If building your business matters, then Easy Does It

A tourism business with improved accessibility will appeal to a wider range of visitors. It is not only your disabled visitors who will benefit – but also families, older people, in fact, practically all your visitors in one way or another.

Who is a disabled visitor?

Like many other businesses, you may find disability a little frightening and be daunted by what you think you have to do. But most people know someone with some degree of disability – a grandmother who is hard of hearing, a child with reading difficulties, someone who walks with a stick or who wears glasses.

Very few would actually consider these people as disabled. So our understanding of disability tends to leap to extremes and whilst they are important and shouldn’t be ignored, it is easy to stereotype.

Only 4% of people with disabilities use a wheelchair, so accessibility is not always about door widths, ramps and lifts. Far more people are partially sighted than blind. Far more people have a hearing impairment than are deaf.

Remember, not all disabilities are obvious. Diabetics need to plan meal times carefully to control their blood sugar levels, asthmatics require hypo-allergenic bedding not feathers, people who are hard of hearing require vibrating alarms. These are all areas where it is easy and inexpensive for you to make a difference. The tourism industry should be more relaxed about accessibility and see people who are disabled simply as members of the community.

Why should you bother?

It is good for business. There is an estimated 10 million people with a disability in the UK. That's one in five of the adult population. There are also about 700,000 disabled children in Great Britain (Source: Equality and Human Rights Commission). The UK population is also ageing – the baby boomers are getting older. They still want a good time, they have money to spend and you ignore them at your peril.

The over-50s buy 40% more holidays than the under-30s, averaging five or six breaks per year. Source: Professor Richard Scase, 2005, Global RemixThere is correlation between ageing and disability. Impairments and disabilities increase substantially after the age of 45. Source: www.employers-forum.co.ukConsumer spending among the UK's 50-69 year-olds currently runs at £300bn a year. Source: Mintel research quoted in The GuardianThe spending power of disabled people in the UK alone is estimated to be worth £80 billion. Source: www.dwp.gov.ukThe UK market is ageing. It is estimated that by 2025 more than a third of the UK’s population will be over 55. People are living longer and staying active until much later in life. Source: VisitBritain

Embrace the Disability Discrimination Act

Embrace the spirit of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) rather than see it as a challenge. The DDA does not seek to put people out of business. It seeks to help all citizens to enjoy the same services that others take for granted.

Treated positively, it provides an opportunity for business development, ensuring that your service is accessible to a wider audience. Many tourism businesses worry that the DDA means vast expenses, when the reality is that common sense is often the only requirement needed to break down existing barriers.

More information on the subject is available in the Guests with Disabilities section of this website.

Easy does it

The latest leaflet from Quality in Tourism at VisitBritain is packed full of suggestions that can benefit your visitors and your business at little or no cost. It is often these smaller changes that have the biggest impact. Here are just a few simple suggestionsMake your information easily accessible and visitors will be more likely to find you and book with you.Structure content in your brochures and on your website in a logical order, use plain English and legible fonts (sans serif - minimum 12 point).Provide as many different ways of booking as you can manage, eg phone, fax, text phone, Typetalk, online, email, etc...Take the stress out of travel and help visitors with travel arrangements, adding value to the service you provide.Check that your entrance is clearly marked and well lit. Is someone always on hand to meet, greet and show around?Develop an Access Statement and ensure all your staff have a copy of it so they can check your available facilities and services at a glance.Offer flexible arrangements for checkout and ensure someone is available to help with luggage, baby buggies, etc...Include a range of people when you undertake any research, eg families, older and disabled people, to capture the views of all your potential visitors.

Benefits for your visitors and your business

Implementing just a few simple measures will help enhance the quality of experience for many of your visitors and in turn not only meet but exceed their expectations.

Families, older and disabled visitors are particularly loyal to those businesses that meet their needs.

Make sure it is your business that meets these needs and they will visit you time and again – and tell others about you.

For further information and to download a pdf copy of the leaflet, visit www.tourismtrade.org.uk/quality/assessmentstandards/NationalAccessibleScheme/Access/New_accessibility_guide.asp

To find out more about improving the quality of British tourism, visit www.tourismtrade.org.uk/quality