Accessible Tourism in Natural Park Areas: A Social Network Analysis to Discard Barriers and Provide Information for People with Disabilities

Bianchi, Piervito; Cappelletti, Giulio Mario; Mafrolla, Elisabetta; Sica, Edgardo; Sisto, Roberta

doi:10.3390/su12239915

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Accessible Tourism in Natural Park Areas: A Social Network Analysis to Discard Barriers and Provide Information for People with Disabilities

Piervito Bianchi

Giulio Mario Cappelletti

²,

Elisabetta Mafrolla

²,

Edgardo Sica

^2,*

and

Roberta Sisto

Department of Economics, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy

Department of Economics, Management and Territory, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Sustainability 2020, 12(23), 9915; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12239915

Received: 5 October 2020 / Revised: 3 November 2020 / Accepted: 17 November 2020 / Published: 27 November 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Accessible Tourism in Protected Natural Areas (PNAs))

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Abstract

Although regulations designed to meet the necessities of tourists with disabilities are allowing disables to travel more, they are still encountering barriers and discriminatory practices. A relevant obstacle in making the tourist policy effective is represented by the lack of information and communication about needs and expectations of disabled categories. In this context, the present paper focuses on the coproduction process of tourist public policies for disables by looking at the network that facilitates communication among the actors taking part in the process. We adopt the Social Network Analysis (SNA) to study the policy network, i.e., how public administrations and policy users (associations of citizens/people with disabilities and entrepreneurs) exchange information about the accessibility to the Gargano National Park, a protected natural area in the South of Italy. In particular, we investigate the role of entrepreneurial stakeholders in channeling information and the presence of policy brokers, i.e., stakeholders that spread the policies to the whole network. Our findings show that a limited number of actors involved in granting accessibility to tourists with disabilities is engaged in information exchanges. Moreover, information flows are guided by only one public administration that plays, therefore, a key role in the implementation of policies that support the parks’ accessibility. View Full-Text

Keywords: accessible tourism; responsible tourism; natural parks; social network analysis; Gargano national park

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Bianchi, P.; Cappelletti, G.M.; Mafrolla, E.; Sica, E.; Sisto, R. Accessible Tourism in Natural Park Areas: A Social Network Analysis to Discard Barriers and Provide Information for People with Disabilities. Sustainability 2020, 12, 9915. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12239915

AMA Style

Bianchi P, Cappelletti GM, Mafrolla E, Sica E, Sisto R. Accessible Tourism in Natural Park Areas: A Social Network Analysis to Discard Barriers and Provide Information for People with Disabilities. Sustainability. 2020; 12(23):9915. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12239915

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bianchi, Piervito, Giulio M. Cappelletti, Elisabetta Mafrolla, Edgardo Sica, and Roberta Sisto. 2020. "Accessible Tourism in Natural Park Areas: A Social Network Analysis to Discard Barriers and Provide Information for People with Disabilities" Sustainability 12, no. 23: 9915. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12239915

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