Tourism For All NZ Research Group

Permanent link for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10292/14433

Professor Alison McIntosh, Dr Brielle Gillovic, AUT Adjunct Professor Simon Darcy (University of Technology Sydney) and AUT Visiting Scholar, Dr Cheryl Cockburn-Wootten (University of Waikato) coordinate the Tourism for All NZ Research Group.

Initially funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Social Development Think Differently Fund, NZ Tourism For All is a project to champion accessible tourism in New Zealand. The investigation recognises the citizenship rights of people with disabilities and those living with chronic or terminal illness to tourism as an inclusive leisure activity. Current projects include accessible beach tourism; accessible hotel restaurants; tourism and carers; disability employment and entrepreneurship; terminal illness and travel; and disability, tourism and sustainability.

Further related resources:

Tourism Evidence and Insights Centre
Gillovic, B. (2019). Experiences of Care at the Nexus of Intellectual Disability and Leisure Travel [Unpublished PhD thesis]. The University of Waikato.
Gillovic, B., McIntosh, A., Darcy, S., Cockburn-Wootten, C. (2018). Enabling the Language of Accessible Tourism, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 26 (4), pp. 615-630.

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Tourism For All NZ at UD2024

The Tourism for All NZ Research Group recently presented a discussion of our lessons about making tourism accessible and inclusive in NZ and Australia to an international audience of delegates at the 2024 Universal Design Conference, Norway, hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality.

View the video online or download the presentation.

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Key Facts and Figures about Accessible Tourism

Tourism For All New Zealand have collected useful, evidence-based facts about accessible tourism in New Zealand. Read them here, and keep up to date with our industry-relevant research.

Did you know that 83% of people with access requirements regularly engage in domestic travel?

