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Accessibility Statement

Accessibility statement for VisitBritain.com

This website is run by The British Tourist Authority trading as VisitBritain. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts using in-browser settings
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible is this website?

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • you cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some images and call to action buttons might not have descriptive textual alternative
  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within ten days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

VisitBritain is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some images do not have a text alternative, so users with a screen reader cannot access this information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

We plan to add text alternatives for all images by September 2020. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Some text does not have sufficient colour contrast, so users with low vision may have difficulties separating foreground from background. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)

We plan to change the colour contrast by September 2020. When we publish new elements we will make sure they meet accessibility standards for contrast.

Some of our hyperlinks are missing a meaningful description, so users with a screen reader might have challenges in understanding the meaning of content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose

We plan to add descriptive text by September 2020. When we publish new content we will make sure they meet accessibility standards.

It’s not possible for users to change text size without some of the content overlapping. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (resize text).

We plan to make text size change possible by September 2020. When we publish new elements we will make sure they meet accessibility standards.

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions

We plan to add form labels by September 2020. When we publish new elements we will make sure they meet accessibility standards.

Some of our interactive elements like maps are not accessible for users with a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content

We plan to recreate the content to be accessible or provide an on page alternative by September 2020. When we publish new elements we will make sure they meet accessibility standards.

Disproportionate burden

We believe that none of the accessibility requirements present a disproportionate burden for our organization and because of it, we are working on resolving all of the non-compliances by September 2020.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents which were published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix PhotographyGuideEditionTwo.pdf.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

Live video streams do not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions - live).

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

How we tested this website

This website was last tested on 28th of September, 2019. The test was carried out by using an accessibility testing tool - Monsido.

We tested our main website platform, available at https://www.visitbritain.com/

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are continuously working to improve our website and make it more accessible.
We have identified the challenges and are working to resolve them by September 2020.

This statement was prepared on 23rd September 2019. It was last updated on 30th September 2019.