Travel can be stressful for everyone but travelers with disabilities have more reasons to be worried about how smooth it will go. On a trip, they can experience a wide range of difficulties and barriers due to the way that services and environments are designed. Accessibility to communications, facilities, products and services for all should be a central part of any sustainable travel policy.
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.3 billion people - about 16% of the global population - currently experience significant disability, and this number is increasing.
The potential market of people with disabilities in the European Union (EU) is 135 million people. In Asia-Pacific, the market size is 690 million people, in Latin America and the Caribbean this figure reaches 85 million people, while in Africa more than 80 million have some form of disability. In the United States, there are over 42 million people with disabilities, making up 13% of the population, while in Canada this number makes up 6.2 million persons aged 15 and older.
These figures keep growing with population growth, medical advances and the ageing process. At the same time, a big number of people with disabilities possess the financial and physical capabilities to travel. In the EU, their share makes up 70% of all people with disabilities.
Travel can be stressful for everyone but travelers with disabilities have more reasons to be worried about how smooth it will go. On a trip, they can experience a wide range of difficulties and barriers due to the way that services and environments are designed. Accessibility to communications, facilities, products and services for all should be a central part of any sustainable travel policy.
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.3 billion people - about 16% of the global population - currently experience significant disability, and this number is increasing.
The potential market of people with disabilities in the European Union (EU) is 135 million people. In Asia-Pacific, the market size is 690 million people, in Latin America and the Caribbean this figure reaches 85 million people, while in Africa more than 80 million have some form of disability. In the United States, there are over 42 million people with disabilities, making up 13% of the population, while in Canada this number makes up 6.2 million persons aged 15 and older.
These figures keep growing with population growth, medical advances and the ageing process. At the same time, a big number of people with disabilities possess the financial and physical capabilities to travel. In the EU, their share makes up 70% of all people with disabilities.
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