Accessibility as the requirement of the official websites. Analysis of the availability of the official tourist websites of the Spanish Mediterranean coast

Abstract

The design, development and maintenance of websites are parts of various separate disciplines that need to come together and be co-ordinated to ensure the sites’ usability, accessibility and navigability. These websites are developing at a dramatic pace, set by the fast development we have experienced, and are continuing to experience, in the area of information and communication technologies. However, it strikes the few studies that exist about this issue, particularly about accessibility.

An accessible website is one which all users can access, regardless of their abilities or contexts. Web accessibility is therefore an essential requirement for achieving one of the key principles under which the Net was born: universality that fulfils legal requirements in the public domain.

The article studies the accessibility of the official tourist websites which focus on the sun and beach products, as these are the main attractions for tourists in Spain, and are essential marketing tools for products and services.

It starts with the hypothesis that tourist destinations currently have official websites which do not fulfil the accessibility and legal requirements. The achieved results partly verify this hypothesis, and prove failure to take advantage of the benefits that the websites’ accessibility can offer: to enhance presence on the Internet and the widespread dissemination of its contents.