Infrastructure: Key to Accessible Tourism in India In the second and final part of the story on Accessible Tourism, Khushboo Sahrawat talks about the need for infrastructural development in the country to service the segment

The travel and tourism industry in India is being exposed to the need and opportunity of Accessible Tourism. While this aspect was touched upon in the previous cover story, the important step forward, once the awareness is created, is for the industry to start formulating and implementing plans to tap this segment. However, the moot question which arises is, are we ready to provide services for this particular segment? The needs of Accessible Tourism, broadly defined as a set of services and facilities for individuals with specific needs that may include the disabled, elderly people, pregnant women, parents with children or people with temporary disabilities, has been voiced by the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) India and various Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) like Samartayam (a civic body and National Centre for Accessible Environments), AccessAbility (Universal Design and Disability Employment Specialist), Svayam (organisation for people with reduced mobility), National Association of the Blind, etc. These NGOs have been working with civic and government agencies and various other corporate houses to press home the needs of this segment and to create the required infrastructure. “Currently there is no national policy on Accessible Tourism in India. Other than tentative measures being undertaken in metropolitan cities, rest of the nation is sans accessible transportation be it the railways, roadways or airways. The country also has a largely inaccessible infrastructure in the built, as well as external public infrastructure. Today initiatives are underway in some of the metropolis cities but it still leaves a lot to be desired,” informed Kavita Agrawal, Assistant Manager, Svayam. In India, the first step towards Accessible Tourism will involve making public infrastructure accessible to people with reduced mobility. According to Hector D’souza, President, L’Orient Travels, the infrastructure does not exist. “We can offer packages to People with Disabilities (PwD) but hotels, restaurants and tourist sites do not have the requisite infrastructure. Each hotel having one accessible room is not enough as it’s of no use while dealing with group travellers,” stated D’souza. Clearly infrastructure needs to be first put in place if the tourism industry is to reap the benefits of tapping this segment. Hospitality sector The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has listed some amenities for the disabled as criteria in order to obtain four-star or five-star classification for hotels. These include, one room for physically challenged, easily accessible lifts, four-star and above hotels should have bathrooms for physically challenged, ramps with anti-slip floors and handrails at the entrance, wheelchair access with suitable table in at least one restaurant, facilities for visually impaired persons, public rest rooms to have low height urinal (24 inches maximum) and exclusive parking for PwDs near the entrance. According to Shivani Gupta, Director, AccessAbility/Free2Wheel.co.in, the facilities for the disabled amount to only five points (out of 100 points) in the rating system for classification of hotels. In a survey conducted by Gupta, for her website Free2Whee.co.in (web portal for disabled tourists in Delhi), she discovered that most hotels in Delhi did not have accessible restaurants. Amongst the exceptions are Taj Group of Hotels and ITC Welcomgroup of Hotels. ITC Welcomgroup has employed 120 PwDs in the past 18 months. “We have realised that a barrier free environment is a crucial ingredient for inclusion and therefore, we have done access audits to incorporate accessibility improvements in our existing infrastructure. All our future hotel properties will be based on principles of Universal Design (a way to ensure that all environments and products are useable by all with comfort),” said P P Srivastav, Chief Engineer, ITC Welcomgroup. There are no budget hotels that have accessible rooms or supporting infrastructure. MoT will soon make provisions for the two-star and three-star hotels to be accessible as well. However, information is lacking and it is always word of mouth, which the disabled community has to depend on. Hotels with accessible features should provide this information on their websites. Transport sector “Inaccessible railways, road transportation, airways and transit infrastructure is a deterrent not only for travellers with disabilities but also for the elderly, children and travellers with temporary disabilities like a fractured leg or arm, etc.,” stated Kavita Agarwal. According to Anjlee Agarwal, Founder, Samarthyam, foreign disabled travellers and senior citizens like to travel independently and are not comfortable with the physical assistance provided in India. “Indian carriers do not allow two wheelchair travellers to sit together, refuse to take responsibility for the disabled travellers, charge travellers for stretchers and ambulifts and lack in developments like seat numbers in Braille, etc. Such lack of infrastructure can discourage tourists for repeat visits to India,” stated Anjlee Agarwal. According to Dipendra Manocha, Director (IT and Services), National Association of the Blind, a visually impaired person, Indian airports are not well equipped to help PwD travel independently. “The airports in India need to have some kind of landmark system, audio warnings, escalator warning, warning tiles, Braille signs for directions, etc., for the visually impaired,” said Manocha. He also spoke about the need for training the airport and airline staff in terms of communication etiquette with PwDs. The Railway Ministry has announced projects for provision of world-class facilities at metro railway stations. The new design concept will have all the Universal Design features in place that will make railway stations accessible to people with reduced mobility. Even local transport like accessible taxi services, trains are needed. However, efforts are being made, though on a small scale and on a private level like Tata Group working with Samarthyam to provide low floor buses in Delhi, Chandigarh, Indore, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. “A beginning has been made but it’s not the right time to make huge investments in this segment .We have to weigh our costs as there will be no instant results,” opined D’souza. Tourist sites “Unfortunately all the tourist attraction sites, as well as historical monuments remain inaccessible to most people with reduced mobility. Historical monuments because of their status of protected monuments under the Archaeological Survey of India were never really considered for incorporating changes to make them accessible to all,” stated Kavita Agarwal. Qutab Minar is one of the tourist sites in India which has ramps for tourists on wheelchairs. “Currently, we are not adequately equipped in terms of infrastructure. First, we need to make all the major tourist sites like Taj Mahal and the ones in Golden Triangle accessible as they attract a lot of foreign tourists and then gradually cover other tourist sites,” said P N Narayanaswamy, Travel Scope (India) Pvt. Ltd. A general overview shows us that most of our beaches, heritage sites, religious sites and other tourist sites lack accessible infrastructure, which is limiting the growth of Indian tourism both domestically and internationally. There is no database maintained by government agencies of the accessible tourist spots in the country. There is a growing demand, for the tourism industry to improve its services to PwDs. “As travel agents and tour operators we can educate our staff and try to provide for accessible vehicles. But if we look at the current scenario, nothing has happened yet by way of infrastructure or policies, it is just the beginning. We need to gear up first and only then can we introduce new products and packages in the market,” said N S Rathor, Head, Garha Tours & Travels and Executive Committee Member, IATO. “Universal Design is the need of the hour, especially in countries like India. With India on the brink of exponential growth in infrastructure development this is the right time to take up the issues related to barrier free and inclusive public infrastructure and transportation. This will not only promote tourism in India but also provide means of generating sustainable revenue for the tourism industry,” concluded Kavita Agarwal.