Youth as capability agents in producing accessible tourism in East Java Indonesia

Accessible tourism research has examined disabled travellers’ experiences and challenges faced by service providers, yet limited attention has been paid to the actors who help create accessibility in practice. This study examines how youth contribute to accessible tourism in East Java, Indonesia, and how institutional conditions shape their ability to expand opportunities for disabled travellers, their communities and themselves. Drawing on the Capability Approach, the study analyses 32 semi-structured interviews with young people involved in accessible tourism through advocacy, digital engagement, community initiatives and cultural programming. Findings show that youth contribute to accessibility by improving information access, fostering inclusive participation, adapting cultural activities and advocating for institutional change. These efforts expand opportunities for disabled travellers while simultaneously developing youth’s own capabilities, including skills, confidence, civic engagement and leadership. The findings also reveal persistent constraints, including limited funding, weak institutional support and restricted participation in decision-making processes. Because the study focused on youth as producers of accessibility, disabled youth voices were only minimally represented in the sample and remain an important area for future research. The study advances accessible tourism scholarship in three ways. It extends accessible tourism theory by foregrounding relational and cultural dimensions of accessibility, broadens the Capability Approach by incorporating producers alongside consumers of accessibility, and introduces the concept of dual capability expansion to explain how accessibility work simultaneously benefits both those creating and those experiencing access. The findings highlight the importance of formally embedding youth leadership within accessible tourism policy and planning in Indonesia and other comparable Southeast Asian contexts.