Social Responsibility in Adventure Tourism: Analysis of Companies in the Central Region of Portugal

Abstract

The growing practice of adventure tourism reflects a change in the behaviour of tourists, with motivations based on the nature and on the practice of more active and challenging activities. Although these activities may involve some risks and difficulties, their demand has been growing among individuals with disabilities. With this, the offer of accessible products to individuals with disabilities has been a growing concern between tourism organizations, seeking to focus on corporate social responsibility. However, this dimension is not always welcomed and valued by all organizations, justifying the low relevance attributed in part to the weak impact of the accessibility in its operating results. With the purpose of analysing if the activities and services offered are adequately adapted to the audience that makes up accessible tourism, an online survey was developed and sent to 451 adventure tourism companies from the central region of Portugal. It is concluded that, of the 73 adventure tourism companies that responded to the survey, about half have activities and/or services adapted to individuals with disabilities. However, the adaptation is not done with the objective of increasing sales, but rather as a matter of betting on corporate social responsibility.