Motivations of sighted and blind travellers in inclusive holidays: Preliminary findings

Previous research (Hutzler, Chacham-Guber, & Reiter, 2013; Logan et al., 1998) has shown that participation in activities with peers with and without disabilities positively influences the quality of life of people with disabilities. One way for such interactions to occur is during inclusive holidays – a special form of leisure and travel that allows people regardless of their physical abilities to participate in recreational activities together. This relatively new type of tourism has not received considerable attention in tourism research. Yet, the existence of such holidays on the market brings up many questions, particularly regarding the motivation of people engaging in this type of leisure. It can be argued that inclusive holidays (clearly marketed as so) are a form of reverse integrated recreation, according to the classification of Schleien, Green and Stone (2003). While motivations for people engaging in other forms of reverse integration, such as sports, have been explored in the past (Medland & Ellis-Hill, 2008), it is arguable that inclusive holidays are substantially different. The objective of this study is to explore what motivates people to choose special inclusive tours from the broad array of other leisure products, including traditional travel packages. The model of tourism motivation and expectation formation of Gnoth (1997) is used to analyze and structure the findings.