Europe’s leading Accessible Travel organisation, Tourism For all UK is teaming up with the global travel community on Tripbod.com.  The aim is to find as many local people as possible with a knowledge of accessibility in their area to become ‘Tripbods’ and offer their local knowledge to visitors.  Tourism For All’s Carrie-Ann Fleming, says “it’s all about empowering truly independent travel. Connecting with a like-minded local Tripbod before you arrive means you get straight to the knowledge source you need. Disabled people already have all the knowledge they need gained from experiences, good or bad, to offer others with similar concerns invaluable local travel advice and information.”  Tripbod’s founder Sally Broom points out that every product listed on Tripbod has an accessibility rating.

The announcement comes within days of Easyjet hitting the news for two cases of discrimination against disabled travellers and Broom acknowledges the timeliness of the partnership. “These cases reflect poorly on the travel industry and we want to show another side of the story. 2012 is a massive year for travel in the UK and it would be both a shame and a failure if visitors are unable to enjoy fully their visit due to poor information.

Fleming adds, “The initial focus of the partnership will be on recruiting Tripbods in the UK with a knowledge of local accessibility, but the existing Tripbod network is global and we are welcoming everyone everywhere with a passion for independent accessible travel to join us. What’s more, we will be offering simple and effective training for Tripbods who want to help disabled travellers but need a bit more advice and support.”

Anyone interested to learn more can visit www.tripbod.com/accessibletravel
or email hello@tripbod.com.

According to Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission, not only is making tourism more accessible a social responsibility, but there is also a compelling business case to boost the competitiveness of tourism in Europe.   Why? The population in Europe is aging: by 2050 the number of people aged over 65 will triple that of 2003 and the over-80 will be 5 times more numerous that they are at the moment.  This represents a huge market potential which today remains vastly under-served. Worldwide the number of people with impairments accounts for 600-900 million, representing a significant potential market for Europe.   Many examples show that by implementing basic adjustments to a facility, providing accurate information, and understanding the needs of disabled people, an increased number of visitors has resulted.  Also, improving the accessibility of tourism services increases the  quality and enjoyment for all tourists.  The European Commission is committed to mainstream accessibility in tourism by:

• raising awareness, sensitizing stakeholders and economic operators in the tourism sector
• gathering knowledge about demand from travellers with special access needs
• identifying options to improve the offer of accessible tourism services

The Commission has a publication on improving information on accessible tourism for people with disabilities.  It also has a programme called Calypso which aims to facilitate tourism access for groups for which going on holiday represents a difficult or even impossible undertaking.

Two new text books on accessible tourism are available through the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) from Channel View Publications. The first is “Concepts and Issues” (eds: Dimitrios Buhalis and Simon Darcy), which sets out to  explore and document the current theoretical approaches, foundations and issues  in the study of accessible tourism.  Professor Nigel Morgan, The Welsh Centre for Tourism Research states that this volume harnesses “the best conceptual  developments on the topic” and that it will “take accessible tourism and universal design debates into the mainstream of academic enquiryand industry practice“

The second volume is “Best Practice in Accessible Tourism” (eds: Buhalis, Darcy, and Ivor Ambrose).  It focuses on policy and best practice in accessible tourism, reflecting the ”state-of -the-art” as expressed in a selection of international chapters. It brings together global expertise in planning, design and management to inform and stimulate providers of travel, transport, accommodation, leisure and tourism services to serve guests with disabilities, seniors and the wider markets that require good accessibility. Chapter 8, written by Sandra Rhodda of Access Tourism New Zealand, describes the state of accessible tourism in this country.  Overall, the book gives ample evidence that accessible tourism organisations and destinations can expand their target markets as well as improve the quality of their service offering, leading to greater customer satisfaction, loyalty and expansion of business.  Accessible tourism is not only about providing access to people with disabilities but also it addresses the creation of universally designed environments that can support people that may have temporary disabilities, families with young children, the ever increasing ageing population as well as creating a safer environment for employees to work. Noel Scott, of the University of Queensland, Australia says that the volume “provides a ‘state-of-the-art” assessment of both theory and practice. This book establishes a new field of study and provides the benchmark against which other contributions will be judged. It integrates the work of all the key players and should be read by academics, managers and government policy makers.”

