TravelAbility Summit

We are pleased to announce the following organizations will be presenting at TravelAbility virtual June 24^th from 8:00am-12:30 pm followed by an optional Meet the presenters networking session one week later.

Google, Royal Caribbean, Delta Airlines, Open Doors Organization, Houston Airports, Marriott, Scandic Hotels, Travegali, Walt Disney World, Incredible Memories Travel, Wheelchair Travel Solutions, Magical Story Book Travels, European Network for Accessible Travel, German Tourism Board, The Beaches of Ft. Myers and Sanibel, Design Sensory, Expedia, Auberge Hotels and Resorts

Taking the learnings from the first two virtual events—LaunchPad and Parakeet—that Travelability produced earlier this year, we’ve asked presenters to limit themselves to 5-7 minutes each after which they proceed to roundtable format for lively interactive conversations.

Add-on Networking session one week later.

Attendees will be able to network among themselves as well as presenters through a series of 6-person roundtables, each hosted by a selected speaker.

Here’s the agenda, where you’ll find full details for all coming events. Register Now: There are a limited number of VIP Passes still available

Introducing TravelAbility’s newest initiative, “Striving For Herd Accessibility in Travel,” a year-long program designed to provide the destination information that people with disabilities need before they decide where to travel. While the ADA legislation of 30 years ago provided a baseline foundation for physical accessibility it didn’t address the overwhelming absence of information infrastructure that is lacking and necessary to help disabled travelers make the right buying decisions.

Since the first TravelAbility Summit in November of 2019, I have been searching for a way to measure our ROI to the industry. I noticed that following the Summit, several attendees added a landing page to their website that showcases the attractions, hotels, museums, zoos, nature trails, and beaches that are accessible in their destination. I realized that tracking the number of accessible landing pages that TravelAbility could influence would be the best way to measure our value. The first step was to learn how many accessible landing pages already existed.

Working with a team of interns we reviewed all 50 state websites and 65 city websites in the US and Canada and were able to identify a total of 45 destinations—16 states and 29 cities—that included a page with content that speaks to the needs of travelers with a disability. The most startling discovery was that the average time it took to find the landing pages was 3.5 minutes. These 45 landing pages, which can be found on the Accessible Destinations tab on our website, are the base from which we plan to scale the list to over 100 North American destinations so disabled travelers will be able to find this information all in one place.

We will amplify the information by making the link available to consumer-facing disability publications, bloggers, influencers, and news sites so that disabled travelers won’t have to spend over three minutes searching each individual site for accessible information.

Add Your Destination: If you have a landing page that showcases accessible options in your destination you can add it to our directory for free, If you would like help creating an accessible landing page just check the box on our form and we will be in touch.

In addition to the Accessible Destinations initiative, here’s a summary of what else we have been working on.

1. Increased industry awareness through our TAS Insider newsletter, which grew 5x, from 500 readers in December 2018 to 3,300 readers pre-covid. (2450 post-covid due to layoffs).
2. TravelAbility collaborated with two blind members of our advisory board to create the  “ExplorAble” podcast series where leaders and influencers in the accessible travel space were interviewed.
3. Recast TravelAbility 2021 into four virtual events (1 hybrid) to make it more affordable.
4. Introduced the LaunchPad pitchfest, the world’s only showcase for adaptive technology that makes travel easier for people with disabilities. The event was held April 1^st and was the first event of TravelAbility 2021 series.
5. Our website functions as a repository of tools and resources for travel organizations that want to elevate their accessibility for people with disabilities. 
6. Produced “Picking a Platform” a virtual book that was developed from the recordings of “Parakeet,” a pop-up virtual conference about virtual conferences held last October in collaboration with USAE News. (Password: Chirpchirp)
7. Assembled an all-star Advisory Board consisting of leaders from the disability community, media, and travel industry.
8. Destinations International and US Travel have requested TravelAbility to lead accessibility breakout sessions at their annual gatherings. The most recent of which was DI’s: “Adding Accessibility to your ED+I Program” at their annual Marketing Communications Summit on April 29^th.
9. UP YOURS!… a collaboration with forward-thinking DMO’s to up the accessibility of their members and extend a welcoming hand to travelers with disabilities. TravelAbility produces a customized one-hour virtual hackathon for the destination’s partners and stakeholders. All attendees at these sessions will earn a free registration to all remaining TAS virtual events in 2021.