Accessible tourism – it’s time

A $1.5b annual tourism market & a tool to access it

A recent Report shows many Australian tourist operators don’t know how to make their venues accessible and inviting to people with disabilities going on holiday.

Some relevant statistics

• Australian tourists with disabilities have a spending power in excess of $1.5b annually;
• This market segment in the US spends US$13.6b on annual holidays, taking 31.7m trips per year;
• In Europe there is a market of more than 89 million people with disabilities.

The current situation

• There has been a domestic tourism slump over the past two years – as Aussies’ foreign travel has mushroomed;
• With rising fuel prices the evidence is we’re parking the car more and taking fewer trips;
• Jetstar is now providing regular cheap overseas fares to destinations such as Bangkok, Hawaii and Bali.

‘Accessible Tourism – It’s Time’ produced by the Queensland-based Access for All Alliance gives tourist operators the information they need to ensure accessibility and access to this market.

Both international and domestic tourists with disabilities should be able choose accommodation and venues without having to worry about accessibility and Australian tourism operators should treat these potential tourists as an evolving market, says the Alliance.

In what format is the info?

• a narrated CD – a 68 slide power point presentation (90 mins), and
• a hard copy of the speakers’ notes from the slides.

Domestic tourism operators should be looking at ways of snaring new markets, shouldn’t they? Maybe we’ll all just have to get over the ‘but it’s all so expensive’ syndrome’ and classify alterations as a ‘must do’ investment. The industry should not be treating prospective customers as second-class citizens.

I can see good reason for local government, tourism associations as well as individuals to invest the $88 in the Accessible tourism – it’s time CD.

Have you made your business disabled friendly? You could shoot us an email and tell us how it’s all going?