Customer rights

Accessible Tourism for All

In the pre-travel stage, which includes research and planning as well as booking and payment, tour operators can contribute significantly to reducing the pain points and barriers for people with disabilities. Barriers range from the lack of or limited availability of accessibility content in accessible formats on websites to a lack of common accessibility standards for the provision of content and services and clearly create significant problems for travelers at the time of assessing products and services appropriate for their specific needs. The inability to complete a purchase due to non-accessible websites results in frustration and loss of independence.

The British Travel Association provides guidance for persons with disabilities on its website, focusing on every stage of a journey. The website also provides information on legal rights of customers with disabilities.

Economic Aspects of Increasing Tourism among Older and Disabled People 

There is growing evidence that many of the current generation of older people are keen and frequent travellers. For the tourism industry this offers both challenges and opportunities.

Challenges are related to the specific wishes and needs of elderly customers – not only do they have specific needs in case of impaired mobility, hearing or vision, but they are generally following different wishes and objectives than other travellers. Opportunities lie in the potentially higher incomes elderly people have at their disposal for travelling and tourism. Furthermore, elderly people are often willing to travel off season. By providing accessible services, facilities and offers, tour operators can not only open up a so far rather underdeveloped market for elderly travellers, but also for travellers with disabilities.

Consumer Complaints by Tourists on the Rise 

In 2016, there has been a large increase in the number of complaints by tourists sent to the European Consumer Centre (ECC) in Iceland. In 2015, 175 complaints were processed, representing a 65 percent increase from the previous year.

Causes for the increase may be the related to the increasing flow of tourists or by increased consumer awareness of the ECC network.

The article highlights the example of a tourist who rented a car in Iceland and was involved in an accident. Even though he did not cause the accident and had his innocence confirmed in a police report, he was charged almost 600 Euro by the car rental for damages. After reporting the case to the ECC, the car rental issued the tourist a full refund.

Black Travel Advisor Representation

Being a travel agent, flipping through website after website and there's not one person of color can be frustrating and saddening at the same time. The lack of diversity in marketing and promotion results in people feeling unwelcomed or not included. 

LGBT travel index puts Sweden top, and warns against some popular destinations

Sweden has been named the most LGBT-friendly country in the world for travellers according to new research into gay rights in 150 countries. The LGBTQ+ Danger Index was created by ranking the 150 most-visited countries using eight factors, including legalised same-sex marriage, worker protection and whether, based on Gallup poll findings, it is a good place to live. Canada ranked second-safest, followed by Norway, Portugal and Belgium.