(L-R): Kristy Durso, Incredible Memories; Cory Lee, Curb Free with Cory Lee; Chelsea Bear, The Real Chelsea Bear, Jennifer Allen, Wonders within Reach; Houston Vandergriff, Downs and Towns.
By Jennifer Allen
Disability travel influencers are changing the face of inclusion in travel. They offer destinations a unique opportunity to simultaneously promote and improve inclusion. Four influencers of diverse backgrounds came together at the 2023 Travelability Summit to share insights on how a DMO can partner with influencers for growth and change.
Jennifer Allen, of Wonders Within Reach shared “First, it’s a celebration of an accessible destination. I love to share places that families like mine can do with minimal obstacles. That’s worth sharing. Second, I create content for better representation and inclusion. We’re naturally drawn to places that reflect who we are – and a place that showcases wheelchair users shows me that it’s a place I can visit! So we create media for the destination’s content as well as for our own page. Third, we love to help improve inclusion as we go. A lot of destinations aren’t sure how accessible they are or are not, so we give feedback as we go, so that the destination can improve. We use a combination of things from video to photos to blog posts and articles.”
These strategies were consistent across panelists, showing the trifecta of change initiated by partnering with disability travel influencers – in addition to creating DMO marketing materials, they bring their own audience to the mix and offer constructive feedback to improve the visitor experience for all.
Cory Lee Woodard – Founder of Curb Free Cory Lee – Wheelchair Travel
Since starting his disability travel blog ten years ago, Cory Lee has visited every continent and built an impressive platform of information for wheelchair travelers. He is often the go-to for wheelchair travel information, because of his vast experiences. Facebook is his most engaged platform, with 65k followers. He has similarly high numbers on Instagram.
His favorite DMO partnerships are when he’s offered unique experiences, like adaptive skiing and rock wall climbing. It’s great to be able to experience, and showcase, a world of travel that goes beyond the standard museums and tourist attractions.
Cory has an organized pricing structure, starting at $1,000 a day, that makes it easy for DMOs to assemble a partnership.
Chelsea Bear – Content Creator behind Real Chelsea Bear – Scooter Travel
While Chelsea may seem newer to the scene of content creation,she grew her social media from 1K to 315K+ followers organically in just two years Chelsea. She has built a large following through sharing life through the lens of Cerebral Palsy, and she recently hit 100k subscribers on YouTube. More recently, she has begun utilizing that platform to share accessible travel adventures. She brings that same perspective to the travel industry, highlighting accessibility and improving inclusion through representation.
What she appreciates most from DMO’s is when they’re open to feedback when it comes to accessibility. “I never expect anywhere to be fully 100% accessible, but the most important thing to me is when the people are willing to listen and make changes. For example, I went to a restaurant once that didn’t have a ramp at the front so instead I had to go into the building through a backdoor that was completely out of the way. The owner took my feedback and worked with the city to get approval to add a ramp along the curb to create an easier access point for people who use wheelchairs. I think it makes such a difference!”
Her travel content follows the theme of her lifestyle content – sharing genuine and authentic content that creates a comfortable space for productive conversations.
Chelsea’s costs vary, since she works with each destination to create a customized approach based on the DMOs current marketing needs. She’s typically willing to work with different DMO’s and squeeze in as much as she can for their allotted budget, but it really depends overall.
Houston Vandergriff – Founder of Downs and Towns – Intellectual Disabilities Travel
Houston’s specialty is top notch photography. He’s traveled to 29 countries, 49 states, and all 95 Tennessee counties. His biggest platform is TikTok, with over 417k followers, and more than 7 million likes. He travels with his mom, Katie, and they’ve had front row seats to the changing attitudes of disability inclusion in the travel world.
They’re favorite part of working with DMOs is contributing to the growing awareness for people with disabilities. They spoke about the importance of awareness in changing attitudes. Katie expressed that, “Showing a diverse range of travelers lets everyone be able to imagine themselves able to do the same thing. It’s empowering on an entirely different level.”
When asked about their price scale, Houston’s mom, Katie, responded, “We’ll travel for food, and our bags are always packed!” They’re an incredible team, always up for an adventure.
Jennifer Allen – Founder of Wonders Within Reach – Caregiver and Family Travel
When Jennifer received the diagnosis that her son would never walk, she envisioned herself spending the rest of his life trapped in their playroom. She had no idea that they could live life to the fullest with a wheelchair, because she had never seen someone else doing it. As she began to rediscover the world with a wheelchair user, she began to share the experience so that other parents wouldn’t have to learn the hard way. She built her audience through connecting with other parents who are trying to figure out how to get back to exploring and has an audience of 20k between Instagram and returning blog readers.
Jennifer enjoys featuring the family fun side of accessible destinations, from trails and outdoor activities, to children’s museums and theme parks.
Jennifer’s prices are as diverse as her packages, since she does a combination of photography, video, UGC, content creation, and writing. Single posts for attractions start at $175.
An influencer campaign is a great marketing opportunity, since they offer a package deal of model/photographer/videographer, and sometimes writer, for one price. Influencers also automatically extend the reach of a destination’s audience through their own connections within the disability community. All four influencers agreed that their favorite partnerships were with DMOs who showed a genuine interest in inclusion. Cory Lee even had an experience when he was asked to present his findings to the destinations leaders after his trip. They would all love to see this become a normal part of collaborations, because that’s where change comes from.
The Problem: Reaching the disability community with marketing efforts and representing diversity.
The Solution: Working with disability influencers to improve accessibility and spread the word.
Cory Lee:
- Wheelchair travel
- Over 65k FB followers
- Prices starting at $1,000 per day
- curbfreecorylee@gmail.com
Chelsea Bear:
- Scooter travel
- Over 100k YouTube subscribers
- Prices based on need
- collab@chelseabear.com
Houston Vandergriff:
- Photographer (Down Syndrome)
- Over 417k TikTok followers
- Open to hosted trips
- houston@downsandtowns.com
Jennifer Allen
- Family travel (caregiver)
- Over 12k IG followers and wide blog readership
- Varied pricing by package, starting in low $100’s
- jennifer@wonderswithinreach.com
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