Information provision for challenging markets: The case of the accessibility requiring market in the context of tourism

Abstract The paper investigates the requirements of users with disabilities and the implications that these tourists have for developing accessible tourism information systems. A series of focus groups and interviews revealed the informational needs of people with disabilities, as well as the relevant technical difficulties involved in addressing these needs. The results indicated that the indispensable requirements include the following: (1) the veto or absolutely minimal prerequisites principle; (2) an indication of holistic accessibility paths; and (3) door-to-door access maps. The technical challenges identified focus on interoperability, content integration and personalization. The paper concludes by demonstrating how the tourism industry can overcome these challenges and address disabled travelers’ needs.

[1]  Pauline J. Sheldon.  Destination information systems. , 1993 .

[2]  Dongsong Zhang.  Web Services Composition for Process Management in E-Business , 2005, J. Comput. Inf. Syst..

[3]  Barbara Wixom,et al.  Data Warehousing Supports Corporate Strategy At First American Corporation , 2000, MIS Q..

[4]  Dimitrios Buhalis,et al.  eAirlines: strategic and tactical use of ICTs in the airline industry , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[5]  Viswanath Venkatesh,et al.  A Control Theory Perspective on Agile Methodology Use and Changing User Requirements , 2009, Inf. Syst. Res..

[6]  P. Radha Krishna,et al.  Mining Web Data Using Clustering Technique for Web Personalization , 2002, Int. J. Comput. Intell. Appl..

[7]  B. Mckercher,et al.  TRAVELING WITH A DISABILITY More than an Access Issue , 2004 .

[8]  R. Abeyratne.  Proposals and Guidelines for the Carriage of Elderly and Disabled Persons by Air , 1995 .

[9]  Per-Olof Östergren,et al.  The right to assistive technology: for whom, for what, and by whom? , 2011 .

[10]  Wynne W. Chin,et al.  Adoption intention in GSS: relative importance of beliefs , 1995, DATB.

[11]  T. Coles,et al.  Access, disability, and tourism: changing responses in the United Kingdom. , 2005 .

[12]  William R. King,et al.  The Role of User Participation in Information Systems Development: Implications from a Meta-Analysis , 2008, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[13]  Dimitrios Buhalis,et al.  Information-enabled tourism destination marketing: addressing the accessibility market , 2011 .

[14]  Simon Darcy,et al.  PERSONAL AND SOCIETAL ATTITUDES TO DISABILITY , 2005 .

[15]  Yu-Chun Chang,et al.  Identifying mobility service needs for disabled air passengers , 2011 .

[16]  Aaron Allen,et al.  What Frustrates Screen Reader Users on the Web: A Study of 100 Blind Users , 2007, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[17]  Shane Pegg,et al.  Travelers and tourists with disabilities: a matter of priorities and loyalties. , 2005 .

[18]  Glenn J. Browne,et al.  Stopping Behavior of Systems Analysts During Information Requirements Elicitation , 2004, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[19]  Alan M. Davis,et al.  A Unified Model of Requirements Elicitation , 2004, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[20]  Hannes Werthner,et al.  Harmonise: A Step Toward an Interoperable E-Tourism Marketplace , 2005, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[21]  R. Law,et al.  Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet - the state of eTourism research. , 2008 .

[22]  Nina M. Ray,et al.  “Ebilities” tourism: an exploratory discussion of the travel needs and motivations of the mobility-disabled , 2003 .

[23]  T. Shakespeare,et al.  Editorial , 2011, Disability and rehabilitation.

[24]  Russell Williams,et al.  Meeting the on‐line needs of disabled tourists: an assessment of UK‐based hotel websites , 2006 .

[25]  John D'Ambra,et al.  Analysis of Perceived Quality of Information Resources and A Priori Web Usage at the Sydney Visitor Information Centre , 2005, ENTER.

