Findings from our Fieldwork

Amidst Europe’s sun-drenched vineyards, a quiet revolution is brewing aiming to make agrotourism not just picturesque, but also profoundly inclusive. The DigAccessAgrotourism project, funded under the EU Single Market Programme, is empowering rural tourism stakeholders across Poland, Cyprus, Italy, Portugal, and Greece to embrace digital tools for improved accessibility, particularly for persons with disabilities.

This is more than a digital transition; it’s a transformation in how the sector sees its future where rural tourism isn’t just beautiful, but welcoming for all.

Listening First: What We Learned from the Field

Through a robust mixed-methods field study involving 22 Enabling Organisations (EOs) and 113 SMEs, our research revealed both shared and localised challenges in digital readiness and accessibility.

The findings were eye-opening:

• Awareness of accessibility remains largely superficial: often limited to physical mobility and rarely extending to digital inclusion or sensory needs.
• Staff turnover and limited training budgets mean many rural SMEs are trapped in a cycle where new employees never receive the support needed to understand or implement accessibility standards.
• Funding remains elusive, with accessibility upgrades often seen as a luxury rather than an investment, especially when visitor numbers from people with disabilities remain low due to lack of transparent information.
• Digital knowledge is minimal, yet the desire to learn is strong. SMEs and EOs alike asked for simple, hands-on workshops tailored to their actual needs and not abstract policy briefs or theoretical toolkits.
• Local context matters: From the amphitheatric terrain of Cypriot villages to the tech-savvy cooperatives of Italy, each country’s needs are shaped by geography, policy, and cultural norms.

Despite these barriers, we found an enormous appetite for change a readiness among rural actors to embrace accessibility not as a compliance burden, but as a way to diversify tourism, lengthen the season, and serve their communities more ethically.

From Challenges to Change: What We’re Building

To bridge these gaps, the DigAccessAgrotourism Framework proposes a dual-level solution:

1. At the transnational level, we’re offering core capacity-building sessions for EOs and advanced SMEs, introducing assistive technologies, peer learning tools, and compliance with EU standards
2. At the national level, we co-create Individual Digital Development Plans for SMEs that provide tailored support informed by their actual needs, budget, staff, and regional realities. This includes mentoring, training in inclusive content creation, virtual tours, AI chatbots, QR-enabled guides, and more.

We also promote peer exchanges with civil society groups focused on disabilities, support for accessing funding schemes, and even hackathons to rapidly prototype accessibility solutions.

The Innovation Outcomes Matrix, a central deliverable of the Framework, links real needs with real tools — mapping how each training, service, or digital tool contributes to specific learning outcomes and accessibility gains.

Accessibility Is More Than a Ramp

Digital accessibility isn’t about technology alone. It’s about empathy in design, consistency in communication, and trust in tourism experience. Whether through a screen reader-friendly website or a video tutorial created by people with disabilities themselves, the goal is not to tick the box, but to open the door.

As our work shows, when EOs and SMEs are given the right tools and tailored support, they begin to reframe accessibility as a competitive advantage. A clear accessibility page, an immersive VR trail for hard-to-reach areas, or an inclusive booking chatbot not only serve persons with disabilities, but they also benefit all travellers, especially older adults, families, and international visitors.