Accessibility in Inclusive Tourism? Hotels Distributed through Online Channels

There is a lack of comprehensive international studies on accommodations for people with disabilities; only small, local-level studies exist. This study aims to show the status of the tourist accommodation sector through the online distribution channel in terms of accessibility to offer more inclusi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Societies (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-06, Vol.11 (2), p.34
Main Authors: Martin-Fuentes, Eva, Mostafa-Shaalan, Sara, Mellinas, Juan Pedro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access
Accessibility
Adaptation
Booking.com
Disabilities
Disability
Distribution channels
Handicapped accessibility
Hotels
Hotels & motels
inclusive tourism
International studies
Internet
Mobility
People with disabilities
Society
Tourism
Tourists
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Summary:There is a lack of comprehensive international studies on accommodations for people with disabilities; only small, local-level studies exist. This study aims to show the status of the tourist accommodation sector through the online distribution channel in terms of accessibility to offer more inclusive tourism. A descriptive analysis has been carried out with more than 31,000 hotels from the online travel agency Booking.com, in the 100 most touristic cities in the world. For the first time, an accurate picture of adaptation in the hotel sector for people with disabilities is presented. Results show that the adapted hotel infrastructures by countries are uneven. The main adaptations are those that help to avoid mobility barriers, and in contrast, hotels offer very few adaptations for sensory disabilities such as visual disabilities. Moreover, this study shows that, worldwide, countries with the highest income per capita, such as the United States of America, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Qatar or the United Arab Emirates, have the highest degree of hotel adaptation.
ISSN:2075-4698
2075-4698
DOI:10.3390/soc11020034