The Rolling Rains Report writes that the first international certification programme for accessible tourism destinations has been developed and carried out in Lousã, Portugal by the Belgian Accessibility Office, Toegangelijkheidsbureau (TGB).

The Accessible Tourism Destination Certification Programme or ATDCP is based on an extensive audit of the Destination Management Organisation’s accessible  tourism policies, infrastructure, transport, services and visitor information, and includes accessibility assessments of the outdoor environment, overnight accommodation, attractions, and activities and offers for visitors including persons with disabilities, older persons and families with small children.

Designed and developed by accessibility and tourism experts, TGB Belgium, the ATDCP is a completely new destination management tool which provides an accurate measure of the excellence of an accessible tourism destination, based on strictly defined criteria.

The Accessible Destination Certification Programme involves assessment meetings with destination managers coupled with on-site audits and document analysis, thus building a picture of the capacity and level of achievement of the accessible destination.  Each element of the assessment is scored against a set of indicators, thus enabling managers to track the destination’s performance over time and allowing for benchmarking across any number of destinations.

The Programme also provides a tailor-made Action Plan for destination managers, with priorities for improvements to be made in the different facets of the accessible destination.  The Action Plan aims to ensure that the destination will continue to develop and improve its offers to all visitors, giving them fulfilling, accessible experiences, whatever their interests and regardless of their age or abilities.  The TGB Accessible Tourism Destination Certificate is valid for two years, after which time it must be renewed through a re-assessment process.

For background on this advance, see the European Network for Accessible Tourism website.

This year’s November Pro-ICAT conference  Tourism For All in Malaysia will discuss just that, amongst other things.  With an emphasis on what developing accessible tourism can do to promote national and regional economic development, the conference aims to:

• highlight the existence of Accessible Tourism through hosting events that will draw attention to this niche in the tourism sector
• provide information on Accessible Tourism to the public locally and internationally
• make known to the public the obstacles and challenges in Accessible Tourism and ways to overcome them
•  encourage a tourism system in Malaysia that welcomes people with disabilities having good liaison between disabled organizations and tourism organizations so that attractions can be facilitated more systematically.
• encourage the Ministry of Tourism in Malaysia to do more research in promoting Accessible Tourism.
• advocate for the removal of architectural and transportation barriers that prevent people with disabilities from sharing fully in all aspects of our society including going for tours.

Visit Scotland – the national tourism organisation – says that that the accessible tourism market is already hugely important and is growing.  Between January – June 2009, 12% of all domestic trips to Scotland were made by visitors with access needs, or those accompanying someone who has access needs. This amounts to:

• 659 thousand trips, contributing almost £121 million to the Scottish economy in just six months, and rose to £325 million pounds for the 11 month period 2009/10.
• Senior tourists, over 55’s hold 80% of the nation’s wealth, and the 11 million disabled people in the UK have a potential spending power (disposable income) of £80b per year.

This is significantly higher than some more established targeted markets.

VisitScotland is leading an Accessible Tourism Steering Group (ATSG) with representatives from Capability Scotland, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Tourism Forum, the Scottish Government and other leading individuals from the accessible tourism industry. ATSG have planned a series of activities looking to engage and help tourism businesses to grasp emerging opportunities in accessible tourism market. The key objective of this programme is to raise awareness, alter perceptions and enable the Scottish tourism industry to better plan for accessible tourism product development.

