Accessible tourism has huge potential for growth

Wednesday, 19 October 2016 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

MyTravelResearch.com has released a new report on accessible travel.

The sector, which is also known as inclusive travel, disability travel, barrier-free travel, and access travel, has a lot of potential for growth.

The report states that around 88% of people with a disability take a holiday each year.

In the USA the Open Doors Organization estimates that $ 17.3 billion is spent by adults with disabilities on travel each year, while in Australia around eight billion dollars a year is spent by travellers with disabilities. Around 12% of the European market is dedicated to people with disabilities.

Types of impairment vary. For example, in the UK long term illness accounts for 50% of disability travellers; 26% are deaf or have partial hearing loss; 23% have mobility impairment; 7% are blind or partially sighted; 6% are mobility impaired; 5% have learning difficulties.

“The one thing in common with them all is that they don’t want to stop travelling,” said Bronwyn White co-founder of MyTravelResearch.com and author of the report. “They recognise, however, that the way that they travel may need to incrementally change as they age.”

Cruising is becoming more popular for people with disabilities. In the past five years, 10% of adults with disabilities in the US have taken a cruise, amounting to almost four million travellers taking seven million trips, generating $ 11 billion in spending on fares and $ 1.5 billion on excursions.

Visit Britain says there are three aspects that all businesses need to address to provide access for all:

Information and Marketing – providing detailed information on the accessibility of your facilities and services, making this information easy to find.

Customer Service and Training – being disability aware with the right attitude and confidence to serve all customers.

Physical Facilities – making reasonable adjustments to buildings and facilities so that they are ways for everyone to enter and move around.