Happy Tourist

Accessible Tourism

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Devices

Why Should You Consider Accessible Tourism?

Disabled people are excluded from the leisure activities that enrich all of our lives, from more active pursuits such as sports, travel, shopping and nights out, down to some of the most basic of activities that take place in the home.

Four out of five pubs, clubs, restaurants and other leisure venues do not provide proper access for disabled people
Over two-thirds (67%) of young disabled people felt unable to join in with most of the leisure activities their friends did
Only two out of the eight big UK leisure groups have access for disabled people in all their gyms
In October 2004, the month the DDA Part III duties came into force, only 39% of leisure venues had a useable
accessible toilet
Some 68% of families with disabled children said they didn’t use leisure facilities because they were made to feel uncomfortable
Young disabled people spend on average only 3.4 hours a week doing sport compared to all young people who spend, on average, 7.5 hours a week on sport
Only 17% of public buildings in London are accessible enough to comply with the mobility standards of the Building Regulations
Half (50%) of sports clubs state that the reason there were no disabled people within the club was that “disabled do not play our sport”
Most websites (81%) fail to satisfy level 1 (the most basic) Web Accessibility Initiative criteria
A recent assessment of 200 domestic appliances revealed that hardly any can be unreservedly recommended for disabled people, meaning that many of the products we use to enhance our home lives may be inaccessible to those with various impairments

The above information was obtained from Disablist Britain - Barriers to independent living for disabled people in 2006. Paul Miller, Sarah Gillinson and Julia Huber, Demos.

Good business:

There are at least 8.5 million disabled people in the UK alone, with an annual spend of over £40 billion. Of these, we know at least 2.5 million travel regularly, but that many do not because the facilities are not there. At present only 2% of accommodation in the UK has been assessed as being accessible
By 2009, there will be in the UK 2 million more people over 60 than there are today. There is a similar trend across Europe. While these groups live longer, and are better off than previous generations, age brings an increasing chance of a disability, although many people do not identify themselves as 'disabled'
Some 6 million people in the UK are carers. Three in 5 of us are expected at some stage to become a carer. Carers have frequently expressed wishes to take more holidays, either as respite, or with the one they care for
Many people in these groups are not tied to school holidays or weekends for their holiday-taking. They can thus help ease the problem of seasonality in the tourism business.
Increasingly, conference organisers and those hosting international events will not book venues unless there is sufficient accessibility
Visitors with high expectations of accessibility from countries like the USA expect to find similar facilities when they book overseas

Moral Choice:

Most businesses reporting back to the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) on alterations made to premises have stated that the moral choice was their primary motivation. However, the majority reported that the investment was repaid in increased business. This applied to the retail sector – there has been no similar survey of tourism alone. The size of the market however above speaks for itself
Tourism does not always get a good press. A thoughtful, socially responsible attitude is mostly likely to amend this impression
Younger generations, who may be more comfortable with issues such as race and disability will look to book with those who share a high sense of social responsibility

Government Policy

The Government's tourism strategy document, 'Tomorrow's Tourism Today' states: "the Government is determined to help people – the elderly, people with disabilities, single parent families, families with young children, carers, and people with low incomes – who find difficulty in taking holidays or leisure breaks. The priorities are to:
- highlight growing market opportunities
- make British tourism the most accessible and welcoming in Europe
- widen access to tourism opportunities
- improve access to employment in tourism
- widen access to our culture, heritage and countryside"

Legal Requirement

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 means that accommodation providers including small hotels and guest accommodation providers have to make reasonable adjustments to the way in which they deliver their services so that they do not discriminate against disabled people and are better able to meet disabled peoples' requirements. Taking no action potentially leaves you exposed to legal action against you

Acknowledgement

The above information was collected from the following source:

Tourism for All

This section has been created as part of the Happy Tourist project partly funded by the European Commission.