“Several years ago, I was hired as a strategic research consultant by a leading European tourist destination wanting to refocus and reposition their image by capitalizing on long-term, sustainable trends in travel that my team had identified. A key concept I put forward was – accessibility for all visitors – and I advised strongly to the destination not to characterize consumers or people with disabilities (PwD) as ‘niche’ but rather to cater for people of all abilities as part of their standard travel industry planning, infrastructure and operations.
For example, the destination I was advising is hugely popular with multi-generational visitors travelling together including grandparents often coming over with their grandchildren every year because they loved it so much. The ‘older adult’ segment I concluded was worth hundreds of million Euro a year in revenue but was most definitely not being adequately supported in terms of providing accessibility even at the most rudimentary level. For instance, there was very limited accessible transportation to and from the airport; there were physical barriers at many heritage sites; and the majority of hotel accommodation had no training, expertise or motivation to cater for guests that were not fully abled” Jem Golden
Our Takeaway: Positioning accessibility to be inclusive for all is the best overall strategy when addressing industry partners. But it’s always useful to remind them about baby boomers for whom aging is a form of disability on the installment plan.
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