Accessible tourism is emerging as one of the fastest-growing sectors within the travel industry. For a start, the segment size is huge. In 2023, World Health Organization indicated that across the world, there are 1.3 billion people who have some form of significant disability.
The financial value of this segment is substantial. In 2024, Open Doors Organization and The Harris Poll reported that U.S. persons with disabilities (PWDs) spent nearly US$50 billion on travel. As PWDs tend to go on trips with caregivers/ companions, their total economic contribution is estimated at over US$100 billion per year.
The Pre-Stay Challenge
Yet, despite the size and monetary value, this segment remains under-served. PWDs continue to face challenges in hotel rooms and other facilities. In fact, the difficulty begins even in the pre-stay stage.
PWDs are willing to pay for accessible accommodations. However, many hotels do not provide and promote accessibility-related information effectively.
Interviews with six PWDs in Singapore revealed that even if there is information, it lacks comprehensiveness. Thus, before finalising their booking decision, they have to call every hotel (that they are keen on) to seek clarification. For example, whether the property can accede to special requests such as increasing the brightness of corridor lights for guests with visual impairment.
Besides the lack of adequate information, there is the issue of accuracy. One incident that was recounted was this: It’s indicated on the website that there is braille on the (elevator) buttons … but when we arrived at the hotel, there’s no braille
.
To further investigate this phenomenon, a content analysis of 10 hotel websites was carried out. The hotels were the top 10 in Singapore, based on the listing in TripAdvisor during the research fieldwork period in 2024.
Each hotel’s website was examined to determine if it provides information on accessibility. The analysis covered home page, rooms page, facilities page, FAQ, and others. The hotels were coded as H1 to H10. The results are shown in the table below:
— Source: Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)
Summary of Results
- None of the 10 hotels has a dedicated page on accessibility.
- H9 does not provide any accessibility-related information at all.
- H5 displays some details on its home page; H4 lists wheelchair-accessible rooms in its rooms page.
- Three establishments (H1, H3 and H10) confine the information to a chatbot or “hotel policy” page.
- For H6, H7 and H8 that indicate accessible provisions on their facilities pages, there are limited and vague phrases such as “toilet with grab rails”. Only H7 clearly states the widths of its bedroom and washroom doors.
Gentle Reminder
It was established that PWDs often depend on online information in the decision-making of their bookings. Perhaps hotel personnel can visit their own website to see if they are able to locate and gather enough useful accessibility-related information.
Lee-Keng Ng
Associate Professor at Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)
Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)
