Enabling Disabled Tourists? Accessibility Tourism Information Schemes

Embedded in information search theory and based on exploratory research, this paper investigates accessibility tourism information schemes as information communication sources and their potential to fulfill the informational needs of tourists with a disability. Five interrelated need components are identified: richness and reliability of information, appropriate information sources, communication tools and customer-orientation. The results show that the existing schemes studied only partly comply with informational requirements. Major limitations include their high fragmentation and lack of geographical reach, which result in deficiencies in quality, depth and breadth of information, appropriate customer-oriented and communication services using mainstream media. To achieve information satisfaction and fully enable disabled people, it is advocated that a pan-European approach to accessibility is necessary to remove informational barriers that currently restrict travel options of disabled individuals.