TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Accessibility

Update: EMS 2023, Savannah, August 18th-20th

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some of the attendees at 2022 EMS in Orlando- Kristy Durso, Chelsea Bear, Alvaro Silberstein, Jake Steinman, Arica Sears, Camilo Navarro, Arica Sears, Makiko Matsuda-Healy, Be Alink plus more
Attendees at EMS 2022

Thirty Speakers have already been confirmed for TravelAbility Summit in Savannah!

recently added SESSIONS include:

Breaking Down Accessible Barriers with AI and ChatGPT. “Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.” –Albert Einstein.  ChatGPT can be used to make your organization more accessible-friendly by improving website content, uncovering unknown accessibility features, helping to develop a search strategy and completing specific boilerplate sections of grant applications.

The Four Pillars of Developing any Accessibility Strategic Plan. Instead of an ad hoc approach to becoming an accessible destination, we’ve assigned a former destination strategist. This strategist spent nine years with the acclaimed Coraggio Group and now heads his own practice, developing key guiding principles for developing strategic plans around accessibility.

Confessions of an Early Adopter. Diving into accessibility head first, Visit Mesa, was the world’s first autism-certified destination, the first to deploy Aira’s on-demand visual interpreters for blind visitors and residents, the first to use Wheel the World for accessibility hotel assessments, the first DMO to join Travelability’s Destination Ally Club, the first to add an “A” to their DE&I initiative (which is now, DEI and A,) and the first to collaborate on a craft beer with one of their breweries to raise awareness and funds for their foundation. What can we learn from them?

Confessions of a Late Bloomer. Two organizations that have recently embraced inclusivity as one of their core values discuss the external and internal factors that brought them to their decision and how they plan to execute it.

Presenters:
Patrick Lennon, Director of Marketing, Visit Fairfax;
Arin Arnold-Davis, Administrative Project Manager, Visit Lexington.

Can the impact of DEI & Accessibility Be Measured? Tourism for All, a pilot project between Visit Charlottesville, Destinations International and TripAdvisor was designed to assess the impact that three years of outreach, stakeholder and visitor education had on TripAdvisor comments and reviews. Mallory Smith, Sr. Digital Marketing, TripAdvisor, Courtney Cacatian, CEO, Visit Charlottesville, and Sophia Hyder Hoch, Chief Diversity Officer, Destinations International.

How Destination Sustainability Can Power Tourism and Win Over Locals. Many believe sustainability is all about protecting natural resources, but the benefits of creating a sustainable destination can be far bigger. Find out how three beloved destinations used destination stewardship to tackle top local priorities like housing and traffic congestion while serving visitors and building awareness of the power of tourism.

Presenters:
Cathy Ritter, Founder, Better Destinations;
Mia Vlaar, Economic Development Director, Vail, CO;
Andy Chapman, President & CEO, Travel North Tahoe Nevada; and
Brett Stawar, President & CEO, Port Aransas (TX) Tourism Bureau.

Making Meetings More Welcoming and Inclusive for People with Disabilities. What meeting planners are looking for from hotels and destinations in their RFP’s. Is accessibility or sustainability a differentiator when making selections?

New Members of TravelAbilty’s Destination A11Y Club.  We’d like to welcome Destination British Columbia and Discover the Palm Beaches as the newest members bringing total membership to 14.

See the full agenda here.

New on TravelAbility.net

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InnovateABLE:  We carefully curated selection of technology, innovations and services that can reduce barriers for people with disabilities, several of which will be part of our annual pitchfest on July 26th. https://travelability.net/summit/innovateable/

Airport Accessibility page with links in all 50 states.

New Members of Our Advisory Board:

David O’Hara, Director of Accessibility, American Express Global Business Travel 

Houston Vandergrift, Founder, Downs and Towns.

Alan Fyall, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

Lorraine Woodward, Founder, Becoming Rentable

Six of the most prominent Disability Holidays in 2023.

We welcome Lansing Michigan as the newest member of our “Destination A11Y Club.”

Kudos to Visit Tampa Bay for creating the Accessible Riverwalk Pass, the first discount pass designed specifically for visitors and local residents with a disability.

Legoland Puts All the Pieces Together for Guests on the Autism Spectrum

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Legoland Resorts announced last month that all its North American theme parks would become Certified Autism Centers (CAC) by March 31st. Legoland parks in Florida and California received autism certification in 2022. The company’s newest theme park in New York will receive autism certification when it reopens in March.

The certification involves specialized training for staff, sensory guides at each ride advising if there are features such as bright lights and loud sounds that might impact visitors who are on the spectrum, and the availability of low-sensory areas and quiet rooms. Read More.

Our Takeaway: Parents with children on the autism spectrum are not willing to have their families forgo vacation experiences at theme parks and attractions. They will choose to spend their money at places that are welcoming to all of their children. Credible certification is a key to winning the trust and confidence of these travelers.

Roll Play: Wheelchair User Shows PCMA Meeting Planners how Columbus Convention Center can be more Inclusive.

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Rosemarie Rosetti consults with the meetings and conventions industry on being accessible for all. Watch this video as she assesses the Columbus Convention Center with a team of meeting planners. Below you’ll find a series of bit-size videos (50 seconds – 90 seconds) where she dissects accessibility features at the convention center and offers a plethora of tips. 

Our Takeaway: We applaud Profession Convention and Meetings Association (PCMA) for including an accessibility field on their registration form, revealing that 33 of the 3300 attendees at their Columbus convention identified as having a disability, around half had mobility issues with the remaining reporting issues around blind/visual impairment, deaf/hard of hearing, or cognitive disorders.

Michigan Group Tour Guide on a Mission to Include Everyone

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Grand Rapid’s Tours Around Michigan Founder has received accolades for adapting her tours to all kinds of travellers.

Tourism was a passion that married Candice Smith’s love of storytelling with her high level of customer experience. Her experience working with spoken language interpreters made it an easy transition to working with sign-language interpreters too. This work quickly resulted in her receiving Certified Tourism Ambassador (CTA) Of the Year for Kent County, MI and a WAVE Award for Best Attraction. Read More.

Our Takeaway: Group tour operators everywhere are trying to accommodate aging clients, several of whom are couples with a spouse with a disability.  This operator may have found one approach.  Look for the trend of bus operators to remove seats to make room for wheelchairs and retrofit coach entries with ramps.