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Bridging Hospitality Education and Community
(School of Hospitality & Tourism, Auckland University of Technology, 2020) Cockburn-Wootten, C; McIntosh, A
The hospitality industry is not immune from the social issues facing our society. There are cases of hospitality initiatives for social change, including philanthropy and social enterprise [1]. In our academic work, the key driver for change is how to overcome silos in order to create engaged, meaningful relationships between hospitality scholars in academia and external community stakeholders [1–3]. We sought to move beyond the traditional confines of academic institutions in order to ‘flip’ mind-sets and practice hospitality for the benefit of wider society. To achieve this vision of hospitality, we needed to work with and within communities. Intervention on long-standing social issues requires wider collaboration – reaching across businesses, third-sector organisations and education institutions. The New Zealand government has been calling on academia to make meaningful relationships that “open up diverse networks of knowledge and resources” for tackling social change [2]. Universities have not always had a good reputation for sustained meaningful engagement with external stakeholders [2]. For instance, typical interactions at universities may include one-way guest lectures or advisory boards who may serve more as a performance of communication for accreditation boards than actual listening and engaging with stakeholders. Dissatisfied with these limiting relationships, “we adopted principles from critical hospitality and dialogue theories to create a long-term space for inclusion, collaboration, and transformational change” [2]. We held a series of community stakeholder meetings using tools, such as Ketso [4, 5], that facilitated co-created conversations with diverse stakeholders – many of whom would not ordinarily have the chance to think through a social problem together. During these meetings, individuals discussed the issue and gained an opportunity to hear, learn and understand each other’s experiences. A recommendation emerged from these meetings [2] for the formation of a network of organisations, charities, individuals and businesses that were interested in tackling social change – called The Network for Community Hospitality (NCH). This recommendation enabled a communication network for diverse stakeholders, ranging from corporates, funders and third sector to individual community organisations to share conversation, resources, knowledge and work on social issues facing our communities. NCH has worked with a variety of stakeholders within communities drawing on different sets of knowledge to tackle social cultural issues related to hospitality, such as social housing, disability and employment, refugee welcome, and poverty. NCH has held ‘Town & Gown’ events to encourage dialogue between stakeholders who may not normally have access to decision-making and financial resources. Invitees to the dinners ranged from businesses to charities and aimed to encourage stakeholders to collectively think through how we can practice and make our communities hospitable. At these dinner events, people with similar interests were strategically placed around the tables. Between dining courses, short three-minute speeches were given by various organisations with a specific call to action for change. Other examples include organisations working with student groups to tackle a particular hospitality issue. Active collaboration with external stakeholders involves student internships/volunteering and students pitching their intervention ideas to the stakeholder. In many cases, after the course key students or student groups will continue either working or (micro-)volunteering with the organisation to help deliver and implement the enterprise or intervention. One of the determinants of success is the mind-set adopted during these processes. The aim is to enact participatory community development approaches that emphasise ‘bottom-up’, co-creation, and dialogue as important tactics for success. Many of the approaches we used were organic, even chaotic at times, inclusive, and always involved friendly conversations over a cuppa and food. Of course, issues can emerge from time to time due to differing understandings around concerns such as timeframes, focus, ownership and commitment. For education, the benefits are that we engage learners in meaningful practices that bridge students’ understanding of theories and real life for a better future. For businesses, it means future hospitality graduates are exposed to real-life issues, well-prepared to manage, able to take leadership and can vision new enterprises and practices for the sector. For society, involving a range of stakeholders to tackle social issues works towards developing inclusive, safe community spaces with a strong sense of civic engagement; in short, a vision for more hospitable communities.
Co-creating Knowledge in Tourism Research Using the Ketso Method
(Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2019) Wengel, Y; McIntosh, A; Cockburn-Wootten, C
Tourism scholars have called for critical engagement with transformational co-creative methodologies. Within this call, there is a need for researchers to be positioned as facilitators and co-creators; rather than lone experts. We provide a critical review of the Ketso method. Ketso is a facilitated ‘workshop in a bag’; a toolkit that enables people to think and work together. Ketso can be used for data collection and as a supplementary analysis tool. Critical reflections on Ketso are provided to illustrate how it co-creates knowledge and collaborative solutions for transformational tourism. As a data collection tool, Ketso provides an innovative and authentic approach to stakeholder collaboration and decision making. As a supplementary data analysis tool, it provides an opportunity to address some of the limitations of thematic analysis such as simplicity and lack of coherence. In providing critical reflections on Ketso, we contribute to future thinking for the adoption of this co-creative method for tourism research.
Communicating Across Tourism Silos for Inclusive Sustainable Partnerships
(Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2018) Cockburn-Wootten, C; McIntosh, A; Smith, K; Jefferies, S
