Autistic children visiting shopping malls as part of their tourism experience: Barriers and challenges

The analysis yielded four key themes, all relevant to the understanding of the challen ges autistic children experience during a visit to the shopping mall as part of a tourist experience. The findings suggest that the parents’ concern with the child’s safety and security was the most critical element of the shopping-mall experience. Heightened anxiety was felt by parents of autistic children in different scenarios at malls. The role of safety and security was highlighted in tourism studies (Fuchs & Reichel, 2006; Fuchs, 2024) emphasising their impact on several elements of the tourist experience, including the decision to engage in tourism and the choice of destination and accom modation. Tourists’ perception of safety and security is fundamental in explaining the travel and tourist experience of people with disabilities (McKercher & Ritchie, 2021; Poria et al., 2011). Also, the issue of safety and security is relevant to tourists who reported being afraid that their physical appearance puts them in danger (Poria, 2006; Poria & Beal, 2017). The findings suggest that to fully conceptualise autistic people’s foreign shopping mall experience, the judgmental gaze of other patrons should be considered. Families encounter intolerance and are being blamed for their child’s unusual behaviour, espe cially when it was not immediately apparent that their child is autistic. This is in line with previous studies which identified the tourist gaze as a factor influencing one’s tourist behaviour. Freund et al. (2019) referred to burdensome glances as the negative reactions of others toward an autistic child that might cause stress and anxiety. The tourist gaze was also evident in studies of minority groups such as Arabs in Israel (Nagar et al., 2022) and the segment of people with obesity (Poria & Beal, 2017), indicat ing that other bystanders, protected by their anonymity, feel confident gazing at them judgmentally. Some parents of autistic children expressed the need and desire to mark their children with an identifier (e.g., bracelets, stickers) while in the mall to make it clear to other patrons and to service providers that their child is autistic. This idea has been noted in previous studies, as is the case with some religious people who use symbols, and for some even special clothing, to exhibit their religious affiliation and religiosity (AlBalushi & Atef, 2019). Indeed, marking is common in various social set tings. For example, studies about conspicuous consumption, including staying in luxu ry hotels and purchasing expensive cars and prestigious watches, highlight that mark ing can be done using signs to communicate one’s socio-economic status and power (Bagwell & Bernheim, 1992; Peng & Chen, 2019). Applboim and Poria (2020), writing about Israeli soldiers’ visits to heritage sites, observed that marking creates a sense of belonging, uplifting and pride for those who regard the site as part of their own heritage. In the current study, it was found that parents of autistic children believe that marking will help minimise judgmental stares and can assist service providers to ensure appropriate service to the autistic children. Although many participants claimed that others may recognise after a while that their child is autistic, marking helps identify immediately an autistic child. This, in turn, will minimise discomfort and in extreme cases prevent potential life-threatening situations (e.g., running out from the shopping mall into the parking lot). Burrow (2022) claims that when planning holidays, families with autistic children look for a peaceful, quiet, and uncrowded location. In contrast, as indicated in the present study, families wanted their autistic children to visit the shopping mall, know ing that it is crowded and rich with stimuli. As with McIntosh (2020), who studied people with epilepsy, the motivation to visit shopping malls is rationalised as an at tempt to live as normally as possible. In the current study, parents recognised that the shopping mall environment is not suitable and to some degree, perhaps even dangerous for their autistic child. However, they wanted their child to visit the shop ping mall like other family members. Some parents suggested an intention for their autistic children to learn to adjust to shopping malls as an integral component of leisure and tourism experience.