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Tourism and travel experiences are still highly restricted by physical accessibility barriers, such as: transportation constraints, inaccessible accommodation and tourism sites as well as information barriers such as a general lack of information or poorly designed web sites. The tourism industry has on the one hand neglected to provide information about accessibility and on the other hand to adopt inclusive design principles. This is because of lack of enforcement of statutory building regulations, lack of knowledge and misperception about disabled and elderly customers’ actual requirements, and social segregation and stereotype challenges of catering for disabled and elderly customers.

In addition the accessibility requiring market is significant in terms of size as well as spending power. It has been estimated that over 750 million people worldwide have some type of disability. The OSSATE project has estimated the number of people with accessibility requirements in Europe to almost 130 million, when including the elderly as there is a strong and positive correlation between ageing and disability. To address the accessibility requiring market and benefit from the multiplier effects generated by friends and relatives travelling with them tourism organisations and destinations should reassure accessibility in both their physical/built and on-line environments.

The Special Thematic Session on Accessible Tourism is organized to provide a forum to discuss major issues related to Accessible Tourism, to identify existing barriers as well as technologies, strategies and approaches to promote Accessible Tourism. The Accessible Tourism section of ICCHP invites papers from all aspects across a wide spectrum of Information and Communications Technologies and accessible tourism. The Special Thematic Session particularly invites tourism-hospitality-leisure related papers on usages of

• eTourism and disability
• Accessible Tourism websites and accessible Tourism Information Systems (TIS)
• Accessibility information in modern TIS
• Accessible Travel and Leisure holidays
• Accessibility information / guidelines / audits for tourism products
• Usability and user-interface studies
• Economic evaluations of Accessible Tourism
• Technologies and applications supporting Accessible Tourism
• eAccessibility,
• Universal Design and usability
• eInclusion
• Case studies of eTourism applications for the disabled markets, as well as
• the usage of technology for facilitating disabled tourists before and during their visit

are particularly welcome.

Selected contributions to STS might be invited to publish an extended version of their paper in a special issue of the

 Journal of Information Technology & Tourism

on the subject "Usability and Accessibility in E-Tourism - Better Services for New Clients". More information will be published, soon.

Chairs:

Franz Pühretmair, Competence network information technology to support the integration of people with disabilities, (KI-I), AT

  Kerstin Matausch, Institut Integriert Studieren, University of Linz, AT
 

  Dimitrios Buhalis, International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research, Bournemouth University, UK

Submission: 

Contributions to the STS have to be submitted using the standard submission procedures of ICCHP at:
https://secure.icchp.org/tool/login.htm
When submitting your contribution please make sure to select this STS under "STS/Session".
Contributions to the STS are evaluated by the Programme Commitee of ICCHP and by the chair(s) of the STS.
Please get in contact with the STS chairs for discussing your involvement and pre-evaluation of your contribution.
Submission Deadline: February 1, 2010