Mobile applications for accessible tourism: overview, challenges and a proposed platform

Fernando Reinaldo Ribeiro (), Arlindo Silva (), Fernando Barbosa (), Ana Paula Silva () and José Carlos Metrôlho ()
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Fernando Reinaldo Ribeiro: Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco
Arlindo Silva: Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco
Fernando Barbosa: Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco
Ana Paula Silva: Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco
José Carlos Metrôlho: Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco

Information Technology & Tourism, 2018, vol. 19, issue 1, No 2, 29-59

Abstract: Abstract In the Travel and Tourism sector, mobile applications could do much more than simply provide information about specific locations or recommend places and itineraries based on the user location. They could leverage a wide range of technologies to be aware of the interests and specific needs of disabled tourists, providing them with appropriate and tailored information. This information should be presented using appropriate interaction mechanisms, able to help this specific, but large, group of the population in their everyday tourist activities, thus contributing to even more accessible tourism and travel activities. We present an overview of mobile applications that, in some perspective, may be used to support people with disabilities in their tourist activities. This overview allows us to explore the key challenges involved and some available alternatives, as well as to identify their positive aspects. However, it also underlines some issues that could be addressed more carefully and extensively in the application ecosystem. We also present some preliminary recommendations for a collaborative and personalized system framework to support people with disabilities in their tourist and travel activities. Ongoing work on a first prototype has already given us valuable insights into the identified challenges and we expect it to be a major step towards a more formal specification of our platform, as well as its development and test.

Keywords: Accessible tourism; Collaboration and sharing; Disabled tourists; Personalization; Preference elicitation; Recommendation systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s40558-018-0110-2

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