By Dan Tobin
The name TravelAbility may violate a few rules of capitalization and punctuation, but it’s the perfect expression of founder Jake Steinman’s vision for the company: a place where travel and accessibility are inseparable.
The company has broadened its focus by adding a second intersection to its sold-out Emerging Markets Summit in Savannah in August: the joining together of accessibility with sustainability, and DEI. That may sound like a lot to navigate, but Steinman, founder and CEO of the company, and his team bring a light touch to the event. In fact, the Summit is one of the most upbeat conferences I’ve attended.
The key to the success of the event is that it positions accessibility, sustainability, and DEI as emerging markets to tap rather than challenges to overcome. That aspirational idea was made concrete early on day one with InnovatABLE, a Shark Tank-like competition of unique products and services.
The Judges Top 3 Choices:
1-2 Tie: Enchroma: glasses that allow people with color-blindness to see a much wider spectrum of colors.
1-2 Tie:Translate Live: It uses AI organizational intelligence and human interpreters to deliver accurate and reliable translations in 250 languages-including ASL.
3. GRIT Freedom Chair: an all-terrain wheelchair designed for beach, snow, and ice
The People’s Top 3 Choices (from the post-event survey)
- PictureLive, which produces multi-sensory guides for destinations
- Grit Freedom Chair, an all-terrain wheelchair designed for beach, snow, and ice
- Enchroma
Part of what gives the event its special power and welcoming atmosphere is the eclectic mix of presenters and perspectives, including representatives from leading travel organizations like Expedia, TripAdvisor, Airbnb, the National Park Service, and Leave No Trace; consultants/trainers like Greg DeShields of Tourism Diversity Matters; a number of disability travel influencers; and a large collection of leading-edge DMOs.
The DMOs who have put accessibility at the top of their priorities are a close-knit group who share their experiences freely. “It was the most motivating conference I have attended,” one attendee wrote in their post-event survey. “We are like one big family and every one of us is trying to make the world a better place.”
For many attendees, the highlight of the event was the unique perspective and expertise of disabled travelers that gave the Summit its special power, as they combined personal experiences with entrepreneurial insights. Several sessions featured disabled travelers who are building careers as social media influencers. For example, Cory Lee Woodard, who uses a wheelchair, has amassed tens of thousands of followers to his social media. Destinations hire Cory to consult and to post videos and articles about his experience on his blog, Curb Free with Cory Lee. Houston Vandergriff, a photographer, and Downs Syndrome self-advocate, is heading down a similar path with his Downs and Towns blog.
“One of our goals is to help the travel industry change the perception of people with disabilities from that of a compliance headache to an advanced form of guest service,” says Steinman.
In a sign of the maturing of the movement, DMOs reported on various tools they are using to measure results. One particularly innovative approach is a pilot project between Visit Charlottesville, Destinations International, and TripAdvisor. The Tourism for All project is analyzing TripAdvisor comments and user reviews looking for signs of the impact of three years of outreach and visitor education focused on accessibility and DEI.
Research also lies at the heart of Wheel the World, perhaps the most frequently referenced success story at the Summit. Founded by Chilean best friends Alvaro Silberstein and Camilo Navarro, the company has built a massive search engine for accessible travel with fully verified data. The company sends teams out to destinations with tape measures in hand. They’ve assessed hotels in more than 250 destinations using a long list of data points, including width of doorways, height of beds, and amount of turning space in the bathroom.
Wheel the World is also known for its soaring videos of its multi-day trips for disabled travelers including several featuring a beaming Silberstein, who uses a wheelchair, climbing mountains, ziplining, and surfing.
Miles Partneship took conference attendees on a Deep Dive into their most current research on the accessible travel market. The research provides insights into the travel habits of people with disabilities and underlines the power of this travel segment to re-shape the industry in the future.
You must be logged in to post a comment.