Enhancing learning experience of the disabled: An accessible tourism platform

The purpose of the study is to propose a completely barrier-less, or “accessible” tourism platform and makes suggestions to facilitate current travel information for disabled persons. Drawing on in-depth interviews with tourism industry representatives and academics, and applying Long Tail theory’s three “forces” and nine “rules”, the study makes assessments as to the viability of the disabled tourism niche, creating an accessible tourism communication network to connect upstream and downstream travel agencies in a Web 2.0 environment. Web 2.0 is an appropriate platform that can be seen as a launching pad or accelerator to share knowledge between business and customer, as well as customer and customer. This platform can provide adoptive learning experiences and behavioural enhancements. This study sets up an accessible tourism communications network based on Web 2.0 concepts, contributing a real platform that travel agents can refer to as they take their first steps to provide travel packages that accommodate the needs of the disabled, a previously marginally represented group in the sustainable tourism literature.