TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

TravelAbility 2022

The TravelAbility Emerging Markets Summit: A Review

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Sometimes the best experiences are the ones that blow your expectations into shining smithereens.

Halfway through Day One of Travelability’s Emerging Markets Summit, I had to admit that my expectations and mind were blown away.  

Nancy Baye headshot.
Nancy Baye is the Editor in Chief of Melange Magazines.

Compact, collapsible wheelchairs. Talking menus. The power of a simple Sunflower Lanyard. Champions of people with autism. A mobility device for body, mind and spirit. Travel companions for dementia patients. A video message to stop the sappy music so we can all get back to living life out loud.  

And we hadn’t even gotten started yet.

As the days unfolded, so too did layers of information, as fearless visionaries offered cutting-edge ideas.

Things are changing for the better in the niche of accessible travel, but there’s still a long way to go. That might be no surprise, but what you might not know is how very cool these people and their ideas are. Making accessibility mandatory is unarguably useful but making it cool—well that changes the game altogether.

As Editor-in-Chief of Accessible Journeys, a digital magazine for people with disabilities and seniors who travel, I stand behind our vision to be the go-to resource for this ever-growing demographic. But I hadn’t known the depth and breadth of commitment, passion and genius this group embodies. And it’s a group ready to fold itself around everyone who needs it.

The shared stories, deconstruction of information and solution-oriented discussions tell me that we are all heading towards safe, comfortable travel for everyone, in an environment of empathy, trust and understanding.

Travel without limits in a world where all are welcome. I remain humbled by the innovators, entrepreneurs, activists, and change-makers who joined forces at the Summit, and grateful for everyone striving to move the dial on accessible travel, not just making it better, but making it totally rad.

Nancy Baye, Editor in Chief, Melange Magazines

Top 10 Innovations to be Showcased at TravelAbility’s Emerging Markets Summit LaunchPad Pitchfest

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illustration of a red rocket launching and the words travel ability launchpad: boosting innovation in travel and accessibility

The 3rd Annual TravelAbility LAUNCHPAD PITCHFEST will feature unique cutting edge innovations  specifically curated for destination marketing organizations, which can serve as the point of entry to introduce their hotels, attractions, restaurants and museums to solutions that make their destination more accessible.

Here are the top 10 innovators:

WHILLApp-driven/Self-driving electric wheelchair.
The ALinkerA non-motorized “walking bike” that serves as an alternative to wheelchair or walkers.
Black Restaurant WeeksA turnkey solution to showcase  black-owned and culinary businesses in different destinations
Revolve Air WheelA carbon-fiber wheelchair that folds into a case that can be stored in carry on bins—rentable via airport concession.
The Talking Menu“The Talking Menu” is activated via QR code from their phone so blind diners can listen to the menu.
Champion Autism NetworkAn online autism training system especially useful for travel suppliers.
Hidden Disabilities LanyardA Sunflower lanyard for travelers requiring special assistance at airports, hotels and attractions.
GOMO TravelProvide trained travel companions (retired nurses, travel providers) for seniors suffering from dementia or other cognitive disorders.
BirdStand-up electric scooter now renting electric wheelchairs as well as wheelchair attachments that can electrify standard wheelchairs.
Access NowAn innovative new routing technology for assessing the accessibility of outdoor trails.

The LaunchPad will be held June 5th at the Orlando Hilton Hotel from 2:30-5:30 pm EDT. Companies will be presenting live and by Zoom.

REGISTER NOW: www.travelability.net

TravelAbility’s EMERGING MARKETS SUMMIT UPDATE: Four New Sessions Added

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TravelAbility Emerging Markets Summit logo, tagline reads Accessibility, Sustainability and DE&I.

TravelAbility’s Emerging Markets Summit will take place June 5-7, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. This expanded summit will embrace Sustainability and DE&I, two emerging markets that will drive tourism growth over the next decade.

The following four sessions have just been added to the agenda:

Mark Jones headshot.

