Accessible Tourism

3.0 Challenges Identified

Challenges have been identified for both people with disability and the industry:

Industry

  • industry at large does not understand the size of the opportunity

  • businesses are nervous that they will get it wrong which can inhibit improvements beyond compliance

  • lack of confidence in how to best market and communicate to the visitor with disability.

Visitor

  • lack of trust in available information in the planning and purchasing cycle. Specifically, materials hard to access or understand, and limited ways to communicate effectively 

  • physical barriers in public infrastructure and access within the physical environment, such as steps, narrow or congested spaces and walkways, making it difficult to connect accessible experiences

  • attitudinal barriers as a result of discriminatory or negative attitudes. The notion of being ‘othered’ in situations such as at airports and the feeling of ‘being a burden’.

The Customer Journey

Common challenges for people with disability start as early as at the planning stage (dreaming, consideration and intention) in that there is a lack of clarity and accuracy as to what accessible and inclusive options are available. Inconsistency in the approach towards information sharing, presentation, promotion, marketing and distribution of accessible and inclusive experiences indicates for many it is no more than a tick the box compliancy or afterthought. 

People with disabilities primarily conduct their own research, planning and booking holidays online to understand what is available and breadth of experiences on offer. Often, they or their support worker may contact businesses for further accessible information in the consideration and intention phase of their customer journey. This is primarily due to the fact that historically the information provided by destinations and businesses has not been reliable.

In Australia, there is no official nationally recognised certification or accreditation to acknowledge a business as accessible and this lack of national standards for verification remains a challenge. Not only for businesses who are doing excellent work in catering for this sector, but also for people with disability who have no guarantee of the standard of offering. 

Like anyone booking a holiday, people with disability rely on previous travel experiences and word of mouth recommendations for places to visit. They also rely on expert opinions from peak bodies relating to specific disabilities, NDIS coordinators and specialist travel agencies.

There is a high level of loyalty for people with disability. This is linked to the idea of place attachment and place identity, where someone develops a deep connection and attachment to a place and creates an emotional bond. They will repeat their travels to certain places based upon their own experiences, recommend great places to go, while also highlighting poor experiences, which is extremely damaging for tourism and hospitality suppliers. The network of blogs, forums, communities and groups is enormous and far-reaching. This is a major opportunity for businesses to find these groups, connect with them, learn from them and adapt their business.

Customer Experience and Design

Failure to deliver and provide accessible tourism experiences and services fails not only the customer, especially with the focus in business being ‘customer centric’. But also for the business in significant revenue loss by failing to understand and capitalise on the accessible tourism opportunity. People with disability don’t want to be treated any differently than any other customer without a disability. That is they want the same as every customer, exceptional customer service and experiences. 

It is important when designing tourism and hospitality facilities and broader destination amenities and spaces that universal design principles are at the forefront. It’s more than accessible toilets and hotel rooms, but a consideration of the entire customer journey from pre to post experience. This includes areas such as doors, lift or ramp access to the swimming pool, table heights in restaurants and bed heights. Ultimately it includes staff education and customer service training.

Events and Venues

There are two main challenges at events, the first being with the ticketing and purchasing journey. Often there is limited flexibility around seating for people with disability and in particular, wheelchair users. This limits their ability to attend these events with their family and friends, as they are often seated in a separate area if they can even secure tickets. 

Secondly, venues themselves are not all suitable as historically they have not been constructed to compliant standards. Often people with disability want to attend events and concerts but simply cannot attend if the facilities are not accessible.