A Turning Point in the Future of Inclusive Travel
We are at a critical turning point in the future of Inclusive Tourism. Over the past 20 years the advocacy concentration has been on breaking down the physical barriers that were preventing people with a disability the basic right of access to their favourite holiday destinations. 25 years ago Rick Hansen embarked on his now famous "Man in Motion" world tour and while that tour was highly successful in raising money its main purpose was to raise awareness of the capabilities of people with a disability if the physical barriers were removed. While there are still inaccessible washrooms in 34 countries access has improved to a point where today most people have almost unlimited options of accessible tourist destinations.
What is Inclusive Tourism?
All sorts of terms have been used to describe this growing market from Barrier Free Tourism in the United Kingdom, Accessible Tourism in Australia, Access Tourism in New Zealand. All of those terms have their foundations based on the physical term of "access" More often than not those expressions also have a narrow interpretation as people think of them applying only to travelers with a mobility related disability. The danger in using those terms is that the mind set is not lifted beyond physical access and does not find its way into an organisation's culture.
More correctly what we are describing in talking about basic cultural change within the Tourism industry is an "Inclusive" environment where people of all abilities are felt welcome and wanted as customers and guests.
We are defining Inclusive Tourism as:
"Inclusive Tourism" - "the application of the seven principles of Universal Design to the products, services, and policies of the tourism industry at all stages of their lifecycle from conception to retirement and introduction of a replacement"
So why are we at a turning point?
While the emphasis on accessible facilities has seen a major improvement in physical accessibility the basic culture within the travel industry has failed to move beyond a compliance model. The facilities are built but are poorly understood if they are understood at all. Even where the facilities are excellent the inclusive tourism sector is not regarded as a valuable market segment, if fact in most cases it is not understood as a market segment at all. The result is that those facilities are never disclosed, never advertised and never published in a way that the travelers who need those facilities ever get a chance to know where they are. For the first time Inclusive Tourism is being regarded as an economic market driven by the retirement of the baby boomer sector and we need to recognize that the way forward in encouraging its adoption into the mainstream industry lies in now concentrating on the economic benefit it can bring the tourism sector.
Shotover Jet Queenstown New Zealand - An example of Accommodation not Inclusion
New Zealand is often referred to as the Adrenaline Capital of the world. The Shotover Jet is perhaps one of the best examples with a hair raising ride through the Shotover Canyon. It is billed as the World's most Exciting Jet Boat Ride. The ride is fully accessible to a person with a disability. Here is a summary of what the staff do to cater for a disabled customer:
- Disabled parking on the river bank
- Check in at the river hut
- Level access to the jetty
- Assistance with boarding
- Safe wheelchair storage
- Wheelchair delivered back to the wharf on disembarkation
- Assistance out of the boat
- Accessible parking at the service centre and gift shop
- Accessible toilet facilities
Unfortunately while they offer all of those services they do not publish the fact, their web site mentions accessible parking and access under about us/other facilities and their brochure has no mention of accessible facilities. In short they are providing a service because they believe "it is the right thing to do" not because they see a valuable market. It is accommodation of a traveller with a disability not true inclusion.
So what is the Market Size?
The 2008 Australian National Visitor Survey estimated the following:
- Some 88% of people with disability take a holiday each year that accounted for some 8.2 million overnight trips.
- The average travel group size for people with a disability is 2.8 people for a domestic overnight trip and 3.4 for a day trip.
- There is a myth that the inclusive tourism market does not spend because of economic circumstance and are a significant proportion of each travel market segment.
- They travel on a level comparable with the general population for domestic overnight and day trips.
- The total tourism expenditure attributable to the group is $8bn per year or 11% of overall tourism expenditure.
A recent Tourism Queensland study identified the following significant demographic changes
- We have an ageing population that is increasingly affected by disabilities. These people are retiring at a younger age and living longer.
- They are not necessarily wheelchair users and want to enjoy life to the maximum despite their physical restriction.
- The majority of Australia’s inbound markets are sourced from nations with ageing populations.
- Providing inclusive tourism facilities and services opens the door to a large and growing market.
- While wheelchair users appear to comprise of a small number of the overall people with a disability, design and planning that incorporates the needs of this group will be good design and planning for other markets.
- Effectively many people will benefit from these provisions including the ageing population, parents with prams, and employees as it incorporates good design practice for a range of occupational health and safety requirements.
Currently the inclusive tourism market is worth 11% of the total tourism spend and within 10 years will represent over 25% of the total expenditure. It has been overlooked for so long because it has been treated as a disability rights issue and hence the only statistics being reviewed have been those directly relating to the percentage of the population with a disability. When it comes to travel few travel alone and on average 2.8 people travel with them making the total travelling population fours times larger than the raw disability statistics. While the figures quoted here are Australian the demographics are consistent across all western civilised countries.
