A Multidisciplinary User-Centered Approach
to Designing an Information Platform
for Accessible Tourism: Understanding User
Needs and Motivations
Pedro Teixeira
1
, Joana Alves
1
, Tiago Correia
2
, Leonor Teixeira
3(B )
,
Celeste Eusébio
4
, Samuel Silva
2
, and António Teixeira
2
1
Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism,
University of Aveiro, 3010-193 Aveiro, Portugal
{pmiguel,joanapimentelalves}@ua.pt
2
Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro, Department of Electronics,
Telecommunications and Informatics, University of Aveiro, 3010-193 Aveiro, Portugal
{tcorreia,sss,ajst}@ua.pt
3
Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro, Department of Economics,
Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro,
3010-193 Aveiro, Portugal
lteixeira@ua.pt
4
Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies, Department of Economics, Management,
Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, 3010-193 Aveiro, Portugal
celeste.eusebio@ua.pt
Abstract. The present work aims to expand knowledge on user needs and the
motivations of people with disabilities (PwD) in order to create a technologi-
cal solution for addressing barriers in the accessible tourism market. For this, a
user-centered design was followed, putting PwD at the center of the development
process. This was obtained by identifying personas and scenarios contributing to
a better depiction of the potential users, clearly describing their requirements and
accessibility needs. For obtaining the characterization of personas, a comprehen-
sive study in the area of accessible tourism, involving various tourism stakeholders
was performed. The methods applied to collect the data were questionnaires, inter-
views and two focus groups with PwD. Two personas are presented in this article,
illustrating the needs and motivations of two groups of PwD. In addition, two sce-
narios concerning the personas were also elaborated, showing how a technological
solution can help the integration in tourism activities.
Keywords: Accessible tourism · User-centered design · Visitors with disabilities
1 Introduction
Information is a crucial resource in accessible tourism [1], transmitting more security
and confidence to people with special needs (PwSN) during decision-making processes
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Antona and C. Stephanidis (Eds.): HCII 2021, LNCS 12768, pp. 136–150, 2021.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78092-0_9