TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Accessible Meetings

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO THE SUMMIT

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From Alabama to Oregon, NYC to Alaska, Florida to Michigan there will be attendees from over 30 states plus Australia, Ireland and Belgium. 

Attendee Job Titles:

  • Disability Community: 10.6%
  • CEO/Executive Director: 20.8%
  • Marketing/Communications: 28.3%
  • Tourism Development/Community: 13.3%
  • Other: 27.1%

What’s New This Year at the Summit:

  • Casting call for a new TV series, “Challenge Accepted.”
  • How to organize an Influencer Fam Tour.
  • One-on-one Speed Dating with content creators (pilot program).
  • Hotel Owners Panel.
  • AARP and the Future of the Aging Traveler

See the full agenda.

Why Attend? Disability travel is the fastest-growing segment in the travel industry.According to Longwoods, 17.5% of American travelers in 2023 had someone in their party requiring accessibility services. The TravelAbility Emerging Market Summit empowers destinations, hospitality, and travel professionals to become more accessible.

There are 18 spots left for the Summit so register today.

Credit Card Scams and Jake Steinman: Changing the World of Accessible Travel

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Congratulations, Jake, on this well-deserved recognition! Who knew a credit card scam would change the face of accessible travel? Your work with Travelability and the Accessibility Playbook cannot be overestimated for the impact they have on tourism in 2024.

Here’s the link to the article in Northstar Meetings Magazine.  

2024 Preliminary EMS Agenda

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The Emerging Markets Summit is happening November 13-15th in San Francisco at the Argonaut Hotel.Click the link below to download the Preliminary Agenda-Times, topics and speakers are subject to change. The conference is close to sold out so if you have not yet registered click here.

2024Summit-updated-and-edited-v6.1-2Download

Disability Opportunity Fund Awards $250,000 in their own Shark Tank

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Group of 13 people posing with an oversized check bearing the Maidenbaum logo and standing in front of a Maidenbaum backdrop

Long Islanders typically cringe at the mention of sharks, but eight companies serving the disability community were thrilled to enter the Shark Tank in Garden City last month organized by the Disability Opportunity Fund (DOF). The fund gave out $250,000 during the pitch fest to support product development and job creation benefiting individuals with disabilities. First prize of $50,000 went to Valence Variations, which has developed an AI-powered app that can read and interpret a speaker’s emotions.

“Thank you so much to the Disability Opportunity Fund for this opportunity,” said Valence Vibrations Co-Founder and CEO Chloe Duckworth. “This capital is going to accelerate our growth to be able to support more neurodiverse people and help in building digital accessibility.”

The Shark Tank competition was part of the DOFs (DOF) 15th anniversary celebration. The evening also included a major funding announcement from the Maidenbaum Property Tax Reduction Group, which together with DOF awarded $75,000 in grants to 15 Long Island nonprofit organizations that support people with disabilities. Each organization received a $5,000 grant to continue and expand on their work. Read more.

TravelAbility TakeAway: Are Shark Tank competitions taking a bite out of the traditional phone book-sized grant proposal? (By the way, what’s a phone book?) That could be a welcome trend in the industry, particularly for the extroverts out there who make it look easy. Don’t be fooled: Pitching to an audience is still a lot of work and a lot of pressure.

TravelAbility and Destinations International Announce Partnership to Promote Accessibility

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Photo collage including head shot and title of Don Welsh, CEO of Destinations International and Jake Steinman, Founder and CEO of TravelAbility. Includes logos of the two companies.

TravelAbility, the leading conference and media company dedicated to making travel easier and more enjoyable for people with disabilities and the aging population, has announced a partnership with Destinations International, the world’s largest and most reliable resource for destination organizations and tourism boards.

The partnership aims to help scale accessibility to Destinations International’s 700+ destination organization members as part of their social inclusion strategy. TravelAbility will serve as Destinations International’s official accessibility advisor, providing guidance on how to create more welcoming destinations for people with different abilities through content, prospective speakers, and a satellite version of their InnovateAble pitch event where assistive technology entrepreneurs will present their solutions for improving accessibility in the travel industry.

Destinations International will also market The Accessibility Playbook, a comprehensive guide for destinations and travel businesses to improve their accessibility and inclusion initiatives for travelers with disabilities. The Playbook contains over 100 videos, PowerPoint decks, and a series of “TravelAbility Trusted” innovations, amenities, and third-party assessment providers that may help them scale accessibility by sharing it with their industry partners.

“We are thrilled to partner with Destinations International to advance the cause of accessibility in the travel industry. This is a win-win situation for both organizations and for the millions of travelers who can benefit from more accessible and inclusive travel experiences,” said Jake Steinman, founder and CEO of TravelAbility.

“Accessibility is a key component of our social inclusion strategy, and we look forward to working with TravelAbility as our official accessibility advisor. They have the expertise, the network, and the passion to help our 700+ members create more inclusive destinations for all travelers,” said Don Welsh, president and CEO of Destinations International.

The Accessibility Playbook will be available for purchase online at the Destinations International website in 2024. To learn more about this partnership or the Accessibility Playbook, contact Sophia Hyder Hock, Chief Diversity Officer at shyderhock@destinationsinternational.org or Jake Steinman, founder and CEO of TravelAbility at jake@travelability.net