Critical elements in accessible tourism for destination competitiveness and comparison: Principal component analysis from Oceania and South America

This paper seeks to construct an exploratory nationally comparative tourism accessibility measure (TAI) through developing an objective set of metrics in the spirit and intent of the international treaties and missions regarding the rights of persons with disabilities. Applied to Australia and New Zealand (Oceania) and Argentina and Brazil (South-America), the TAI draws upon data collected cross-country, cross-continent and for a period of 25 years (1990-2015) based on factor and principal component analysis. Considering accessibility as the conditions that a destination must have in order to be enjoyed by all individuals with access requirements and as a key factor of destination competitiveness, the TAI is developed based on: socio-demographic data; legal framework, political will and policy actions; and access conditions in tourism attractions. This measure is a useful tool to provide information about the critical elements, stages of development, evolution and understanding of the accessible tourism approaches in each of the studied countries.