How My Life as a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) Helped Inform My Role at Disney

In honor of CODA winning the Academy Award for best picture this year, we have our very own CODA, Mark Jones, Manager, Accessibility and Services for Guests with Disabilities, Walt Disney Resorts, who will speak about his own life as a CODA and the benefits that experience has offered to his work at Walt Disney World.

Ron Petit headshot.

Smooth Sailing!

How Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Celebrity Cruises, one of their subsidiary brands, are addressing inclusion using distinctly unique approaches. For example, Celebrity has hired world renown photographers, including Annie Lebowitz, for an advertising series that includes people with disabilities on vacationing called “All-Inclusive Photo Project (AIPP).

Presenter: Ron Petit, Director of Accessibility, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines

Jim Heeres headshot.

What Happened When a Hotel Manager Spent the Day in a Wheelchair?

Accompanied by a wheelchair-using travel agent, this executive experienced his property in a different light and found new ways to implement small accessibility tweaks that greatly improved the experience for guests with disabilities.

Presenter: Jim Heeres, Assistant General Manager, The Alfond Inn

DE&I in Storytelling & Destination Marketing

Destination marketing includes telling the stories about your destination to diverse audiences, but it also includes telling the many stories of your destination, often stories that aren’t told. This session will look at the ways to expand your storytelling lens to create content for diverse audiences with different needs, but also stories that are more representative of your destination and/or travel product.

This session will discuss: 

  • The diversity content creators 
  • Content creation for diverse audiences and what they need  
  • Guidelines for written content and photography 
  • Examples of work in this space 

Registration for TravelAbility’s Emerging Markets Summit is now open. To reserve your spot, visit the TravelAbility website.

TravelAbility Pivots to “Emerging Markets Summit” for 2022. Why?

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TravelAbility Emerging Markets Summit logo, tagline reads Accessibility, Sustainability and DE&I.

Our goal when we created Travelability Summit in 2019 was to create a travel industry conference to educate travel organizations about how they can prepare for the emerging market of baby boomers–40 percent of whom, according to Health Today, self-identify as having a disability after they turn 65. Presumably, by being accessible for the 12.5 million people with disabilities who travel today (2020 Open Doors/Harris Poll and AARP Baby Boomer Travel Report 2021), the industry would be ready when this number grows to over 35 million people over the next eight years.

Based on turnout at several travel industry conferences I’ve attended, one hurdle the industry needs to overcome is an underlying tentativeness when encountering people with disabilities.

I’ve personally led breakout sessions at various conferences that have attracted between 15-25 attendees—out of 600, which is quite frustrating to the organizers who have added accessibility breakouts to their events as an option. However, two weeks ago I spoke at the New Jersey Conference on Tourism, where the accessible session was titled “Emerging Markets,” which blew the attendance number to 123 out of 175!. Perhaps it’s the fear of saying the wrong thing, or the daunting prospect of being accessible for a range of disabilities, or that people in the industry consider accessibility a training issue more appropriate for someone else in their organization. This awkwardness is so prevalent that the D.C. Office of Disability Rights created this 3+ minute video using humor to diffuse discomfort.

While we have always viewed accessibility through the lens of growth, the conference has not been perceived that way due to our focus on awareness-raising rather than positioning the disability niche as an emerging market trend along with Sustainability and DE&I. Due to the baby boomer demographic (they control 58% of U.S. discretionary spending), accessibility is poised to be a more robust tourism driver than either of the other two. By bundling the three niches together into one event we will be introducing accessibility to people who are interested in the growth offered by this trifecta of growing market segments.

While accessible travel is our area of expertise, we will be reaching out to the most knowledgeable organizations in the tourism Sustainability and DE&I space for guidance in connecting us with experts who can help create the most relevant content and how that will drive tourism in the future. Stay tuned for more announcements about partnerships.

TravelAbility EMERGING MARKET SUMMIT will be held June 5-7, 2022 at the Hilton Orlando, co-located with IPW, eTourism Summit, and, coincidently, the 2022 Special Olympics.

In order to maximize engagement and networking, attendance will be limited to 150.