Title: Quality, accessibility and destination marketing: the case of US states' tourism websites

Authors: Charletta F. Gutierrez

Addresses: Department of Accounting, Business Law and Finance, College of Business and Management, Northeastern Illinois University, 5500 N. St. Louis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60625, USA

Abstract: Many US states depend on tourists to bring in revenue. These same states use the internet as a major tool for providing information to such tourists about local travel opportunities. However, many of these web pages may not be accessible to individuals using disability-related accessibility technology. This research evaluates the official tourism web pages maintained by the individual states within the US for accessibility (within the guidelines of Section 508) and the quality of the presentation. It is shown that neither the accessibility nor the quality of these web pages has improved from November 2005 to April 2007.

Keywords: website accessibility; ADA; Americans with Disabilities Act; destination marketing; disability; information management; tourism websites; usability; web design; USA; United States; local travel opportunities; tourist information; information quality; website quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIIM.2010.030706

International Journal of Intercultural Information Management, 2010 Vol.2 No.1, pp.1 - 15

Published online: 31 Dec 2009 *

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