The body plays a crucial role in the experience of tourists utilizing a wheelchair, providing a constant reminder of the need to pay attention to the “body-self.” However, the mechanism behind their travel experience remains a theoretical black hole that needs to be explored. Embodiment theory offers a unique perspective for investigating the formation of the experience of tourists who use wheelchairs. This study aims to examine the body practices during tourism activities. In-depth interviews and travel notes were conducted with 24 wheelchair users and 22 travel notes, revealing that their experience can be described in three stages: body appearance, body presence, and body departure. Understanding the tourism experience of individuals with disabilities requires an approach that combines the material body and social construction perspectives. This study also offers insights into comprehending the formation of tourism experiences for other categories of tourists with disabilities. Additionally, drawing from the research findings, this study presents relevant recommendations to enhance the travel experience of tourists who use wheelchairs.
AdamI. (2019). Accommodators or non-accommodators? A typology of hotel frontline employees’ attitude towards guests with disabilities. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 82, 22–31.
2.
AitchisonC. (2003). From leisure and disability to disability leisure: Developing data, definitions and discourses. Disability & Society, 18(7), 955–969.
3.
BaoY.HuangY. (2015). From deviation to “embodiment”: Sociological understanding of the meaning of “disability”. Beijing Social Sciences, 5, 57–64.
4.
BarnesC.MercerG.ShakespeareT. (1990). Exploring disability: A sociological introduction. Polity Press.
5.
BlichfeldtB. S.NicolaisenJ. (2011). Disabled travel: Not easy, but doable. Current Issues in Tourism, 14(1), 79–102.
6.
BoorstınD. J. (1964). The image: A guide to pseudo-events un America. Harper & Row.
7.
BraunV.ClarkeV. (2021). To saturate or not to saturate? Questioning data saturation as a useful concept for thematic analysis and sample-size rationales. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 13(2), 201–216.
8.
BurnettJ. J.BakerH. B. (2001). Assessing the travel-related behaviors of the mobility-disabled consumer. Journal of Travel Research, 40(1), 4–11.
9.
BurnsN.PatersonK.WatsonN. (2009). An inclusive outdoors? Disabled people’s experiences of countryside leisure services. Leisure Studies, 28(4), 403–417.
10.
CepedaE. P.GalileaP.RaveauS. (2018). How much do we value improvements on the accessibility to public transport for people with reduced mobility or disability?Research in Transportation Economics, 69, 445–452.
11.
CharmazK. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. Sage.
12.
ChenC. C.PetrickJ. F. (2013). Health and wellness benefits of travel experiences: A literature review. Journal of Travel Research, 52(6), 709–719.
13.
ChenH. (2015). Tradition and modernity between touch and vision—Body sense in Chinese history, society and daily life. Journal of Humanities, 9, 82–90.
14.
ChenX. M. (1996). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences. Social Sciences in China, 6, 93–102.
15.
CohenE. (1979). A phenomenology of tourist experiences. Sociology, 13(2), 179–201.
16.
CohenE.CohenS. A. (2012). Current sociological theories and issues in tourism. Annals of Tourism research, 39(4), 2177–2202.
17.
ComicD.KalmicL. (2015). Phenomenology of tourist experience. Quaestus Multidisci plinary Research Journal, 6, 56–72.
18.
CorbinJ. M.StraussA. L. (2015). Basis of qualitative research: Procedures and methods for forming a grounded theory (ZhuG., Trans.). Chongqing University Press.
19.
CsordasT. J. (1993). Somatic modes of attention. Cultural Anthropology, 8(2), 135–156.
20.
DanielsM. J.RodgersE. B. D.WigginsB. P. (2005). “Travel Tales”: An interpretive analysis of constraints and negotiations to pleasure travel as experienced by persons with physical disabilities. Tourism management, 26(6), 919–930.
21.
DarcyS. (2012). (Dis) embodied air travel experiences: Disability, discrimination and the affect of a discontinuous air travel chain. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 19, e8.
22.
