Higher education tourism programmes (HETP) must prepare future professionals to satisfy the needs of people with special needs (PwSN). This paper evaluates whether the skills needed to work with this market are being provided by Portuguese HETP. A triangulation of methods is used to accomplish this aim. A content analysis of Portuguese HETP curricula, a questionnaire survey and two focus groups with Portuguese HETP directors were undertaken. Results show that directors recognized the relevance of providing students with skills to work with this market, despite revealing difficulties in including accessible tourism contents in their programmes. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd