Accesible tourism and disability service information provided on leading airline websites: A content analysis

Ph.D. Matthew Lee Smith, Ph.D. ?ricka Amorim and Ph.D. Jorge Umbelino

International Journal for Responsible Tourism, 2013, vol. 2, issue 4, 7-23

Abstract: The global population is aging, and older adults have more chronic conditions and disabilities relative to their younger counterparts. Aging and disabled populations have limitations associated with physical functioning, cognitive impairment, and loss of sense functioning. This group of people travelers represents an interesting segment in the tourism industry; however, the current market offers inadequate products and services to meet their needs and demands. The inability and unpreparedness of the touristic infrastructure to offer these necessary services compromises the quality of the tourism experience. The primary purpose of this study was to assess the content provided on official websites of major airline carriers as related to information, services, and resources to accommodate aging and disabled travelers. Airlines were selected for meeting one of the following criteria, ranked as: (1) one of the 10 best airlines; (2) one of the leading 10 airlines in terms of safety ratings; and (3) one of the leading 10 airlines in terms of lowest cost. The results show that many airlines did not provide adequate information. It is also important to notice that the safest/securest airlines were frequently those who reported most disability-related content on their websites

Keywords: touristic offer; accessible tourism; airline; website (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M13 Q59 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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