TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

inclusive travel

From TravelAbility Summit 7.0: The Future of Accessible Destination Marketing

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One off accessibility campaigns aren’t cutting it. So what do destinations need to do to create welcome, get the word out, and boost ROI? In this session from last year’s TravelAbility Summit, Jennifer Casey, Director of Strategic Partnerships for Gray Destination Marketing outlines how destination marketers can move beyond one-off accessibility spotlights to fully integrating accessibility across their entire media and measurement ecosystem. 

The focus shifts from awareness via creators to discoverability, structured data, and mid-funnel orchestration—so accessible stories are machine-readable, findable, and attributable to visitation and spend. 

Key Insights 

● Integration beats isolation: Accessibility performs best when it’s woven into core storytelling (TV, streaming, YouTube, blogs, paid social) rather than siloed as special content. 

● Make it discoverable: AI, voice, and search can’t rank what they can’t read—destinations need structured accessibility data, proper tagging, and on-site filters (e.g., “roll-in shower,” “service dog welcome”). 

● Mid-funnel matters: Repurpose influencer content into mid-funnel formats (CTV, programmatic video, social ads) to nurture from inspiration to planning. 

● Measure what matters: Use location-based visitation and spending data to connect inclusive storytelling to real-world outcomes (visits, distance traveled, trip spend).

● Contextual inclusion works: Featuring accessible experiences alongside food, music, and culture normalizes inclusion and improves campaign performance (example: Visit Florida approach). 

● Always-on exposure loop: Travelers loop through exploration/evaluation; staying present with layered media keeps accessibility top-of-mind until purchase. 

Integration beats isolation: Accessibility performs best when it’s woven into core storytelling (TV, streaming, YouTube, blogs, paid social) rather than siloed as special content.

Actionable Takeaways 

● Audit SEO & IA: Ensure accessibility pages and listings use machine-readable fields and schema; add on-site filters for specific features (not just “accessible”). 

● Build a content supply chain: Systematically repurpose creator assets into reels, :15/:30 CTV spots, pre-roll, stories, blog posts, and email. 

● Tag everything: Standardize metadata/UTM conventions for accessibility content to enable mid-funnel and ROI analysis. 

● Adopt programmatic layering: Pair contextual and audience targeting to surround likely travelers through the full journey. 

● Report impact: Incorporate visitation and spend lift into dashboards to prove inclusive marketing’s economic value. 

● Positioning shift: Treat accessibility as a through-line in brand storytelling—not a campaign add-on.

Notable Quotes 

● “Google and AI travel tools can’t rank what they can’t read.” 

● “Don’t make accessibility an add-on; make it a through line.” 

● “The destinations that win are the ones that make every traveler feel welcomed before they arrive.”

Lived Experience: Learn Through Real Travels of Disabled Content Creators with Vineet Valentine Victor

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Vineet Victor in his wheelchair in front of the Universal Studios globe in Singapore.

By Jacqueline Victor (Vineet’s mother and caregiver)

YouTuber | Content Creator | Advocate

When Vineet Valentine Victor searched YouTube for tips on traveling with a wheelchair, he expected to find plenty of advice. Instead, he found almost nothing. 

“As we got ready for our next trip, I searched Youtube for tips on how to make traveling with a wheelchair easier, but I got very very few responses,” Vineet recalls. “I was like, ‘What? people in wheelchairs don’t love/need to travel?’” 

That question led him to create his own channel, Wheelchair Travels with Vineet, where he shares his experiences for other travelers looking to explore the world with a wheelchair. 

Vineet Valentine Victor from India has been a wheelchair traveler from a very young age, largely because his family has always loved to travel. He began sharing his travel stories through YouTube videos during Covid, when he and his mum, Jacqueline, found some free time from work. 

‘What? people in wheelchairs don’t love/need to travel?’”

Vineet Valentine Victor

Vineet is a wheelchair user because he has spina bifida and associated scoliosis. Right after his diagnosis before he had even been born, we, his very young parents, couldn’t wait to shower him with all the love of this world. For us, he was no less than a normal child. 

In the early years we were sometimes overwhelmed by his medical issues and hospital visits. Those visits to hospitals, sometimes far from our homes, made us travel long distances with Vineet. It was those long trips for hospital visits that gave us a little more confidence in traveling with a child with disabilities. 

Soon, we got adventurous enough to travel with both our kids for holidays. Once we started enjoying those holidays, and they gave us a much needed break from our busy work life schedule, there was no looking back! We started working and saving for our annual vacations and visiting new places, new cultures, and new people. Travel became our family’s favorite thing. 

Vineet and his sister began looking forward to those family vacations as “breathers.” Somewhere along the way, we also started sharing our experiences on YouTube, hoping more disabled people could feel confident getting out of their homes and traveling the world. As Vineet said in one of his award-winning videos, “I travel, because sometimes showing up despite the obstacles can be the change too…” 

We were among the first content creators from India to share stories of travelling in a wheelchair through videos. Our main purpose was to help others in similar situations get out of their homes, travel to destinations according to their capabilities, and simply “breathe”. Our tagline, used in most of our social media posts, is “Disabled by Society.”