International Context
International Case Studies
The world is rich with accessible infrastructure after 20 years of compliance legislation and building codes. We we are being let down is the information of where these facilities are. Without information that is useful and informative to a traveller with a disability those facilities might as well not exist. People will not utilise a service they are not aware of. It is like the idea of the chicken and the egg what comes first? In this case the accessible facilities, then the information/promotion and finally the market use by the consumer. Unlike the movie Field of Dreams, where the line was:
“Build it and they will Come”,
in providing accessible facilities the line is:
“Build it, Understand it, Market it and they will Come and Keep Coming!”
Marketing Must be Inclusive
Too often the provision of accessible information, like the provision of the facilities themselves are regarded as an afterthought or part of a special marketing project to provide information out of a perceived community service. The results are often "special" brochures or special web portals that are forgotten about or become out of date once the project that created them has finished. While the intention may good the results will always fail as that information is not mainstream, further unless the person for whom it is intended actually knows about it, then it can be as hard to find as the actual facilities themselves.
The Department of Conservation in New Zealand recently produced two guides to wheelchair accessible and easy walks, one for the North Island and one for the South Island. Both of those brochures were never properly displayed and hence most people didn't realise they existed. The far better solution would have been to incorporate the information into the mainstream trail information in their main National Parks brochures.
"Special Projects" can actually let the Tourism Industry off the Hook as these two further examples illustrate.
The University of Sydney and Simon Darcy developed the "Sydney for All" portal as part of a Cooperative Research Centre for the Development of Sustainable Tourism. The site won world recognition, However neither Tourism NSW or Visit Sydney linked to it!!!!
In the United States New Mobility Magazine ran a campaign in Florida on the "Accessible Florida Keys"
None of the establishments featured in that campaign that ran in the magazine and through another special web portal had any accessible information on their own web sites!!!!!
Marketing ignorance is not limited to people with a disability:
"In my 25 years in corporate marketing, there has been only one time that I've encountered a marketing discussion that included consumers over 50. And it went all the way up to 54. I thought, "Hello? I'm sorry, let me get this straight. We're going to give all this attention to the Boomers until they reach the point where they have a lot of money and new needs that aren't being served. Then we're going to turn our backs on them and walk towards the young man, 18 to 24, who buys nothing but beer and pizza?"
Marti Barletta
The real challenge ahead in the promotion of inclusive tourism to the industry will be teaching them not only about the market size but about the needs of the disabled traveller. Most product and service markets are dominated by product innovation as each supplier strives to gain a market advantage by offering something unique. In order to make that quantum jump from compliance to innovation and true Universal Design the industry first has to appreciate the market size but then also what the market needs and desires.
A time for Change
- Bungee Jumping is not the "New Frontier"
- The New Frontier is the Tourism Industry understanding that Inclusive Tourism is a viable and valuable market segment
- The New Frontier is understanding the market's needs and developing product accordingly.
- The New Frontier is not about "special accommodation", is not about feel good projects, it is not charity and it is not about compliance
- 25 years ago the barrier was the infrastructure, 25 years on the barrier is the culture of the tourism industry
"He is in a wheelchair he can't do that"
He or she might be in a wheelchair and they can do whatever they want, but importantly they should be able to do it with their family and friends
The New Frontier is all about fundamental cultural change with the Tourism Industry
The tide is changing and a great example of a truly inclusive culture is Parks Alberta with their "Push to Open" initiative, but unlike a lot of other disability projects this one is embedded into the vision statement of the organisation.
"Everyone belongs outside"
Connecting with nature is important for the quality of life of all people. Parks provide opportunities for people to be active in natural or wilderness settings, to spend time with friends and family, and to escape busy daily routines. The Alberta Parks Division is committed to supporting the participation of all people in park experiences and programs, regardless of ability.
The Next Steps
The next major "tent pole" event will be Interdependence 2012 in Vancouver. This event affords us all the opportunity to continue to change the paradigm towards the value of inclusive tourism as a major and rapidly growing market segment the message has to be clear and consistent:
We are at a Major Watershed, the paradigm is changing
Inclusive Tourism is no longer a "Disability Rights" issue
It is an Economic Imperative!!
Related Article: Should we be talking about Universal Design in a broader context than built infrastructure?
For more information on this article or how your business may take advantage of this market segment contact Bill Forrester bill@travability.travel or Deborah Davis abildavis@aol.com