Making cultural and tourist attractions accessible and inclusive for people with disability through value co-creation amidst COVID-19: a critical discourse analysis

Abstract

People with disabilities (PwD) are a COVID-19 vulnerable group, and globally they are experiencing even higher rates of social exclusion than before the pandemic. Value co-creation is a process whereby firms and their customers work together to develop service offerings and provides a tool for service improvement during disruptions such as health crises. Although many cultural and tourist attractions have access and inclusion as part of their strategic plans not all of them have turned to value co-creation to address access and inclusion in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also have varying degrees of understandings about what facilitates social inclusion. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, this study explores how museums have addressed access and inclusion in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the degree of uptake, discourses of value co-creation, and how their responses can be categorised. The research design included semi-structured, participatory interviews with 15 managers from eight museums; and ethnographic observation and semi-structured, post-museum visit interviews with 12 PwD. Then, an iterative data analysis process using ATLAS-ti was undertaken. The results provide insight into the social inclusion of PwD in museums during the COVID-19 pandemic.