The paper “ElderWander: an accessible digital tourism platform for older adults”, co-authored by LASIGE researchers José Coelho, Diogo Lima and Carlos Duarte, was recently published in the international journal Information Technology & Tourism, a top-ranked journal in both Information Systems, Computer Science Applications and Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management.

This research addresses the challenge of creating inclusive technological solutions for the tourism sector, focusing on older adults. The authors present ElderWander, a digital platform designed to facilitate accessible trip planning through an intuitive location-based interface and a question-and-answer interaction model. The platform identifies tourist points of interest that meet strict physical accessibility criteria, promoting digital inclusion and autonomy among senior users.

The development of ElderWander was grounded in a master’s thesis by Rita Costa under the supervision of José Coelho and Carlos Duarte. The platform was validated through usability and accessibility testing with the target users, demonstrating its effectiveness and alignment with inclusive design principles.

This work highlights a new collaborative strength of ESHTE and LASIGE in producing applied research with significant potential for technological transfer and social impact. The platform represents an important step towards scalable technological solutions that support accessible tourism and foster greater inclusion in the digital age.

The paper is available here.