Call for prioritising accessibility in tourism planning at KTM 2026 seminar

Stakeholders in the tourism industry have called for prioritising the planning and design of accessible systems and accommodations at the KTM 2026 seminar. Neha Arora, founder of Planet Abled, emphasized the importance of creating inclusive travel experiences for all individuals, including those with visual, hearing, and intellectual impairments.

Guides should be trained to provide equal standards of experience for travellers with disabilities, as very few hotels currently offer convenient rooms for persons with disabilities.

Thrissur District Collector and former Director of Kerala Tourism, Shikha Surendran, highlighted the need for tourism projects to go beyond basic accessibility measures such as ramps, wheelchairs, and special rooms. Instead, they should consider the needs of individuals with various physical and mental disabilities. She stressed the importance of awareness, training, and capacity building among officials in different departments to address these issues.

All stakeholders in the tourism sector, including tour and travel operators, hotel owners, employees, taxi drivers, and others, should be trained in disability-friendly practices.

To ensure accessibility, accessibility should be ensured across public transport, toilets, hotel rooms, and other facilities. Firstly, tourism destinations should undergo audits, similar to the gender audits already conducted in 72 destinations, which ranked them based on their performance. However, many places only meet 16 to 20% of gender-equality standards.

Rupesh Kumar K., Chief Executive Officer of the Kerala Responsible Tourism Mission Society, pointed out that responsible tourism aims to create a good place for people to live and visit, with 18,500 of the 26,000 units under the Responsible Tourism initiative being run by women's collectives.