Among the Italian regions that enjoy significant tourist flows, Sicily stands out for some peculiarities: not only the exceptional concentration of historical and archaeological sites, probably the largest in the Mediterranean, but a great numbers of museums. The possibility, for elderly/disabled people, of enjoying such a bountiful treasure of touristic sites surely depends on their physical accessibility that is the major relevant problem from the supply side, together with scantiness of quality information. The objective of this paper, unprecedented in the literature, is to use the information available on elderly visits to museums in Sicily, drawn from the survey carried out by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in 2018, to investigate which factors may hinge/facilitate tourism demands of senior citizens. The prevailing literature suggests that the share of elderly visitors may be considered a proxy that partially captures the demand from people with access problems, who, therefore, need assistance. In this light, our results: 1) suggest ways to increase senior citizens participation in the museum activities, evidencing the positive role of accessible information, be it targeted or general, in favoring their empowerment; 2) advocate that pecuniary reasons may be a hindrance for senior citizens to enjoy cultural sites.

Cultural supply and accessibility for people needing assistance. Some evidence related to Sicilian museums

Lara Gitto;Ferdinando Ofria
2021-01-01

Abstract

Among the Italian regions that enjoy significant tourist flows, Sicily stands out for some peculiarities: not only the exceptional concentration of historical and archaeological sites, probably the largest in the Mediterranean, but a great numbers of museums. The possibility, for elderly/disabled people, of enjoying such a bountiful treasure of touristic sites surely depends on their physical accessibility that is the major relevant problem from the supply side, together with scantiness of quality information. The objective of this paper, unprecedented in the literature, is to use the information available on elderly visits to museums in Sicily, drawn from the survey carried out by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in 2018, to investigate which factors may hinge/facilitate tourism demands of senior citizens. The prevailing literature suggests that the share of elderly visitors may be considered a proxy that partially captures the demand from people with access problems, who, therefore, need assistance. In this light, our results: 1) suggest ways to increase senior citizens participation in the museum activities, evidencing the positive role of accessible information, be it targeted or general, in favoring their empowerment; 2) advocate that pecuniary reasons may be a hindrance for senior citizens to enjoy cultural sites.
2021
979-12-5994-521-1
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11570/3212134
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