Accessibility in Tourism: Optimizing the Tourism Experience Through Social Sustainability Interpretation

Accessibility has become one of the main key issues in tourism today, as it determines the extent to which an individual can participate in the activities/experiences provided by the sector in each destination. It ensures that all products, services, and facilities will be developed for everyone to use and that all will benefit from them. This is reflected in the accessibility related to the absence of obstacles to the use of the tourism product still present in the infrastructures, public transport, information, technology, or communication services. The improvement in accessibility may ensure opportunities for access, safely and autonomously, to equipment, transport, spaces, and information, allowing most segments to participate in all activities of daily life in an independent, comfortable, safe, and without discrimination of any kind. This research establishes the objective of identifying the accessibility measures adopted in the cities of Braga and Guimarães, in the Northern Region of Portugal, through issues related to the specific training of employees, the use of new technologies as a competitive advantage, the concern with presenting information in various formats and the appropriate means of transport. For the collection and analysis of information, the qualitative method was selected, an exploratory descriptive study, based on semi-structured interviews conducted with the official responsible, stakeholders, interpreter guides, and associations of each tourist destination. The results show that, despite the improvements diagnosed in recent years, the regions still face some barriers. The measures frequently identified with the aim of optimizing accessibility in tourism destinations were specifically the use of access ramps (removable or definitive) and the introduction of adapted toilets.