Disability social security is a crucial component of Chinese-style modernization and common prosperity. Tourism holds significant importance in enhancing the well-being and quality of life for people with disabilities. Using grounded theory, this study explores the unique experiences and challenges faced by individuals with different types of disabilities, investigates their tourism needs and factors influencing their travel experiences, and proposes recommendations. Key findings include: (1) Compared to non-disabled tourists, people with disabilities exhibit stronger demands for stress relief and self-growth through tourism. (2) Tourism provides people with disabilities with notable stress reduction, promotes social interaction and family bonding, enhances self-challenge and independent living capabilities, and fosters knowledge acquisition and profound satisfaction. However, (3) their tourism experiences are constrained by controllable factors (e.g., additional costs, time burdens, physical strain) and uncontrollable factors (e.g., poor service attitudes, social stigma, inadequate accessibility infrastructure). Based on these findings, (4) the study advocates for recognizing tourism as a fundamental right and welfare for people with disabilities. Practical measures include strengthening safeguards, increasing participation opportunities, improving staff training, promoting corporate social responsibility, establishing smart assistive tourism systems, and enhancing accessibility infrastructure.
Qi et al. (Thu,) studied this question.