Towards the development of sustainable tourism: the accessibility of websites for people with disability

Pintori, Morena;Frau, Moreno;Moi, Ludovica

2021-01-01

---

Abstract

This article illustrates that to address the specific needs of accessibility market segments, destination marketing should consider web accessibility for people with disabilities (PwDs). By applying an automated method of analysis through the online software Wave Accessibility Evaluation Tool to 24 selected tourist destinations awarded for accessible and sustainable tourism, this study demonstrated that only one destination exceeded the minimum standard level of Web Content Accessibility set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Therefore, most tourist destinations are required to put greater efforts into making their website as accessible as their physical places to satisfy the requirements of each market segment, thereby improving the online experience also for tourists with impaired abilities. Contributions to literature and managerial implications are then discussed, followed by avenues for further research.