Ensuring Hospitality and Tourism Organisations’ Websites Are Accessible to All

Abstract

<jats:p>Research shows that hospitality and tourism organisations overlook the importance of website accessibility and their information remains inaccessible to a growing market of people with disabilities (Singh et al., 2021). International standards, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 (https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/) developed by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), provide an effective means to identify and remedy website accessibility issues. Our study evaluated Chinese tour operators' websites for their compliance with WCAG 2.0 Guidelines. The findings confirmed that greater attention is needed to provide accessible website information for Chinese tourists visiting New Zealand; a key visitor market that is increasingly characterised by an ageing population and higher prevalence of disabilities. Website accessibility benefits people who have physical, sensory, intellectual, and other disabilities. Information is essential to this group of potential visitors for pre-trip planning, and crucially, in assessing the accessibility of hospitality or tourism organisations’ offerings. Four main principles form the basis of website accessibility and are stipulated in the WCAG 2.0 Guidelines: 1) Perceivable: Ensuring the website provides information in multiple sensory formats, such as providing alternative text for images, captions for videos, and enhancing the ease of seeing and hearing content by using high-contrast colours and font types to enhance the visibility and audibility of content. 2) Operable: Ensuring the website supports navigation of content by keyboard without a mouse, such as providing keyboard shortcuts. 3) Understandable: Ensuring the website’s content is easy to understand by using a consistent layout, maintaining uniform colour contrasts and fonts, and centralising the navigation bar to help users locate and interact with the website. 4) Robust: Ensuring the website is adaptable for various assistive technologies, such as screen readers and magnifiers (Caldwell et al., 2008). Our study applied these four principles to evaluate the accessibility of the websites of seven Chinese tour operators identified as Tourism New Zealand’s preferred partners in China (Sohu, 2018). For the principle of ‘perceivable,’ some websites lacked alternative text for images, videos, and audio, which could render content difficult to access by users with disabilities. Regarding ‘operable,’ challenges included limited keyboard shortcuts and inconsistent navigation structures that hinder the usability of websites for people with limited/hand functions who rely on keyboard navigation instead of the mouse. By contrast, the websites generally did well in terms of being ‘understandable,’ with clear instructions and consistent layout, and ‘robust’, as all but one of the websites were compatible with assistive technologies, e.g. allowing screen readers to interpret webpage content accurately. The accuracy of the webpage content was achieved by providing well-structured HTML sectioning elements, e.g., header, nav, and main. Implementing the four accessibility principles is crucial to ensure that websites can be accessed by all, including people with disabilities. Further enhancements may include using accessibility symbols and icons to denote accessibility features and setting up a dedicated accessibility information page on the website. Importantly, integrating reviews from people with disabilities who have used the organisation’s services can help others find the information they need more quickly and efficiently. By complying with international accessibility standards and considering the accessibility of their websites, hospitality and tourism organisations can reach a wider audience and demonstrate social responsibility.</jats:p>