THE ROLE OF DPOs in PROMOTING AND ADVOCATING FOR INCLUSIVE TOURISM AS A DEVELOPMENTAL GOA Presented by: Ms. Buyelaphi Masuku FODSWA, Swaziland

INTRODUCTION The Kingdom of Swaziland is a southern African country which shares borders with the Republic of South Africa on the north, west and south and with the Republic of Mozambique on the east. The country extends over a land mass of 17, 364 square kilometers. The country is host to a population of over 978,238 people, 78% of which live in rural Swaziland,

INTRODUCTION According to the 1997 census, there are 27,698 people with disabilities in Swaziland or 3% of the population, 86% of them live in rural areas,

TOURISM IN SWAZILAND Tourism is a rapidly growing industry in Swaziland and people with disabilities are becoming a growing group of consumers of travel, sports, and other leisure-oriented products and services. Thus the need to make tourism to be made barrier- free, In 1996, His Majesty’s Government, created the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Communications (MTEC) to better focus at national attention on tourism development and management of the country’s environment.

TOURISM IN SWAZILAND The vision behind this development was to recognize the importance of the tourism industry as a leading contributor to the national economy and to support its potential to promote social and environmentally sustainable development in Swaziland. The major attractions of the Kingdom of Swaziland are the unique culture of its people and the scenic beauty of the country.

TOURISM IN SWAZILAND The fact that Swaziland has no single globally identifiable feature, on which to hinge its promotion on the international tourism market, does not preclude the potential for the national tourism product to emerge as an international attraction, alongside other regional attractions. To realize success, Swaziland needs to follow a co-ordinate tourism development programme guided by an over-riding national policy.

TOURISM IN SWAZILAND Swaziland has a Tourism policy drafted in August 2000, The overall strategy of the policy is to develop Swaziland as a distinctive destination, fully capitalizing on its natural resources (environment, history, culture and people) and its favorable location as well as regional initiatives, to produce new, upgraded and different products, services and experiences that will exceed the expectations of the new and more discerning traveler.

TOURISM AND DISABILITY Indeed, good access will benefit not only people with disabilities, but also many other members of the community, especially senior citizens. Although the number of tourists who would benefit from accessible facilities and services are on the increase, most tourism providers have still not yet recognized the importance of taking action on this issue.

TOURISM AND DISABILITY As much as Swaziland has developed a policy that looks at developing Swaziland as a distinctive destination, they still overlook at the importance of making the environment and physical infrastructures accessible to people with disabilities, The current policy does not provide for ensuring that tourism also bonnets people with disabilities,

CHALLENGES FACED BY DISABLED TOURISTS People with disabilities have a right to, and do want to enjoy travel and leisure experiences. Tourism is a means of broadening horizons and developing friendships for a social group, which increasingly is less willing to remain segregated from mainstream society. Furthermore, as more people acquire disabilities or survive with disabilities, they too wish to enjoy travel, just like everyone else.

CHALLENGES FACED BY DISABLED TOURISTS However, their travel experiences are still characterized by transportation constraints, inaccessible accommodation and tourism sites, and inadequate customer services. The recent incident by some flights disallowing people with disabilities to board their flight due to existing policies needs to come to an end,

ROLE OF DPOs IN PROMOTING INCLUSIVE TOURISM People with disabilities are being acknowledged as a consumer group of travel, sports, and other leisure-oriented products and services. If professionals of the tourism industry are to succeed in accessing this potential new market, they must understand the needs involved and learn how to respond to these challenges for the benefit of both parties.

ROLE OF DPOs IN PROMOTING INCLUSIVE TOURISM The only way this can be achieved is through consultation of DPOs in the different countries or regions People with disabilities are experts in the field of disability and may play a key role in ensuring that touring infrastructures are accessible and user friendly to people with disabilities and those policies are drafted to ensure that people with disabilities are provided with the opportunity to contribute to the growth of the economy of their individual countries.

1 - Training and Sensitization Training and education is one of the major challenges facing the tourism industry in relation to meeting the needs of people with disabilities. Sensitive and willing staff with the right attitude and strong interpersonal skills can overcome many of the barriers that persons with disabilities face and turn what may be perceived as an inaccessible property into an accessible one.

1 - Training and Sensitization It is important that tourism staff members are trained and sensitized on issues of disability to ensure full provision of services for persons with disabilities, The availability of specialized tour guides is another important factor for people with disabilities, especially those with sight and hearing impairments to enable them to enjoy tourism activities. Efforts should be made to develop and strengthen appropriate specialized tour-guiding courses in training curricula on tourism management and related tourism services to best service people with disabilities.

2 - Legislation Framework Development One crucial element in meeting this goal is the existence of a legal framework, which ensures that people with disabilities have the right to access to tourism facilities and services and to encourage tourism professionals to adopt related measures.

2 - Legislation Framework Development Several governments in the region have passed comprehensive legislation to protect the rights of persons with disabilities while others are in various stages of adoption, formulation and planning. It is therefore important for DPOs to be informative and aware of what stage their individual governments are in terms of formulating policies in this case tourism policies to ensure mainstreaming and inclusion of disability in such policies.

3 - Tourism services providers To fully harness the potential of barrier-free tourism, it is essential that the tourism industry improve its services to people with disabilities. Attention should be made to provide people with physical disabilities with a clear accessible route to the main entrance of an establishment and then to the reception desk. Persons with sight or hearing impairments need to be provided for with adequate facilities to facilitate their free mobility within the premises.

3 - Tourism services providers Tourism service providers should be made aware that, only persons with disabilities have the experience and knowledge of how to make the above a success. The role of DPOs therefore in this case should be providing advice on how to make services accessible to people with disabilities and further lobby for accessible services.

CONCLUSION People with disabilities still need to be capacitated too to ensure that they are also able to provide adequate services where required, Lack of leadership and advocacy skills is a matter to be addressed if we are to succeed with today’s discussion on tourism and development, Provision of resources also needs to be addressed.