indians and 16.2 per cent from other countries. Similarly, 25,400 visitors from third countries visited the Pashupatinath Temple in 2020. The visitors to these important religious sites are mostly elderly people.

Therefore, easy access to them is important to experience the overall benefits of tourism.

Nepal's 2011 census reports that 2 per cent of our population, that is, 500,000 people suffer from one of another form of disability.

It indicates the necessity to pay attention to accessibility in our domestic tourism as well. There is, however, no mechanism to study the status of accessible tourism in Nepal and how it can positively affect tourism development.

Given the UNWTO's predictions, the revenue generated in the EU and USA due to travel by disabled people, and the number of disabled people in the world and in our own country force us to think about enhancing accessibility in tourism.

Let us see the status of accessible tourism in our country. The Swayambhunath Stupa, for example – a World Heritage Site and an important pilgrimage destination for Buddhists – neither has a ramp for differently abled people nor tactile paving for the visually impaired on the way to the top of this temple. Differently abled people do travel to this site, but with great difficulty. If a fire were to break out or an emergency health issue were to arise with the local people, there is no basic infrastructure to face these problems.

Inaccessibility for differently abled persons remains a problem at other popular pilgrimage destinations like Pashupatinath and Lumbini also.

We are, thus, totally in the dark as to how accessible tourism can play a positive role in tourism development.

Listed as they are as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, we need to abide by certain rules while constructing infrastructure so as to make them easily accessible.

This can be done with help from UNESCO.

The availability of guides proficient in different languages and guides for the hearing impaired people at these places are also an integral part of accessible tourism.

Accessible tourism being a new topic for us will take time for it to mature, although the construction of disabled people-friendly infrastructure in the hotels provides a ray of hope. As Nepal is listed as a favourite adventure and eco-tourism destination, more homework needs to be done in such places to attract disabled people. The increasing participation of people with disabilities in adventurous activities like mountaineering and trekking is another reason why a timely policy and programme is necessary to build infrastructure that makes it easily accessible to trekking and mountaineering areas.

UNWTO has already stated that every nation needs to rebrand its image to promote tourism after the COVID pandemic. Even as economic activities rebound, tourism, considered an easily affected sector, will be the last to return to regain its position, which can be an opportunity for us to rebrand our tourism through accessible tourism.

We could begin by selecting certain tourism sites like Lumbini, Pashupatinath and Swayambhunath.

A certain strategy is needed to construct infrastructures like ramps, tactile paving, and disabled-friendly toilets while managing multi-language guides at these sites to make them accessible to all kinds of tourists. Then execution of an appropriate tourism promotion strategy, centering on the management of accessible tourism, will definitely help to attract disabled tourists to these sites.

Another important fact is that most of the disabled tourists are accompanied by an able person, which makes accessible tourism a way to increase the number of tourists and, definitely, revenue. The need of the hour is a partnership between the Ministry of Tourism, Nepal Tourism Board and other organisations to rebrand our tourism after COVID 19 through accessible tourism.

I had an opportunity to visit the Postonjska cave of Slovenia in 2016. The oneand-a-half-hour cave tour is managed for all visitors, families, young children and visitors with mobility impairments. Guides proficient in four languages have been managed, and it is the first cave in the world with a train. Additionally, visitors can also use audio guides available in no fewer than 17 languages. From the entry to the exit of the cave, I realised that it was managed and operated minutely for the satisfaction of the visitors from every aspect, which gives a clear example of accessible tourism in practice.

And then, whenever I visit our historic tourism sites, a statement found on the social media comes to my mind: 'People are not disabled; it is the environment which is disabling them. A handicap is god given, but a disability is man-made.'

Taking reference of the report of the World Health Organisation (WHO), UN- WTO mentions that 15 per cent of the world's population, or 1 billion people, lives with some form of disability.

UNWTO also predicts that one in six people worldwide will be aged 65 or over by 2050. If this data is to be considered, then accessible tourism will be a real game changer for many destinations and businesses, helping them recover from the pandemic and grow back in a more inclusive and resilient way.

Sindurakar is ex-Chief Administrative Officer at Nepal Mountaineering Association

A version of this article appears in the print on July 1, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.