DarcyS.CameronB.PeggS. (2010). Accessible tourism and sustainability: A discussion and case study. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 18(4), 515–537.
23.
DevileE.KastenholzE. (2018). Accessible tourism experiences: The voice of people with visual disabilities. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, 10(3), 265–285.
24.
EdensorT. (2000). Staging tourism: Tourists as performers. Annals of tourism Research, 27(2), 322–344.
25.
EvcilA. N. (2018). Barriers and preferences to leisure activities for wheelchair users in historic places. Tourism Geographies, 20(4), 698–715.
26.
FanY. M.XieY. J. (2017). New exploration on the connotation of “experience” and tourism experience attribute. Journal of Tourism, 32(11), 16–25.
27.
FeiX. D. (2008). Grounded theory research methodology: Elements, research procedures and evaluation criteria. Public Administration Review, 3, 22.
28.
FigueiredoE.EusébioC.KastenholzE. (2012). How diverse are tourists with disabilities? A pilot study on accessible leisure tourism experiences in Portugal. International Journal of Tourism Research, 14(6), 531–550.
29.
GibbsR. W.JrLimaP. L. C.FrancozoE. (2004). Metaphor is grounded in embodied experience. Journal of Pragmatics, 36(7), 1189–1210.
30.
GillovicB. (2019). Experiences of care at the nexus of intellectual disability and leisure travel [Doctoral dissertation]. The University of Waikato.
31.
GillovicB.McIntoshA.Cockburn-WoottenC.DarcyS. (2021). Experiences of tourists with intellectual disabilities: A phenomenological approach. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 48, 155–162.
32.
Hunter-JonesP.Sudbury-RileyL.Al-AbdinA.MenziesL.NearyK. (2020). When a child is sick: The role of social tourism in palliative and end-of-life care. Annals of Tourism Research, 83, 102900.
33.
InnesA.PageS. J.CutlerC. (2016). Barriers to leisure participation for people with dementia and their carers: An exploratory analysis of carer and people with dementia’s experiences. Dementia, 15(6), 1643–1665.
34.
IsraeliA. A. (2002). A preliminary investigation of the importance of site accessibility factors for disabled tourists. Journal of Travel Research, 41(1), 101–104.
35.
JohnsonS. (1996). Walks in welcoming places: Outings in the northeast for strollers of all ages and the disabled. Library Journal, 121(7), 111–117.
36.
LiF.HeC.QiaoG. (2021). Attributes that form romantic travel experience: A study of Chinese generation Y tourists. Current Issues in Tourism, 24(15), 2130–2143.
37.
MacCannellD. (1973). Staged authenticity: Arrangements of social space in tourist settings. American Journal of Sociology, 79(3), 589–603.
38.
MatteucciX. (2014). Forms of body usage in tourists’ experiences of flamenco. Annals of Tourism Research, 46, 29–43.
39.
McIntoshA. J. (2020). The hidden side of travel: Epilepsy and tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 81, 102856.
40.
MichopoulouE.DarcyS.AmbroseI.BuhalisD. (2015). Accessible tourism futures: The world we dream to live in and the opportunities we hope to have. Journal of Tourism Futures, 1(3), 179–188.
41.
OliverM. (1996). Understanding disability: From theory to practice. Macmillan.
42.
OrakaniS. N.SmithK.WeaverA. (2021). Reframing the experiences of travellers with mobility impairments: Enhancing the leisure constraints model. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 47, 84–92.
43.
ÖzcanE.Güçhan TopcuZ.ArasliH. (2021). Determinants of travel participation and experiences of wheelchair users traveling to the bodrum region: A qualitative study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(5), 2218.
44.
PetersenL.RenX. (2011). Traveling with a disability: More than an oxymoron. Journal of Travel Research, 50(2), 143–154.
45.
PineJ.GilmoreJ. (2002). Experience economy (XiaY., et al., Trans.). Mechanical Industry Press. (Original work published 1998)
46.
PonsP. O. (2003). Being-on-holiday: Tourist dwelling, bodies and place. Tourist Studies, 3(1), 47–66.
