Business Support

Accessibility

Is your business accessible?

There are approximately 2.7 million potential visitors with disabilities in the UK who regularly travel, and millions more abroad, who have a huge spending potential. Taking steps to be more accessible shows that as a tourism business you are aware of the importance of being open to everyone.

Accessibility is about far more than accommodating wheel chair users, there are a wide range of simple things you can do to make your property far more accessible to customers with hearing, visual and mobility impairments.

Focussing on the importance of 'accessibility for all' in the South West through improved access and facilities is one of VisitBritain's priority areas in light of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Resources

Accessibility Case Study 1 - Read how award winning self-catering accommodation Hue's Piece Cottage, Devon, have taken steps to become open to all.
Accessibility Case Study 2 - Learn how becoming more accessible resulted in an increase in business for Atlantis Holiday Apartments, Torquay.
‘Welcome to Excellence' run a ‘Welcome All' course at venues across the South West focused on welcoming guests with disabilities. To read more click here.
'Easy Does It' produced by VisitBritain with the aim of helping tourism businesses meet their guests' expectations, this brochure is packed full of ideas that are simple and low-cost. To visit VisitBritain's website and download the document click here.

The National Accessible Scheme

The National Accessible Scheme (NAS) can benchmark accommodation providers levels of accessibility against national standards and award appropriate ratings for mobility and/or hearing and/or visual impairments. The NAS is available for serviced, self-catering, hostel and campus properties; and holiday, touring and camping parks.

Exclusively for accommodation providers that have been quality assessed by the AA or Quality in Tourism, the National Accessible Scheme have waived their joining fee for 2009 / 2010. To download the access leaflet for more details click here.

VisitEngland has refreshed the entry-level mobility standard of the National Accessible Scheme (M1). The standard, called ‘One step ahead', will help you see your business from the perspective of older guests and those who are a little less mobile. For more details click here.

There are many benefits of joining aside from the increase in business potential including:

Tips and advice from a specialist assessor on how to improve your accessibility.
Recognisable logo(s) to use in your marketing.
If you have been quality assessed your business will be searchable by accessibility rating on enjoyengland.com and visitbritain.com
Listing in the ‘Easy Access Britain' official guide book
Listing on tourismforall.org.uk, the UK's central source of holiday information for people with access needs
The NAS cannot guarantee compliance with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995, however, it will serve to demonstrate a recognition of, and commitment to, the importance of accessibility.

To read more about the National Accessibility Scheme on VisitBritain's website click here.

Tourism providers should be aware they must comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995. For more information click here.

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Comments

Ian Stuart, Stuart Line Cruises

We fully support providing accessible attractions for all visitors.This can be difficult to accomplish on a passenger boat with restricted space but we try our utmost to ensure that visitors with disabilities can enjoy at least one of our many trips
Comment made: Thursday 1st October 2009

Have your say

Key reasons to be more accessible

1. It's estimated that there are over 10 million disabled people in the UK with an annual spend of over £50 billion. A quarter of these regularly travel.

2. Only around 2% of UK accommodation providers are certified as being accessible.

3. There are currently over 10 million people over the age of retirement in the UK. They have money to spend, grandchildren to entertain and are not restricted by weekends or school holidays.

4. It's not only about being wheelchair accessible! Only 5% of the registered disabled people in the UK use a wheelchair. The National Accessible Scheme (NAS) can benchmark visual and hearing accessibility too.

5. The accessible market is an extremely loyal one. Repeat bookings and recommendations via word of mouth are commonplace in this market.

6. Taking steps to be more accessible shows that as a tourism business you are aware of the importance of being open to everyone.

7. The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games are on the horizon and we are expected to see increasing amounts of visitors from overseas who are used to high standards of accessibility.