VisitScotland has commissioned Capability Scotland to set up and run six events from August – October 2011 to engage with disabled people and find out what needs to be enhanced or changed to make Scottish tourism more accessible.   Disabled people with a range of impairments and conditions will meet with representatives from Capability and VisitScotland to talk about their experiences as a tourist in Scotland and the barriers that they face.  Recommendations will then be made to VisitScotland and the Scottish tourism industry.

Engaging the tourism industry

• Business Workshops – ATSG will attend about  12 Industry events in autumn at which they will present the findings, the statistics around the economic value of accessible tourism and run question and answer sessions.
• VisitScotland is making a film in three parts, based on the findings from the project, with interviews. This will be used to promote Accessible Tourism throughout 2011/12, with a showing of the finished film at the 2012 conference.
• Industry conference – October 2012: workshops and presentations; opportunity for businesses to ask questions in an open and helpful environment.

The Economist magazine, in association with the National Confederation of Disabled People in Greece (ESAEA), is organizing the 3rd Conference on
Corporate Social Responsibility, “People with disability and the right to
inclusion: what is the role of anthropocentric companies?” The conference, planned for 27 September 2011, will address a number of themes,
including tourism for people with disabilities.  Discussions will include:

• Why has tourism been used as the Trojan Horse?
• The impact of “Tourism for All” on the country’s economic development
• How accessible is tourism in Greece both to Greeks
  and foreign visitors with disabilities?

Planned speakers include Ivor Ambrose, Managing Director, European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT), representatives from ESAEA, European Disability Forum, George Nikitiadis, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism, Greece, George Tsakiris, President, Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, and Werner Pietsch, Managing Director, Stadthaushotel, Hamburg.  A case study of Stadthaushotel will be included.

The 13th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED 2012) scheduled to be held in New Delhi, India September 17-21, 2012 will have as one of its themes “Accessible Tourism: Conservation, Access to the Historic and Natural Heritage”. Hosted by Svayam in partnership with the Ministry of Transport, Government of Delhi and Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, the conference is co-sponsored by Transportation Research Board (USA). Held every three years, TRANSED conferences are milestone events in the field of accessible transportation, attracting researchers, policy-makers, transport operators, consumers and other specialists from around the world to share innovations and best practices in order to make transportation and mobility accessible to everyone.  The theme of the Conference is “Seamless Access for All: Universal design for transport systems and infrastructure as a key element in the creation of liveable cities”. Other sub-themes are:

• Role of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) •  Best practices and innovations • Environmental impact, sustainability, and accessibility of integrated multimodal systems • Accessible Public Transport (Bus Rapid Transit, Metro, Para-transit systems etc.) • Highway design and safety • G. Pedestrian mobility & safety for livable communities • Rural access and mobility • Implementation, monitoring and enforcement • Potential of Technology in Accessibility for all (Information Technology, Accessibility aids, etc.)

Deadline for abstracts is July 31, 2011. For more information, visit the conference website or contact secretariat@transed2012.in

Tourism for All UK will run in the northern autumn  a conference for Senior Marketing, Sales and Business Development & Owner Managers in the UK Hospitality and Tourism Industry about marketing to and service for People with Disabilities (PwDs).  Recent research by VisitEngland (England’s national tourism board) revealed that the demand for travel and leisure products from disabled people is growing rapidly, and worth £2 billion a year in domestic travel alone. Yet many businesses are missing out on a share of this market.  VisitEngland recently released a booklet which was created through a joint partnership with the Government’s Accessible Tourism Stakeholder Forum with the aim of inspiring tourism businesses to improve accessibility for customers in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympic Games & Paralympic Games.  The booklet – “At Your Service” – describes how to capture this £2 billion market.   Around 11 million people in England have an impairment of some kind whether they are wheel chair users, have poor vision, hearing loss or learning difficulties.   Overseas, there are potentially 78 million American and 75 million European disabled visitors, friends and family.

