Title: The extent of accessibility of Indian regional tourism organisations' websites for persons with visual impairment: an exploratory study

Authors: Syed Ahmed Kabeer; Victor Anandkumar

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, PET Arts and Science College, Valliyur, 627 117, Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Management (Studies), Pondicherry University, Puducherry, 605 014, India

Abstract: The study's main objectives are to measure the current level of accessibility in the Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO) websites concerning persons with visual impairment (PWVI) using the automatic web accessibility evaluation tool (AWAET) and to study PWVI's perception towards accessibility in the RTO websites. Thus, it is a two-part study. The first part involves using AWAET and the second part engages PWVI as respondents, answering 22 key statements. The researcher applied the snowball sampling method and appropriate statistical tools for analysis. The results of AWAET reveal a mixed response, while the PWVI perceives a marginal level of accessibility in RTO websites. Lack of accessibility on their official websites may spoil the reputation of the RTO of the particular state. An access-friendly RTO website will attract more PWVI tourists and contribute to the region's development. Web accessibility is imperative for the digital inclusion of PWVI and ensuring equality and social justice.

Keywords: web accessibility; constructs of website accessibility; persons with visual impairment; RTO websites; web accessibility barrier scores; automatic web accessibility evaluation tool tourism websites; digital inclusion; web content accessibility guidelines.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2024.137156

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2024 Vol.14 No.2, pp.157 - 172

Received: 12 Jan 2023
Accepted: 29 Apr 2023
Published online: 04 Mar 2024 *

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