Turismo & Autismo

Turismo & Autismo is an R&D project in a business context structured by the company CDIJA - Centro de Desenvolvimento Infantil-Juvenil dos Açores, Lda (CDIJA) in co-promotion with o Agência Açoreana de Viagens, S.A. (Açoreana DMC), with the aim of investigating and economically valuing the tourist experience of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their companions. It is intended that the results of this R&D project will result in the creation of a new inclusive tourist product aimed at children with ASD and their companions, including the definition of itineraries based on the characteristics of the children (who will be studied) and taking advantage of of endogenous resources. The success of the project depends on the definition of key elements that will be collected through the state of the art, interviews and questionnaires to tourists with children with ASD and to tourist agents who, having the proper statistical treatment, will be confronted with the existing literature. , tested and validated in the field. In addition to the technical teams of the co-promoters, the Tourism & Autism project aims to have the collaboration of CTIJ – Centro Terapêutico Infanto-Juvenil, Lda. as a non-beneficiary partner and of the Gaspar Frutuoso Foundation, a non-business entity of the Scientific and Technological System of the Azores (SCTA), which will play a crucial role in the protocolization of the methodology for data collection; conceptualization, construction and adaptation of the database; and in the care of the ethical and deontological precepts of research.