1. Our commitment
Emerging Travel News is committed to making its website usable by the widest possible audience, including readers who rely on assistive technologies. We have adopted Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA and EN 301 549 v3.2.1 as the technical baseline against which we measure our site.
This statement is published voluntarily. Emerging Travel News is a UK-based B2B editorial publication. The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 apply to public-sector bodies only and do not apply to us. As a private-sector service provider in the United Kingdom we operate within the framework of the Equality Act 2010 (in particular §20, the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled service users). We also voluntarily target WCAG 2.1 AA because we believe accessible design is industry best-practice for online publishers.
2. Compliance status
Based on the audit conducted on 13 May 2026 (carried out using axe-core 4.11.4, structural probing, and manual spot-checks across 10 representative pages), the website is currently partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 AA.
The most significant non-conformances at the time of this audit were:
- Links wrapping icons and image cards were missing accessible names (78 instances across the site). WCAG 1.1.1, 2.4.4, 4.1.2.
- Focusable transparent anchors on post thumbnails were hidden from assistive technology while remaining in the keyboard tab order (49 instances). WCAG 4.1.2.
- Several pieces of small overlay text rendered at a contrast ratio of 4.47:1 against their backgrounds, just below the 4.5:1 minimum (60 instances). WCAG 1.4.3.
- Default focus indicators were suppressed sitewide with no visible replacement. WCAG 2.4.7.
- Seven of ten index pages did not include a level-one heading. WCAG 1.3.1, 2.4.6.
A remediation roadmap is in progress. We aim to address all of the items above by 31 December 2027 and to re-publish a revised statement reflecting the corrected status at that point.
3. Standards we target
| Standard | Level | What it covers |
| WCAG 2.1 | AA | The international baseline for web content accessibility. |
| WCAG 2.2 | AA | Additional success criteria added in WCAG 2.2 (target size, focus appearance, etc.). We aim for AA conformance here as part of the next-stage roadmap. |
| EN 301 549 | v3.2.1 | The harmonised European accessibility standard for ICT products and services. |
4. How we test
- Automated rule-engine scans using axe-core 4.11.4 against the homepage, all category index pages, the About and Contact pages, and a sample of editorial articles.
- Structural / DOM probes for the failure classes the rule engine does not detect (page-title uniqueness, landmark structure, skip-link presence, form input labelling, focus visibility).
- Manual spot-checks using browser DevTools.
- Screen-reader passes using NVDA (Windows) and VoiceOver (macOS) — scheduled before the 31 December 2027 remediation deadline.
We re-run the automated portion of this audit after every significant change to the site template.
5. Known limitations
The following are known not to fully meet WCAG 2.1 AA at the time of writing. We are working on each, with the priority order set out in our remediation roadmap.
- Icon-only social links and the site logo link — these currently lack accessible names. Target fix: by 31 December 2027.
- Post-thumbnail click overlays — transparent anchors over post cards trigger 4.1.2 violations. Target fix: by 31 December 2027.
- Category-pill contrast — small white text on #777 grey is 4.47:1, just below the AA threshold. Target fix: by 31 December 2027.
- Focus visibility — the default browser focus ring is suppressed sitewide. A custom focus style is being added. Target fix: by 31 December 2027.
- Heading structure on index pages — several pages have no <h1> and some heading levels skip. Target fix: by 31 December 2027.
- Article landmark structure — article bodies are not wrapped in <main>. Target fix: by 31 December 2027.
6. Third-party content
Parts of the Emerging Travel News website embed content from third parties (LinkedIn, Facebook, X social embeds; image syndication via bne IntelliNews; analytics scripts). We do not control the accessibility of third-party embeds. Where we are aware of third-party accessibility issues that materially affect our readers, we will note them in this section.
At time of writing: no specific third-party-driven accessibility issues are tracked. If you encounter one, please contact us using the details below.
7. Feedback and contact
If you encounter an accessibility barrier on this website, or you would like to request information in an alternative format, please contact us:
- Email: info@emergingtravel.news
- Postal: 94 Tilehurst Road, Reading, England, RG30 2LU
- Response time: we aim to respond within 45 working days. If we cannot resolve the issue in that time we will tell you, and provide an updated timetable.
8. Enforcement procedure (United Kingdom)
Emerging Travel News is operated from the United Kingdom. As a private-sector service provider, our accessibility obligations sit under the Equality Act 2010 (in particular §20, the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled service users), not under the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (which apply to public-sector bodies only).
If you have contacted us about an accessibility barrier and you are not satisfied with our response, you may:
1. Contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which oversees compliance with the Equality Act 2010.
- Postal: Arndale House, The Arndale Centre, Manchester M4 3AQ, United Kingdom
- Telephone: +44 161 829 8100
- Web: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/
2. Seek free advice from the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) — the helpline that supports individuals who experience discrimination, including failures of accessibility.
- Telephone: 0808 800 0082 (textphone 0808 800 0084)
- Web: https://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/
3. Bring a claim in the County Court under section 119 of the Equality Act 2010 if you consider you have been treated unlawfully because of disability.
In Northern Ireland the equivalent body is the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (https://www.equalityni.org/).
9. Date of publication and review
- Statement first published: 20 May 2026 — date the operator publishes the statement]
- Last reviewed: [20 May 2026]
- Next planned review: by 31 December 2027, alongside the completion of the remediation roadmap. Thereafter, we will review the statement every 12 months or after any significant template change.
10. Note on language and future scope
This statement is published in English, the operating language of the website. If Emerging Travel News later launches non-English language editions, the statement should be translated but the structure and the section numbering preserved.
If Emerging Travel News later launches a paid subscription, gated premium reports, ticketed events, or any other e-commerce flow targeted at users in the European Union, the substantive scope of the European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 2(2)(f) — e-commerce services) would apply to those EU-facing flows. The statement structure above is already aligned with what an EAA-compliant statement looks like; the operator would then need to remove the “voluntary” framing in section 1 and add the relevant national transposition law for each EU Member State in which the e-commerce flow is offered.
This service was provided by AccessibilityRef.EU