TOWARDS AN INCLUSIVE TOURISM EXPERIENCE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: ACCESSIBILITY, SERVICES AND THE EUROPEAN ACCESSIBILITY ACT
Type of paper: Methodological/Analytical Paper
Author
KYRIAKOS TSELEGIDIS
Corresponding AuthorAffiliation: University of West Attica
Email: ktselegk@hotmail.gr
How to Cite
TSELEGIDIS, K. (2026). TOWARDS AN INCLUSIVE TOURISM EXPERIENCE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: ACCESSIBILITY, SERVICES AND THE EUROPEAN ACCESSIBILITY ACT. CACTUS - Journal of Tourism Business, Management and Economics, 8 (2).
© 2026 The Author(s);
Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
Abstract
The European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) has applied through national implementing measures since 28 June 2025 to specified products and services relevant to travel. This paper examines the relationship between those legal duties and the conditions required for an inclusive tourism experience. It combines doctrinal analysis of EU and international instruments with a purposive, non-systematic synthesis of 14 peer-reviewed tourism studies, selected for their relevance to accessibility, digital information and the traveler journey. The provisions of the Directive are mapped against five stages of travel and distinguished from technical-standard provisions and voluntary management measures. The assessment identifies concentrated regulatory coverage in e-commerce and selected passenger-transport functions, but no general EU-wide physical-accessibility regime for accommodation and attractions under the Act. It develops a three-level interpretive framework separating regulatory accessibility, functional accessibility and lived inclusion, and specifies different units of assessment and forms of evidence for each level. Particular attention is given to EN 301 549 V4.1.1 (2026), its adoption of WCAG 2.2 and its status relative to standards cited in EU law. The paper offers an approach to evaluating accessibility across interconnected tourism services without treating managerial recommendations as legal obligations or conceptual findings as empirically validated outcomes.
Keywords
JEL Classification
References
AccessibleEU Centre. (2026, September 7). The European accessibility standard EN 301 549 has been updated. European Commission. https://accessible-eu-centre.ec.europa.eu/content-corner/news/european-accessibility-standard-en-301-549-has-been-updated-2026-09-07_en
Buhalis, D., & Michopoulou, E. (2011). Information-enabled tourism destination marketing: Addressing the accessibility market. Current Issues in Tourism, 14(2), 145–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683501003653361
Cassia, F., Castellani, P., Rossato, C., & Baccarani, C. (2020). Finding a way towards high-quality, accessible tourism: The role of digital ecosystems. The TQM Journal, 33(1), 205–221. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-03-2020-0062
Darcy, S. (2010). Inherent complexity: Disability, accessible tourism and accommodation information preferences. Tourism Management, 31(6), 816–826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2009.08.010
Darcy, S., & Dickson, T. J. (2009). A whole-of-life approach to tourism: The case for accessible tourism experiences. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 16(1), 32–44. https://doi.org/10.1375/jhtm.16.1.32
Darcy, S., McKercher, B., & Schweinsberg, S. (2020). From tourism and disability to accessible tourism: A perspective article. Tourism Review, 75(1), 140–144. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-07-2019-0323
Devile, E., & Kastenholz, E. (2018). Accessible tourism experiences: The voice of people with visual disabilities. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, 10(3), 265–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/19407963.2018.1470183
Domínguez Vila, T., Alén González, E., & Darcy, S. (2018). Website accessibility in the tourism industry: An analysis of official national tourism organization websites around the world. Disability and Rehabilitation, 40(24), 2895–2906. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2017.1362709
Eichhorn, V., Miller, G., Michopoulou, E., & Buhalis, D. (2008). Enabling access to tourism through information schemes? Annals of Tourism Research, 35(1), 189–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2007.07.005
European Commission. (2021a). Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1339 of 11 August 2021 amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/2048 as regards the harmonised standard for websites and mobile applications. Official Journal of the European Union, L 289, 53–55. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/1339/oj
European Commission. (2021b). Union of Equality: Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021–2030 (COM(2021) 101 final). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52021DC0101
European Commission. (2023). Towards a common European tourism data space: Boosting data sharing and innovation across the tourism ecosystem (2023/C 263/01). Official Journal of the European Union, C 263, 1–13. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52023XC0726(01)
European Parliament & Council of the European Union. (2016). Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies. Official Journal of the European Union, L 327, 1–15. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2016/2102/oj
European Parliament & Council of the European Union. (2019). Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services. Official Journal of the European Union, L 151, 70–115. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/882/oj
European Telecommunications Standards Institute, European Committee for Standardization, & European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization. (2026). Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services (EN 301 549 V4.1.1, 2026-09). https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/301500_301599/301549/04.01.01_60/en_301549v040101p.pdf
Eusébio, C., Teixeira, L., Teixeira, P., Caneiro, M. J., Lemos, D., & Silveiro, A. (2023). The state of web accessibility for tourists with disabilities: A comparative study between different tourism supply agents. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 18(1), 17–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/17483107.2021.1941313
Gillovic, B., & McIntosh, A. (2020). Accessibility and inclusive tourism development: Current state and future agenda. Sustainability, 12(22), Article 9722. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229722
Michopoulou, E., Darcy, S., Ambrose, I., & Buhalis, D. (2015). Accessible tourism futures: The world we dream to live in and the opportunities we hope to have. Journal of Tourism Futures, 1(3), 179–188. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-08-2015-0043
Qiao, G., Ding, L., Zhang, L.-L., & Yan, H. (2022). Accessible tourism: A bibliometric review (2008–2020). Tourism Review, 77(3), 713–730. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-12-2020-0619
Rubio-Escuderos, L., García-Andreu, H., Michopoulou, E., & Buhalis, D. (2024). Perspectives on experiences of tourists with disabilities: Implications for their daily lives and for the tourist industry. Tourism Recreation Research, 49(1), 48–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2021.1981071
Sugden, N., Lewis, C., Small, F., & Wood, M. (2026). Experiences of consuming and supplying accessible tourism for people with disabilities: A scoping review and agenda for future research. Tourism Management Perspectives, 63, Article 101511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2026.101511
United Nations. (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.https://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convention_accessible_pdf.pdf
World Wide Web Consortium. (2023). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/REC-WCAG22-20231005/