47.
PoriaY.BealJ. (2017). An exploratory study about obese people’s flight experience. Journal of Travel Research, 56(3), 370–380.
48.
PoriaY.ReichelA.BrandtY. (2010). The flight experiences of people with disabilities: An exploratory study. Journal of Travel Research, 49(2), 216–227.
49.
QiaoG.CaoY.ZhangJ. (2023). Accessible Tourism–understanding blind and vision-impaired tourists’ behaviour towards inclusion. Tourism Review, 78(2), 531–560.
QiaoG.SongH.PrideauxB.HuangS. S. (2023). The “unseen” tourism: Travel experience of people with visual impairment. Annals of Tourism Research, 99, 103542.
52.
QiaoY.LiX.ZhangY. (2023). The impact of love on the tourism experience of wheelchair tourists. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 31(1), 1–16.
53.
ScamblerG.ScamblerS. (Eds.). (2010). New directions in the sociology of chronic and disabling conditions: Assaults on the lifeworld (pp. 37-56). Palgrave Macmillan.
54.
ShakespeareT. (2006). Disability rights and wrongs. Routledge.
55.
SmallJ.DarcyS.PackerT. (2012). The embodied tourist experiences of people with vision impairment: Management implications beyond the visual gaze. Tourism Management, 33(4), 941–950.
56.
SoicaS. (2016). Tourism as practice of making meaning. Annals of Tourism Research, 61, 96–110.
57.
StraussA. L. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. Cambridge University Press.
58.
StraussA.CorbinJ. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Sage.
59.
TaoC. (2020). Research progress and enlightenment of overseas disabled tourism and barrier-free tourism. Journal of Tourism, 35(3), 127–142.
TurcoD. M.StumboN.GarncarzJ. (1998). Tourism constraints for people with disabilities. Parks and Recreation-West Virginia, 33, 78–85.
63.
UrryJ. (2002). The tourist gaze (2nd ed.). Sage.
64.
van HovenB. (2011). Multi-sensory tourism in the Great Bear Rainforest. Journal of the Association of Icelandic Geographers, 25, 31–49.
65.
VarT.YeşiltaşM.YaylıA.ÖztürkY. (2011). A study on the travel patterns of physically disabled people. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 16(6), 599–618.
66.
VeijolaS.JokinenE. (1994). The body in tourism. Theory, Culture & Society, 11(3), 125–151.
67.
WangY.ZhuC.QiaoG.PabelA. (2022). Understanding the influence of emotional solidarity, positive emotions and loneliness on senior tourists’ willingness to sojourn with companions. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 27(3), 305–318.
68.
WuJ.TangD. J. (2018). A new perspective of tourism experience research: Embodied theory. Journal of Tourism, 33(1), 8.
69.
XieY. J. (2005). Situational model of tourism experience: Tourism field. Research on Financial Issues, 12, 64–69.
70.
XieY. J.FanY. M. (2017). Travel experience from the perspective of body-grounded theoretical analysis based on hiking notes and interviews. Human Geography, 32(4), 129–137.
71.
XinL.QiaoG.SongH.YeM.HuangZ. (2023). Gamification innovation: Understanding industrial tourism products and tourist response, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 28(3), 274–291.
72.
YauM. K. S.McKercherB.PackerT. L. (2004). Traveling with a disability: More than an access issue. Annals of tourism research, 31(4), 946–960.
73.
YeH. S. (2014). Theoretical analysis of the meaning of “incarnation.”Journal of Psychology, 46(7), 1032–1042.
74.
YinR. K. (2010). Qualitative research from start to finish. The Guilford Press.
75.
ZhangZ.WuX. (2017). Occupational segregation and earnings inequality: Rural migrants and local workers in urban China. Social science research, 61, 57–74.
76.
ZhaoL.ChengQ.ZhouW. (2013). Ontology description and intention construction of tourism experience from the perspective of phenomenology. Journal of Tourism, 28(10), 97–106.
