Accessible Groningen

In tourism nowadays, there already is attention for people with handicaps and disabilities to some extent. However, there are some researched in the field of tourism that claim that there should be a lot more attention and anticipation for the disabled, with a lot more adaptations to them. This is described in the concept of accessibility (McIntosh & Gillovic, 2015).

Accessibility in tourism is described as the extent to which touristic features are accessible to disabled people. In their article, McIntosh and Gillovic (2015) address the fact that disabled people are often forgotten or even discriminated in tourism. Airplanes are not suitable for wheelchairs, and people with disabilities are often not understood by the personnel of tourist venues and/or the personnel of the airlines. This makes venues inaccessible for disabled tourists, and, following the authors, this should be banned.

So how accessible is Groningen? If I take a look at the city centre, there are a few thing I notice. First is that the streets are pretty accessible to wheelchairs, as they are flat and wide. I also see that certain buildings, like the Korenbeurs on the Vismarkt, have adapted to handicapped with a small ramp next to the stairs for wheelchairs.

However, when I look further, I see some pretty disappointing features. First is that the main touristic venues, except for the Museum, are not wheelchair accessible, for instance the Martini Tower, which doesn't have an elevator. People with other disabilities, like being blind or deaf, could climb the tower, but the city center is not very accessible to them. Yes, the city has been made almost car-free, but there are still a lot of cyclists. But the city centre itself is accessible to disabled people, some touristic highlights are not. Does that make Groningen inaccessible to disabled tourists?

The Korenbeurs with the ramps on the down left and right side (source: staatingroningen.nl)

Source:

Brielle Gillovic Alison McIntosh , (2015),"Stakeholder perspectives of the future of accessible tourism in New Zealand", Journal of Tourism Futures, Vol. 1 Iss 3 pp. 223 - 239