INCLUSION OF TOURISTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS AND IMAGE-DESTINATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF AGUASCALIENTES

As is well known, in scientific research there is no room for borders, regardless of the area of ​​knowledge or the country. In this sense, all knowledge is rapidly disseminated in the scientific field, through the publication of articles, participation in colloquia and congresses as platforms for disseminating the results of research, so that this type of study is a point of reference for subsequent work, applicable to any country, in the context of exact, social, health and economic-administrative sciences.

On the other hand, tourism is the second productive sector that drives the national economy, so this work provides a look at the inclusion of tourists with special needs in the city of Aguascalientes, in order to determine whether this positively influences the better image of the destination. First of all, it highlights the right to vacations that all people have and that, due to the almost non-existent inclusive conditions with which the means, services and infrastructure are developed, do not allow everyone to enjoy this right. It is necessary to modify all these aspects to facilitate inclusion and allow people with special needs to access all resources and attractions.

This study presents the opinion of tourism service providers in the entity and users with disabilities, who from their perspective affirm the urgent need to create an inclusive culture, since in our country, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (inegi, 2021) there are 6,179,890 people with disabilities, of which 5,577,595 (78%) have only a physical disability; 723,770 (10%) have some mental problem or condition; 602,295 (8%) in addition to some mental problem or condition have a disability and 264,518 (4%) report having some mental problem or condition and some other limitation.

Unfortunately, there is a lack of trained personnel to provide this type of service to people with different abilities, and there are also poor accessibility conditions for all visitors, such as signs to guide them in different activities, including where parking and transportation are located, or the use of color language, the use of Braille or sounds, among others.

Consequently, the opportunity to strengthen the inclusive image of the state of Aguascalientes has been identified to meet the special needs of its inhabitants and visitors, as well as to analyze whether the entity is an inclusive destination. The measurement of the general inclusion model shows the general results of the study, obtaining that equality of opportunity is very low with 2.77, inclusive tourism activity continues with 2.75 and at the end tourist inclusion 2.49.

This condition is a watershed to create a conceptualization of the appropriate destination image, through the generation of mental images when we are going to carry out an activity: we create them before, during and after. These images, which are also known as representations, help us make decisions, since we have certain expectations and we want to meet them. In this case, when choosing the tourist destination we create a representation of what we would like to experience and as our trip progresses, some expectations are met, but others are not, which determines the states of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the visitors.

Finally, the most important thing is to offer the service in the same way for everyone, regardless of the disability of the client, always keeping in mind all the options that can be offered to provide the selected service and/or product with the same quality and respect, since the disability does not define the client. The above leads to a final reflection: the world changes daily and the tourism industry is no exception. Starting from the principle that we are all equal, therefore, we all have the right to travel and practice tourism in the best conditions, with equity and respect.