The Tourism for All conference will look at how a focus on exceptional customer service, accurate information and clear leadership can open up a whole new market for tourism businesses, how the long term loyalty of this market can be achieved at relatively low cost, and how to maximise the opportunities offered by the huge interest in the Olympic and Paralympic Games

The conference plans to includes a great lineup of speakers.  To see these, continue reading…………………

Planned Key Participants:

Conference Chair – Mark Lewis, Editor, Caterer and Hotelkeeper, has a wealth of experience across the industry.

Sally Davis, CEO BT Wholesale, will talk about the importance of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the legacy they will leave for the Hospitality Industry and how the exciting new information platform OpenBritain has a key role to play.

Loyd Grossman, OBE, TV presenter and Chairman of the Churches Conservation Trust: key theme of the conference – inspiring staff to deliver outstanding customer service. As an industry, the lower paid staff are usually closest to the customer and there are ways to work with them to achieve the company’s business opportunities.

Andrew Stembridge, Managing Director, Chewton Glen Hotel and Hotelier of the Year 2010: how his staff are trained to provide great customer service to all people including disabled people and the impact that this has had on his hotel, its reputation and profitability.

Arnold Fewell, former hotelier, regular guest, access auditor and a permanent wheelchair: how straight forward it is to make low cost adaptations that will make a real difference to disabled people and encourage them to return often with family and friends.

Jeremy Brinkworth, Head of Industry Services, VisitEngland: how the figure of £2bn was established, and how VisitEngland is helping tourism businesses improve their accessibility.

Dr Gregory Burke, Chairman and Founder Disabled Go: the Equality Act 2010 and what it means to businesses. The Equality Act, which replaces the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, has recently brought all anti-discrimination legislation together to make it simpler to understand and implement.

Giles Long, Paralympian and Channel IV presenter for the Paralympic Games:  how doing nothing is not an option. We must all change our attitudes in the way we do things and continually do better. Medical and technical advances mean that those with hearing, eye sight and mobility impairments are travelling more and more.

Magnus Berglund, Access Champion of Scandic Hotels: how his company invested time and effort into this market, the rewards it brought to the company and his view of the future as the population ages. What else needs to be done now.

There will be a panel discussion during the afternoon where attendees can discuss the issues raised. This includes finding out about Accessibility Awareness Day which is planned for later this year, and how to get involved with exciting industry development at OpenBritain – all information for disabled travellers together in one place for the first time.

Thanks to funding provided by the federal government of Canada and the Prince Edward Island (PEI) provincial government, a program to promote, educate, and advance the tourism industry, business and communities on accessibility services and provisions has been set up. Quality Tourism Services Inc. (QTS) launched accessadvisor.ca recently after researching the strengths and weaknesses of the current level of accessibility on PEI and how this is marketed to the public.  It will now offer operators the resources to categorize and promote their business
or location using four accessibility designations – limited accessibility, fully mobile accessibility, sight accessibility and hearing accessibility. The program will help improve the quality of the consumer experience and better empower businesses to compete for this growing and maturing market. The program will also help inform operators on how to meet the needs of persons travelling with accessibility challenges. Prince Edward Island strives to be a welcoming destination to all visitors. The Government of Canada has invested $87,000 in the project and the Government of Prince Edward Island, through the Department of Tourism and Culture, $22,500. Quality Tourism Services Inc. has also invested more than $66,000. The Access market is a significant segment of the population said Murray MacPherson, Industry Chair of Quality Tourism Services. The first Baby Boomers turned 65 on January 1, 2011, and they are accustomed to travelling and when they retire they will continue to do so, as they have leisure time and disposable income.  As disability increases with age, it is imperative that the tourism industry adapt to this. Quality Tourism Services Inc. is the non-profit, professional quality assurance company that inspects and assesses all ccommodation and camping facilities across PEI. QTS delivers numerous quality assurance programs to tourism and related businesses, including Canada / Camping Select, PEIs Tourism Water Quality Program, Cyclist Welcome, as well as advice on Access Tourism and the new accessadvisor.ca. program.