The Role of Social Media Tools: Accessible Tourism for Disabled Citizens

Introduction Information and technology becomes bridge to foster usability, accessibility and equality of the citizens. Societies has intensified need to gain services for accessibility to the travel and tourism opportunities that this requires information, effort and desire. Especially, people with disabilities in the world need for easy access to proceed their lives in equality and usability standards. As travel is a key for continuing globalization to gain information for the development, tourism activities of the societies play a great role in providing accessibility and broadening accessibility for all citizens. For the welfare of the society, accessibility is crucial element for the disabled citizens where literature pays attention on physical and web accessibility for societal and institutional services (Chadwick et al., 2013). In a concrete practice of tourism services and accessibility, in 1980 Manila (Philippines), tourism and accessibility were first merged through Manila Declaration, and later pursued by the World Tourism Organisation. This indicates that tourism become an essential right and crucial for human development. It is a way of social development of disabled citizens and welfare of the society upon tourism economy. This significant right should be supported by governmental policy and needs to be recommended as a regulation for tourist services. There is a concrete attempt for the tourism services accessibility for all citizens. Significantly, web technologies and services within a term of unobstructed information technologies services for social and academic development of disabled citizens become vital empowerment of caring the needs and expectations of those citizens for gaining benefit from societal and institutional services within the society. Facilitating access in terms of infrastructure and tourism services for disabled people is the part of accessible tourism (Alen, Dominguez, & Losada, 2012). In this respect, activities with technology enhanced environment are crucial for the accessible tourism. Accessible tourism covers a variety of activities within free time to tourism. It relies on making people with restricted capacities and fully integrate their functional and psychological thoughts and actions for the individual satisfaction and social development (Alen, Dominguez, & Losada, 2012). Those accessible activities and technology enhanced services provide inclusion and socialisation which are very significant development indicators for disabled people. Being part of the society and active involvement to the societal and institutional services becomes primary right of the disabled citizens within all societies. In addition, UNWTO (2005) points out that accessible tourism is a collaborative process that provides people with access and mobility. This makes equity and dignity through the delivery of tourism services. Within the digital age, technology supported attempts also effect preferences and choices of all individuals which technology and social media also shape choice. Furthermore, changes through information technology and global world standards activate the travellers to become more independent, experienced, and flexible for accessible and reliable information (Buhalis, 1998; Buhalis et al., 2011). Dominguez et al. (2015) adds a value on the work to incorporate disability within tourism policy, planning and development. In addition, developing countries need creation of policy to support tourism services and institutional services through proactive implementation on web accessibility within a master plan. The report of the European Union argues that tourism industry has started to pay attention on a significant consumer group as disabled tourists. Furthermore, social media and networking tools create alternative platforms where people interact freely and easily exchange information (Buhalis et al., 2011; Fotis et al., 2012; Gretzel et al. …