Flying solo: A review of the literature on wayfinding for older adults experiencing visual or cognitive decline

Accessible tourism is a growing market within the travel industry, but little research has focused on travel barriers for older adults who may be experiencing visual and cognitive decline as part of the normal aging process, illness, or other disabling conditions. Travel barriers, such as difficulty finding one's way throughout an airport, may adversely affect older adults' travel experience, thereby reducing their desire to travel. This review of the literature investigates wayfinding strategies to ensure that older passengers who have planned to travel independently can do so with dignity. These include facility planning and design strategies (e.g., layout, signage) and technological solutions. Although technological approaches, such as smart phone apps, appear to offer the most promising new solutions for enhancing airport navigation, more traditional approaches, such as designing facilities with an intuitive building layout, are still heavily relied upon in the aviation industry. While there are many design guidelines for enhancing wayfinding for older adults, many are not based on scientific investigation.