Abstract

MATAMOROS HERNANDEZ, Edmundo Omar; TEJEIDA PADILLA, Ricardo  and  MORALES MATAMOROS, Oswaldo. The social inclusion of people with disabilities in the tourism system of Mexico City’s Historical Center: design of a systemic model of innovation. Intersticios sociales [online]. 2019, n.17, pp.79-104. ISSN 2007-4964.

People with disabilities face physical, social, economic and cultural barriers to tourism and recreational activities. This article reviews the existing legal framework and its influence on tourism offerings around the Historical Center of Mexico City. It finds these to be inefficient in terms of providing accessibility to people with disabilities. Specifically, the series of inadequate public policies impedes these individuals from enjoying a range of leisure activities that are considered a universal human right. We argue that social innovation is the key to strengthening public policies by combining the efforts of the private sector, government, academia and NGOs. The objective of such processes of social innovation is to enhance the social inclusion of vulnerable populations through research and the development of new processes in the design, application and management of novel technologies and processes that will facilitate the integration of vulnerable groups into the tourism sector. This paper discusses the current scenario in the Historical Center of Mexico City from the perspective of accessibility for people with disabilities and how social innovation provides an opportunity to improve existing conditions.

The results obtained reveal deficiencies in tourism offerings, mainly in the infrastructure of such key tourist services as restaurants, hotels and cultural centers. Thanks to recent renovations, roadways in general present greater accessibility. One aspect on which the experts interviewed largely concurred was that of discrimination, an element that, in their consideration, generates additional barriers to the social inclusion of people with disabilities.

Keywords : accessible tourism; social innovation; social model of disability.

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