[26]  Margaret J. Daniels,et al.  “Travel Tales”: an interpretive analysis of constraints and negotiations to pleasure travel as experienced by persons with physical disabilities , 2005 .

[27]  Elizabeth J. Davidson,et al.  Technology Frames and Framing: A Socio-Cognitive Investigation of Requirements Determination , 2002, MIS Q..

[28]  Simon Darcy,et al.  The trouble with travel: people with disabilities and tourism , 1999 .

[29]  Aviad A. Israeli,et al.  A Preliminary Investigation of the Importance of Site Accessibility Factors for Disabled Tourists , 2002 .

[30]  Gurpreet Dhillon,et al.  User Acceptance of Agile Information Systems: A Model and Empirical Test , 2011, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[31]  Daniela E. Damian,et al.  Integration of behavioural requirements specification within compositional knowledge engineering , 2005, Knowl. Based Syst..

[32]  Timothy H. Greer,et al.  Web Personalization: The Impact of Perceived Innovation Characteristics on the Intention to Use Personalization , 2003, J. Comput. Inf. Syst..

[33]  P. Sheldon.  Tourism Information Technology , 1997 .

[34]  Joseph L. Cavinato,et al.  Transportation and Tourism for the Disabled: An Assessment , 1992 .

[35]  Russell Williams,et al.  Web site accessibility of German and UK tourism information sites , 2004 .

[36]  Simon Darcy,et al.  Marginalised participation: physical disability, high support needs and tourism , 2002 .

[37]  Dimitrios Buhalis,et al.  Customer empowerment in tourism through consumer centric marketing (CCM) , 2007, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal.

[38]  Eleni Michopoulou,et al.  Enabling access to tourism through information schemes , 2008 .

[39]  J. J. Burnett,et al.  Assessing the Travel-Related Behaviors of the Mobility-Disabled Consumer , 2001 .

[40]  Bongkoo Lee,et al.  Influences of travel constraints on the people with disabilities’ intention to travel: An application of Seligman’s helplessness theory , 2012 .

[41]  Graham Miller,et al.  The Disability Discrimination Act: Time for the Stick? , 2002 .

[42]  Saonee Sarker,et al.  An Exploration into the Process of Requirements Elicitation: A Grounded Approach , 2010, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[43]  Georgios Paliouras,et al.  Web Usage Mining as a Tool for Personalization: A Survey , 2003, User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction.

[44]  Les Gasser,et al.  A Design Theory for Systems That Support Emergent Knowledge Processes , 2002, MIS Q..

[45]  Eleni Michopoulou,et al.  Performance measures of net-enabled hypercompetitive industries: The case of tourism , 2008, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[46]  W. Kim,et al.  Accommodating the needs of disabled hotel guests: Implications for guests and management , 2012 .

[47]  Eric Becker,et al.  Digital cities of the future: Extending @home assistive technologies for the elderly and the disabled , 2011, Telematics Informatics.

[48]  Dimitrios Buhalis,et al.  Best practice in accessible tourism : inclusion, disability, ageing population and tourism , 2012 .

[49]  Simon Darcy,et al.  The embodied tourist experiences of people with vision impairment: management implications beyond the visual gaze. , 2012 .

[50]  David Hutton.  Older people in emergencies : considerations for action and policy development , 2008 .

[51]  Hildegard Rumetshofer,et al.  Tourism Information Systems Promoting Barrier-Free Tourism for People with Disabilities , 2004, ICCHP.

[52]  Simon Darcy,et al.  Inherent complexity: Disability, accessible tourism and accommodation information preferences , 2010 .

[53]  Patrick T.I. Lam,et al.  Travel agents as facilitators or inhibitors of travel: perceptions of people with disabilities. , 2003 .

[54]  Wolfgang Drews,et al.  eTourism for All? Online Travel Planning of Disabled People , 2010, ENTER.

[55]  Francesco Ricci,et al.  E-commerce and tourism , 2004, CACM.