The Intersection of Travel and Disability
The story behind the TravelAbility Summit comes to life as our founder, Jake Steinman, recounts how a bogus award sparked the summit’s creation and why accessible travel will be the next big differentiator for destination marketers.
To listen to this episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast, click here.
We are delighted to announce that TravelAbility will be held live at the Tampa Bay Convention Center, August 30-31st co-located with Connect Mega event, which brings together meeting planners and travel suppliers looking to build up their business following covid. We are also offering a virtual option for those who aren’t ready to attend in-person or who are located outside North America.
The program for TravelAbility Tampa is chock full of accessible travel experts who have lived experiences that can help the tour and travel industry learn how they can make travel easier and more enjoyable for people with both seen and unseen disabilities. View the Agenda for the Tampa event
We are excited to welcome the sponsors/partners that will help us take accessibility to yet another level of awareness: Google, Design Sensory, Travel Oregon, Visit Mesa, Expedia and AccessiBe.
We are also pleased to welcome three new sponsors:
Simpleview, based in Tucson, Arizona, is a trusted vendor to over 900 destinations as their technology powers CVB/DMO websites and CRM initiatives. They were a charter sponsor for the first TravelAbility Summit in 2019.
Miles Partnership, is a strategic marketing company that works with more than 100 destinations and hospitality businesses on web development and digital marketing campaigns.
Threshold 360, with over 100,000 locations and 2 million daily views, is the leading provider of interactive 360 videos for the travel industry. Our partnership will include links to their videos on TravelAbility’s Accessible Destinations page.
We are pleased to announce the following organizations will be presenting at TravelAbility virtual June 24th 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.
The next TravelAbility Summit virtual event is coming June 24th, and the action-packed schedule is filled with presenters you won’t want to miss!
SUBJECT TO CHANGE
(i)=INVITED BUT NOT CONFIRMED
JUNE 24, 2021
8:00-8:15 am — OPENING REMARKS
8:15-8:35 am — UPDATE: GOOGLE MAPS: ADDING AN “ACCESSIBLE ROUTE” TO GOOGLE MAPS IN SIX CITIES COULD BE A GAME CHANGER.
Could this be the breakthrough disabled travelers and city dwellers have been pining for?
Presenter: Laura Allan, Head of Strategy for Accessibility and Inclusion, Google (i)
8:35-8:45 am — UPDATE: CRUISING FOR A BRUISING: WHEN WILL CRUISE LINES’ PAIN WANE AND WHAT WILL THE RECOVERY LOOK LIKE ?
Cruise lines have been the hardest hit of all travel segments during Covid.
Presenter: Ron Pettit, Director Disability and Inclusion, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
8:45-9:05 am — UPDATE: AIRLINES. BACK TO THE FUTURE?
9:05-9:20am — UPDATE; AIRPORTS
Moderator: Eric Lipp, CEO, Open Doors Organization; Panelists: Dana Folsom, Manager, Disability Progams, Delta Air Lines (i); Tim Joniec, Director, Customer Relations, Houston Airport System
9:30-9:50 am — UPDATE: HOTELS. WILL MARRIOTT’S “ROOM FOR ALL” PROGRAM INFLUENCE THE FUTURE OF ROOM DESIGN?
How they plan to upgrade bed height in accessible rooms of their 5500 U.S. hotels.
From LaunchPad: Travegali: Hotel booking engine with images of accessible sleeping rooms and bathrooms of 4000 hotels.
Presenter: Zach Curry, V.P. Rooms and Guest Services, Marriott (i)
9:50-10:05 am — UPDATE: ATTRACTIONS. HOW WALT DISNEY WORLD’S FOCUSED ON CUSTOMER SERVICE FOR ALL (VERSUS COMPLIANCE)… to make the Happiest Place on Earth the most inclusive as well.
Presenter: Mark Jones, Manager, Accessibility and Services for Guests with Disabilities, Walt Disney World
10:05-10:25 am — BREAK
10:25-11:00 am — UPDATE: TRAVEL AGENTS & BLOGGERS. HOW THREE DISABILITY SPECIALISTS OUTLIVED COVID.
In what will go down in history as the worst year ever for travel agents—especially those serving people with disabilities—leading travel agents and bloggers discuss their coping strategies.
Panelists: Debra Kerper, Owner, Easy Access Travel; John Sage, President, Wheelchair Travel Solutions; John Morris, WheelchairTravel.org; Nicole Thibault, Magical Story Book Travels (i)
11:00-11:30 am — HOW WE MEASURE ROI FOR ACCESSIBILITY. A panel of European travel companies and tourism boards reveal the metrics that matter to them and their stakeholders.
Panelists: Ivor Ambrose, Managing Director, European Network for Accessible Travel; Olaf Schleiper, Innovations Manager, German National Tourism Board (i).
11:30-11:50 AM — ADDING ACCESSIBILITY INTO YOUR EDI PROGRAM.
Where does accessibility fit into your existing EDI program?
Presenters: Nicole King Smith, Lee County CVB
11:50-12:10 PM — NO COST/LOW COST BABY STEPS THAT YOU CAN TAKE TO ACCESSIBILITY
Getting started with accessibility shouldn’t be an expensive or daunting task.
Presenters: Josh Loebner, Director of Strategy, DesignSensory; Toby Willis, Technical Manager and head of accessibility, Expedia Group.
12:10-12:30 — TRAVELABILITY BUILDS A BUSINESS CASE TO SWAY A HOTEL CFO TO BUDGET FOR ACCESSIBILITY. WILL IT WORK?
TravelAbility will present a slide deck, stitched together from key stats drawn from the four most prominent research reports released in the past six months, to a Chief Financial Officer. Will she buy it?
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