Accessible tourism does not begin when people reach their destination, but much earlier: when someone looks for information, checks whether a facility truly meets their needs and tries to understand whether they will be able to enjoy an experience independently and safely.

This is one of the main messages that emerged from the final event of DATIS – Digital Pioneers of Accessible Tourism, a project funded by the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia 2021-2027 Programme, held on Tuesday 19 May 2026 at the Grand Hotel Entourage in Gorizia. The event, entitled Accessible tourism starts with accessible information, provided an opportunity to present the results to tourism and social-sector operators, institutions, organisations representing people with disabilities, researchers and accessibility experts from Italy and Slovenia.

In this process, the University of Trieste played a central role through its Department of Political and Social Sciences, contributing to the development of the project’s scientific basis and to the analysis of the real needs of the people involved. The research coordinated by UniTS collected more than 400 questionnaires from people with disabilities, interviewed online and in person, and explored the topic further through interviews and focus groups with around 50 people with visual, cognitive and mental disabilities, as well as operators, caregivers and family members.

The work was led for UniTS by Moreno Zago, Professor of Responsible Tourism Practices, with the support of the Quolity team, composed of Luca Bianchi, Marta Candussi and Francesca Samogizio. The University’s contribution made it possible to translate data, experiences and testimonies into useful guidance for tourism operators, institutions and local communities, with the aim of designing more accessible services, more reliable information and genuinely inclusive pathways.

Through a cross-border sample survey, in-depth interviews with people with disabilities, and analyses of accommodation facilities and tourism websites, DATIS connected physical, digital and communication accessibility, highlighting how decisive the quality of information is in making travel a truly possible and inclusive experience.

One figure shows the relevance of the issue particularly clearly: for more than 90 per cent of people with motor, sensory, cognitive or age-related disabilities, travelling is considered quite or very important. Travel is not only a leisure activity, but an experience that contributes to physical and mental well-being, strengthens autonomy and self-confidence, and helps counter social isolation.

At the same time, barriers continue to limit the right to travel for all. These are not only physical obstacles, but also incomplete, poorly readable or unreliable information, which can generate “false accessibility”: facilities or services presented as accessible, but not actually suited to people’s needs. Although respondents generally reported being treated respectfully, only 17 per cent of the people involved considered staff adequately prepared to respond to the needs and expectations of people with disabilities.

Digital tools are now one of the main gateways to travel: almost 60 per cent of the people involved use online tools to organise their tourism experiences. However, one third of the sample avoided choosing a destination precisely because of the lack of accessible information online. Complex navigation, poorly readable texts, lack of inclusive support tools and inaccessible content can become barriers as concrete as an architectural obstacle.

The analysis carried out as part of DATIS on 100 tourism websites in the cross-border area confirmed this critical issue: many portals are visually modern and technically structured, but still not fully usable by everyone. The average level of digital accessibility detected was 37 per cent for Slovenian tourism operators and 40 per cent for Italian operators.

The project’s results also include the DATIS web database, designed to make information on the digital accessibility of tourism operators in the cross-border area more visible and verifiable, together with guidelines and a strategy for more accessible tourism communication. These are useful tools both for people planning their journey and for operators seeking to improve the quality and clarity of the information they provide.

Specific attention was also given to pilot activities carried out at the Museums of Monte San Michele in Sagrado and the Museum of Industrial Heritage in Ajdovščina, involving people with visual, cognitive and mental disabilities. The pilot activities showed how immersive technologies, digital accessibility and multisensory content can transform cultural heritage into a more inclusive experience, provided that the solutions are simple, accessible and accompanied by adequate human support.

The direct involvement of people with disabilities is one of the central elements to emerge from the project. Accessible solutions cannot be designed solely on the basis of formal standards or technical checks, but must be built through listening to users, co-design and the concrete evaluation of experiences.