Overcoming traditional tourism silos to develop long-term relationships with stakeholders is essential for transformational change. Adopting broader networks connects researchers to pertinent issues facing society, develops reciprocal capacities for learning, and creates inclusive sustainable partnerships. As critical tourism scholars and not-for-profit employees, we illustrate the journey of how we engaged collaboratively with diverse stakeholders, from businesses, not-for-profits and the university, to tackle issues of economic disadvantage and social exclusion. Critical hospitality and dialogue theory were adopted to provide a framework for the processes of collaboration, research, networking, and advocacy work for inclusive sustainable spaces. Drawing on our involvement with co-founding a collaborative research network, the Network for Community Hospitality, and analysis of data from two Ketso workshops and interviews with 41 network members, we present reflections on setting up and facilitating the network. In addition, two examples of collaborative Network activities are presented to illustrate the techniques and dialogic communication processes for doing critical hospitality. The article thereby contributes by providing empirically informed and reflexive understandings into the experiences of working and communicating within long-term inclusive partnerships with diverse stakeholders to create traction for positive social sustainable change.
Experiences of Tourists With Intellectual Disabilities: A Phenomenological Approach
(Elsevier BV, 2021-09) Gillovic, B; McIntosh, A; Cockburn-Wootten, C; Darcy, S
This paper aims to explore ways in which adults with intellectual disabilities experience tourism. The study applies phenomenology and draws on in-depth interviews with participants with intellectual disabilities focusing on their lived experiences of tourism. The tourism experience was significant and meaningful to the participants, in that tourism provided a sense of ‘normality,’ encouraged self-efficacy, and strengthened relational connections. This paper advances theory by conceptualising the nature of the tourism experience through the authentic voices and lived experiences of adults with intellectual disabilities. This lens of intellectual disability addresses a scarcity of representation in existing tourism scholarship, augmenting and advancing inclusive understandings of tourism experiences for these individuals with disabilities.
How Hospitable Is Aotearoa New Zealand to Refugees?
(School of Hospitality & Tourism, Auckland University of Technology, 2020-03-02) McIntosh, A; Cockburn-Wootten, C
Following the tragic events of the Christchurch shooting on 15th March 2019, New Zealanders projected a national image of hospitality towards Muslim New Zealanders, involving an Islamic call to prayer in Parliament, and women wearing hijab in solidarity – unique public demonstrations of compassion and inclusion. In 2020, the New Zealand government will raise its refugee quota to 1,500 refugees per year as part of its United Nations obligations and remove its race-based aspects [1]. Globally, there are vast displacements of people fleeing persecution and economic oppression [2]. Arguably, despite its small refugee resettlement quota, New Zealand appears hospitable. Yet our study reveals a context within which negative economic, social and political factors dominate policy and practices. It similarly highlights ways in which New Zealand’s hospitality towards refugees is paternalistic and interventionist, even if not deliberately [3]. ‘Being hospitable’ is typically defined as a social relation that accompanies the ideologies and unconditional practices of ‘welcome’ [4]. As an act of welcome, hospitality gives ethical recognition to the stranger. This practice of hospitality enables and resonates a feeling of belonging and inclusion. However, the intrinsic nature of hospitality may foster exclusion as well as inclusion. The Christchurch incident arose from an act of unwelcome and a false sense of security from authorities as previous discrimination reported by the local refugee Muslim community was ignored. As such, key questions remain about how hospitable New Zealand is to refugees. When refugees are resettled into a destination, refugee-focused service providers (including not-for-profits, community groups and NGOs) offer frontline services to ease refugees’ experiences of trauma and marginalisation. They provide advocacy and welcome through reception processes, translation services and multicultural centres. We facilitated a national think tank attended by 34 refugee-focused service providers to examine how they practice a hospitable welcome through their advocacy and frontline services and how the welcome could be improved. Participants identified the need for greater collaboration and communication between refugee-focused service providers to enhance trust, relationships, to enable former refugees to feel safe in voicing their concerns and access services, and to reduce the competition and duplication of service provision in the face of scarce funding. They also recognised the need to increase attention to the notion of welcome and advocacy by adopting practices from non-interventionist actions that draw on the notion of welcome as empathetic, warm and connecting, with minimum rules, and to centre refugee voices with their active participation in policy development, service delivery and social inclusion activities. Participants also advocated continued efforts by the media and wider community to reduce discrimination and negative social dialogue around refugees and to encourage their social inclusion. To achieve these outcomes, participants raised the need to address the important issues of underfunding and strategy underpinning the delivery of refugee-focused service provision. Overall, our findings suggest that beneath the initial welcoming surface, an alternative perspective may be concealed that restricts us from providing a broader inclusive hospitality and welcome into Aotearoa New Zealand. To bridge this potential impasse, a more humanistic approach is potentially required, where refugees actively co-create the critical framing of hospitality [5, 6] to better support their resettlement.
Improving the Accessibility of the Tourism Industry in New Zealand
(MDPI AG, 2020) Cockburn-Wootten, C; McIntosh, A
