It is a positive phenomenon that more and more studies are being published on the
diverse relationship between accessibility and tourism nowadays. This indicates that
now at least tourism researchers are showing an interest in the examination of the
different aspects of accessibility. Nevertheless, it is a well-known fact that service
providers still do have much room for development in this respect. It is sad the examinations
mentioned practically totally neglect the definition of accessibility from a philosophical
perspective—or its need to be defined, so evidently its applicability in practice
and its empirically justifiable positive impacts are not discussed, either, though
in the authors’ view it is a prerequisite for the realisation of a traveller’s good
and independent experiences. Unfortunately, very little is said in the previously
mentioned scrutinies about the philosophy of accessibility which, in the authors’
opinion, is a prerequisite for the accomplishment of adequate accessibility. Coming
from all these and also on the ground of their previous researches, and also from
the international empirical research conducted in five countries on the travel habits
of people with disabilities by the authors, they are convinced that accessibility
in itself shows, and leads to crisis phenomena, because the spirit of accessibility
is simply missing from both the professional and everyday practical thinking. One
explicit manifestation of this is the fact that travel becomes free from experience
as a result of partial accessibility—or it generates “specific experiences” that can
be interpreted as the negative pole of Michalkó’s paradigm of beatific travel. The
conclusion of the paper is that the creation of the paradigm of fundamental accessibility
is a justified must.
