OSA Digital Travel Services ltd., focus on an activity that constitutes social tourism whenever six conditions are met within its DMC’s operations:
- Social tourism is open to everyone, without restrictions. It aims at mingling cultures, opening up to others and stimulating social integration.
- And the aim of social tourism is to act fairly towards:
The Market Objectives are the following: -
- Social tourism is “all of the relationships and phenomena resulting from participation in tourism, and in particular from the participation of social strata with modest incomes. This participation is made possible, or facilitated, by measures of a well-defined social nature.
- Social tourism “refers to programmes, events, and activities that enable all population groups – and particularly youth, families, retirees, individuals with modest incomes, and individuals with restricted physical capacity – to enjoy tourism, while also attending to the quality of relations between visitors and host communities”.
- Social tourism also refers to measures taken by governments in various countries to encourage holiday travel – a right often won through struggle by labour unions, associations, cooperatives and community groups”.
- Social tourism is organized in some countries by associations, cooperatives and trade unions, and its objective is to make travel truly more accessible to the greatest number, in particular to the most underprivileged stratums”.
OSA Digital Travel Services Ltd., targets the following market segments as its esteemed clientele: -
Families: - Family holidays have obviously changed over the last few decades because of the evolution of the family structure, mainly characterized by the smaller and smaller size of families, and the increase in the number of single parent families.
Young people: - Today, young travellers (15-25 years old) make up for more than 20% of international tourist arrivals.
Seniors: - The demographic evolution over the last few years has been characterized by a rapid growth rate of the over 60 year olds. This reality, which can be explained by both the increase in life expectancy and the decrease in the number of births, will only become more marked in the future.
Disabled people or people with reduced mobility: - The obstacles that disabled people come across when organizing and enjoying tourist trips are not only architectonic obstacles, but also obstacles connected to negative attitudes and behaviours.
Even more than in other fields, it is fundamental to train the tourism industry staff to increase its awareness of special needs of disabled people, of adaptation measures needed for accessibility, and of the way to provide appropriate services to these clients, taking into account the different kinds of disabilities. OSA Digital Travel Services Ltd., jointly with ISTO International Social Tourism Organisation operates this market since 2008 after being launched through the European Social Tourism Forum, which was held in Malta at San Gorg Corinthia Hotel.
Some 150 delegates from 20 countries gathered at the sixth European Social Tourism Forum in Malta last month. Themed ‘Social Tourism in the EU: a new dynamic? ‘ Various stakeholders for active partnerships’, the event was organised by the International Social Tourism Organisation in collaboration with Maltese authorities.