Internationally, the accessible tourism market has been identified as a growing segment that could lead the way for social inclusiveness, as well as providing the industry with financial gains and destination competitiveness. Despite the increased number of people who travel with access requirements, the sector still lacks an understanding of the expectations and experiences of access tourists. Accessible tourism covers an array of impairments from people who are immobile, visually impaired, an invisible impairment, parents with pushchairs, and seniors. The purpose of this study was to understand the expectations and experiences of the access consumer to suggest improvements for accessibility for the New Zealand tourism sector. The social model of disability was adopted to examine the sector and framed the semi-structured interviews with access consumers. Key results identified from the data were the need to achieve dignity in service offerings to gain experiences that facilitate independence and equity of access, access to information before the travel that is clear and accurate to aid planning, and accessible transport and education. In conclusion, the paper calls for the New Zealand tourism industry to align with the Disability Strategy sustainability goals to achieve equity and inclusion and create enjoyable accessible experiences in their tourist offerings.
The ‘MeBox’ Method and the Emotional Effects of Chronic Illness on Travel
(Taylor & Francis, 2019) Ramanayake, U; Cockburn-Wootten, C; McIntosh, A
Within tourism studies, there has been a gap in attempting to understand chronic illness within the context of travel. Researchers examining affective tourism have noted that much of everyday life endeavours to create order through ‘ontological security’ for individuals. In creating this sense of order, positivity and emotional security are emphasised, while taboo issues such as death, pain and chronic illness are ‘bracketed off’. Despite these attempts at bracketing, travel experiences can prompt individuals to reflect on their own mortality, existence and purpose, which in turn may reshape their travel experiences. For senior travellers, chronic illness may be part of their everyday reality, challenging the individual’s sense of self, time and relationships with places, things and people. These topics can be challenging for data collection, because such experiences can be hidden, emotion-laden, difficult to articulate or difficult for others to observe. Researchers have noted the methodological challenges with the use of traditional data tools and have turned to creative visual methods to facilitate and gain deeper understandings of participants’ experiences of chronic illnesses. We used one creative visual tool, the ‘MeBox’ method, to study the hidden aspects of chronic illness and to understand the embodied experience of chronic illness in the context of their travel. The ‘MeBox’ method was created to understand and communicate the participants’ multifaceted experience of chronic illness. The ‘MeBox’ method contributes to tourism scholarship, particularly for sensitive topics, by facilitating the inclusion of participants’ voices to capture their affective travel experiences. This method usefully represents the deeper emotionality of tourists’ lived experience that may have otherwise remained invisible to others.
Refugee-focused Service Providers: Improving the Welcome in New Zealand
(Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2019) McIntosh, A; Cockburn-Wootten, C
When refugees are resettled into a destination, refugee-focused service providers offer frontline services to ease refugees’ experiences of trauma and marginalisation, providing advocacy and welcome through reception processes, translation services and multicultural centres. The degree and effectiveness of welcome given by these service providers are of importance to how quickly refugees feel they belong and can settle in their new society. This paper presents the findings of original research conducted with 34 refugee-focused service providers in New Zealand. Ketso, a creative, participatory tool was used as a community engagement method. The results indicate how these service providers felt the welcome, advocacy and support for refugees could be better organised to support the resettlement process. The barriers and challenges to the provision of welcome are discussed, and priorities identified to improve the refugee resettlement process and outcomes.
Uncovering Absences and Gaps: Using Ketso in Qualitative Research for Accessible Tourism
(Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021-05-01) McIntosh, A; Cockburn-Wootten, C
Engagement of stakeholders in the research process provides valuable insights around tourism issues yet can be fraught with challenges. Ketso is a toolkit that can help overcome these barriers to facilitate stakeholder inclusion and collaboration. Drawing on a study into accessibility and tourism, this paper provides critical reflections on the potential of Ketso as a qualitative method in bringing together diverse stakeholders for inclusive dialogue around social change. Ketso can develop opportunities for change in the tourism system by making the absences of knowledge and assumptions in the worldviews of powerful tourism stakeholders apparent. Our analysis revealed how Ketso enabled inclusive collaboration to engender both tacit and wider community stakeholder knowledge, building capacity for co-created solutions to make tourism more accessible (barrier-free) for travellers with disabilities.
When Words Become Difficult: A Critical Reflection of the ‘MeBox’ Method in Understanding Senior Travellers’ Responses to Loss
(Edward Edgar Publishing, 2021-05) Ramanayake, U; Cockburn-Wootten, C; McIntosh, A
Multiple dimensions of our experiences such as visual, embodied and sensory experiences cannot always be easily expressed in words. Traditional qualitative methods may struggle to access these deep-rooted complex and emotional aspects. Tourism scholars have called for innovative methodologies to unravel layers of diverse meaning in phenomena. This article critically reflects on a visual tool called the ‘MeBox’. It was adopted in our study to explore senior travellers’ responses to loss following a major life event. The ‘MeBox’ method enabled participants to express embedded and tacit knowledge to reflect on their lived experiences. We critically review the ‘MeBox’ methodology, and provide practical learnings for scholars who may want to adopt this method as a means to under-stand lived experiences that are difficult to express in words.

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