Finding a way towards high-quality, accessible tourism: the role of digital ecosystems

Abstract

PurposeDespite a growing interest in accessible tourism, delivering high-quality tourism experiences to people with disabilities (PwD) remains a major challenge. Beyond a number of acknowledged barriers (e.g. cultural, architectural, relational), the main issue is the lack of coordination amongst the many actors participating in the co-creation of tourism experiences. This paper intends to advance available knowledge on this issue by conceptually suggesting a solution that draws on the concepts of the tourism experience and digital ecosystems.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is developed as a conceptual contribution, drawing also on an illustrative example that considers a tourist with mobility disability as the focal actor.FindingsThe results indicate that a digital ecosystem could contribute to making tourism locations more accessible by enabling information sharing and coordination amongst all actors that co-create the tourism experiences. Moreover, the analysis underlines that tourism locations should be designed to be useable by all people, drawing on the principles of the universal design.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper describes a path to fostering accessible tourism, drawing on local authorities, particularly municipalities and universities. The suggested solution would benefit from future empirical analyses to assess its strengths and weaknesses.Originality/valueBy drawing on the concept of digital ecosystems, this paper is amongst the first studies to suggest a path to making tourism locations more accessible to all tourists (with or without disabilities) based on technology.

Tourism Experience in Tourism Villages: Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Perception

“…This confirms the conceptual basis of today's business dynamics that there is a drastic shift or change from product-based to service-based then experience-based (Jorgenson et al, 2019); (Park & Santos, 2017). This shift refers to the evolution that an effective approach to tourism business today is one based on the creation of shared experiences between tourism service providers and visitors (Forlani & Pencarelli, 2019), which is actively created by tourism providers with tourists (Campos et al, 2018) or called co-creation (Cassia et al, 2020) and the value of co-creation has played a major role in several studies discussing tourism, recreation, and hospitality.…”

Envisioning the future of technology integration for accessible hospitality and tourism

“…The limited references to this line of research were also noted from the conceptual/synthesis pieces on accessible hospitality/tourism (Boxall et al, 2018;Darcy et al, 2020;Gillovic et al, 2018) or when addressing the co-creation of experiences between hospitality businesses and customers with disabilities (Chiscano and Binkhorst, 2019;Navarro et al, 2015), where technological assistance plays a crucial role. Moreover, the existing relevant literature on the focal topic is largely scattered and fragmented, with a lack of systematic guidance for future research directions, as evident in existing reviews of the literature on accessible hospitality/tourism (Cai et al, 2019;Cassia et al, 2020;Darcy et al, 2020;Gonzalez et al, 2019). In the reviews, technology integration in accessible hospitality/tourism emerged as a relatively under-studied area, yet there was a lack of specification regarding the directions already examined on this niche topic, and the directions waiting to be explored in the future (Cai et al, 2019;Cassia et al, 2020).…”

“…Moreover, the existing relevant literature on the focal topic is largely scattered and fragmented, with a lack of systematic guidance for future research directions, as evident in existing reviews of the literature on accessible hospitality/tourism (Cai et al, 2019;Cassia et al, 2020;Darcy et al, 2020;Gonzalez et al, 2019). In the reviews, technology integration in accessible hospitality/tourism emerged as a relatively under-studied area, yet there was a lack of specification regarding the directions already examined on this niche topic, and the directions waiting to be explored in the future (Cai et al, 2019;Cassia et al, 2020). Thus, it is necessary to use an in-depth investigation of the current status of this line of research to examine to what extent the existing studies on this topic fairly represent the diverse populations and contexts, confirm the need for technology-aid accessible hospitality/tourism services, as well as identify the extent of the research deficit and offer recommendations for further explorations within this underexplored research area.…”

Online communication of accessibility conditions in touristic spots: the design–communication gap in Porto destination

“…Following the principles of the functional theory and the theory of use and gratifications in communication, the quality and usefulness of information provided in official websites are crucial (Sharp, 2002). Regarding the information needs of tourists with disabilities, important aspects to be observed are customer-oriented services, richness and reliability of information from the appropriate sources and communication tools (Eichhorn et al, 2008), which require a digital communication ecosystem shared by all the touchpoint actors (Cassia et al, 2020).…”