Web accessibility and inclusivity of tourist destinations at social media management. An intercultural analysis of Andalusia and Northern Morocco

Abstract

Tourists with disabilities, representing approximately 15% of the world's population, especially need everything planned for their tourist experiences. Therefore, the contents and level of digital accessibility are vital and significantly impact the final decision to travel to one destination. This work analyses a total of 165 digital contents (152 in Andalusia and 13 corresponding to Northern Morocco) from the perspective of web accessibility and inclusive communication in social media. The method used is multidisciplinary, carrying out a series of analyses through the statistical language R, TAW as an online tool to analyse the website's accessibility and synthesise guidelines for communicating inclusively in social networks. The main results show the scarce involvement of public bodies in inclusive communication and digital accessibility, designing content from the universal design perspective. There is no substantial difference between the two regions studied, identifying that European legislation and national regulatory framework in Andalusia's case do not favour a better level of web accessibility, although this is a mandatory aspect. Furthermore, very few differences have been noted in analysing the level of Smart Tourism Destinations when accessibility is fundamental in their conceptualisation. Finally, this research can be identified as state-of-the-art in tourism marketing as a conceptual approach and a starting point for measuring inclusive communication in social networks. Nowadays, accessible tourism is an opportunity to be placed at the centre of recovery plans in the post-COVID-19 era. Therefore, let us facilitate more inclusive societies, using tourism as a lever to achieve this goal.