1. Usability Requirements for
Accessible Tourism
Elina Michopouloua
Dimitrios Buhalisb
a
School of Hotel, Resort and Spa Management
University of Derby, Buxton, UK
e.michopoulou@derby.ac.uk
eTourism Lab
Bournemouth University, UK
dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk
b

2. Introduction – Accessibility Market
- Size
• Between 5% and 20% of the population have some sort of disability (UNESCAP,
2000)
• Worldwide: Over 600 million (Van Horn, 2002)
- Spending power
• In the UK: £80 billion pounds per annum in 2004, (Spink, 2004).
• In the US: it was estimated around $200 billion in 1998 (Burnett & Baker, 2001)
• For travel in particular, American adults with disabilities spend $13.6 billion each
year (Open Doors Organization, 2005).

3. The Disability Continuum
Extent of impairment
Type of Impairment
Mild
Mobility impairments
e
erat
Mod
ere
Sev
Visual impairments
Hearing impairments
Speech impairments
Mental/ Intellectual impairments
Hidden impairments
Elderly population

4. The Accessibility Market
Accessibility concerns everyone...
Parents with prams...
Elderly...

5. The Accessibility Market
Accessibility concerns everyone...
Obese...
Temporal disability...

6. Method
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Invitations to stakeholer organisations to participate
Eight Interviews (usability testing)
9 Scenarios
Think aloud protocol
Performed over 4 day period
Average duration 90 minutes
Visual stimuli to express actual requiremets

7. Findings
R1: Option to change font size on all web pages
R2: Automation of data input where possible
R3: System functions should have a short and understandable explanatory text attached
R4: Minimise clicks for destination selection
R5: Use maps to assist destination selection
R6: Introduce bigger than average sized buttons
R7: Web pages should be available in accessible, printable formats
R8: Search filters should be available throughout the search process
R9: Integrate accessibility filters with other tourism filters
R10: Accessibility filters should be ranked alphabetically.
R11: Include “pet-friendly” filter amongst the accessibility filters
R12: Include pictures of different areas of venues and upload date
R13: Accessibility information should be accompanied by pictures in every section
R14: Include a forum section
R15: Enable users to clear search forms with a push of a button
R16: Use webpage space wisely, and create pages that users don’t need to scroll down
R17: A system should assist users in completing their objectives by minimising cognitive effort required
R19: The source of accessibility information should be clearly stated
R18: Develop multilingual versions for a website
R20: The display of accessibility information should allow users to go through detailed information in the
least possible time

8. Findings
Two of those requirements are particular to travellers with
impairments and these refer to
“the source of accessibility clearly stated” and
“accessibility information is accompanied by pictures”.

9. Findings
“Accessibility information is accompanied by pictures”.

10. Findings
“The source of accessibility evaluation is clearly stated”

11. Conclusion
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”
Scott Hamilton