Our videos focus on both the accessible and inaccessible aspects of the places we visit, so that people travelling to those destinations after us can benefit from our experiences. Our reviews of accessible destinations are followed by many people, and we receive queries not only from disabled travellers from India and abroad, but also from family members of people with locomotor disabilities, including senior citizens, who still want to travel and explore the world.

 “It was those long trips for hospital visits that gave us a little more confidence in traveling with a child with disabilities.”

Jacqueline Victor

If you check out our videos, you will find that Vineet has traveled to many tourist destinations across India, as well as several countries in Europe, and more recently to Malaysia and Singapore. His videos do not just show where he went. They show what worked, what didn’t, and where accessibility could be improved, just in case someone from the relevant department happens to be watching! We also review our hotel stays, and some of these reviews hit thousands of views.

As it takes considerable time for me, Jacqueline, Vineet’s mom, to edit the travel videos, we now share our most recent travel photographs and videos on Instagram, where we’ve also built a following. 

Travel isn’t Vineet’s only creative outlet. He is also a musician and has performed internationally.

Vineet has been featured in magazines and blogs for his active involvement in spreading awareness and advocating for accessibility and inclusive spaces through social media. One of the earliest features was “Accessible Journeys” by Melange (Canada), in collaboration with TravelAbility (USA), followed by India Outbound Magazine and a photo feature in Travel Without Limits magazine (Australia).

You may also come across Vineet’s award-winning short video, “Overcoming Barriers – India and Beyond,” being broadcast in the TV section of United Airlines’ in-flight entertainment through December 2026. This, too, is a TravelAbility initiative, and we cannot say enough about the effort TravelAbility is making globally to prioritize accessible travel and tourism and promote more inclusive experiences around the world. 

From hospital trips to international travel, Vineet’s story has grown into something bigger than a family vacation. Through our videos, we’re helping the next wheelchair traveler know what to expect, where to go, and where accessibility still needs to change. 

To learn more about Vineet, check out his podcast with The Changemaking Channel.

You can also find Vineet on Instagram and Facebook. 

Your Disability Influencer Campaign is Failing. Here’s Why.

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Three creators laugh and take a selfie together in a park, one of them using a wheelchair.

You did your research. You found an influencer with a massive, engaged audience and they’re willing to work with you in your budget. You mapped your content strategy, showed them the very best of your destination, and waited for the campaign to take off.

Instead, your reach tanked.

Where did you go wrong?

Here are six ways you may be sabotaging your social media campaigns before they even begin.

1. Not doing your research.

If you hire an adventure junkie to highlight museums, the content will fall flat with their adventure-seeking audience. 

Find someone whose content already looks like yours. 

2. Over-editing your influencer’s content.

This is the result of number one: when you reshape content to fit your brand, it’s no longer natural and won’t gain momentum among the creator’s followers. 

If you like what a creator is doing but it’s not your vibe, ask if they’ll sell photos and B-roll for you to create your own content.  

3. Not building a relationship.

When you connect with your creator, you’ll have the opportunity to see where your vision aligns and what will flow most naturally. Also, if they like you, it’s easier for them to create good content. 

Make a point to connect before the trip, to say hello while they’re in town, and to follow up to see how the trip really went. 

4. Paying for content, but not for the time.

It’s alarming how many times I’ve been asked why I charge a daily rate on top of my content fees. Content fees cover the hours editing photos, videos, and articles and engaging with published content. Before that begins, creators spend twelve hour days experiencing and capturing the destination. 

If you like what a creator is doing but it’s not your vibe, ask if they’ll sell photos and B-roll for you to create your own content.  

When I’m on location, I’m also not available to take on other freelance work. For creators doing this as a side job, they may be taking time off from their primary job.

If I run the numbers in my head and realize I’m making $2 an hour, I’m going to feel pressure to get the project done and get back to work that actually pays the bills.

Budget for a fair amount for full work days while on-site, and for time put into content creation after the trip.

5. Promoting something you don’t have.

Every destination has accessible experiences worth marketing. The problem is when you promise accessibility that hasn’t actually been tested.

Your creator is not going to feel comfortable promoting a restaurant when outdoor dining is the only accessible option, a hotel where they can’t use the shower, or a destination with no accessible taxis where they have to roll in the street because there are no curb cuts.

The bad experience for the creator will make them leery of recommending the destination as somewhere welcoming.

Call your partners to confirm essentials and preview routes with accessibility in mind. 

6. Not amplifying your campaign.

When your creator is three days into sharing live stories and her first reel goes live without so much as a like from the DMO page, she starts to wonder if she came the right week.

It’s discouraging to see your disability content seemingly ignored by the very destination that invited you to create it. Meanwhile, the DMO is missing an opportunity to showcase its accessible offerings to both locals and the people who are already interested in visiting.

Like, comment, and share your creator’s work on your own social channels. You’ll reach more people, show your creator you value their work, and get more from the campaign you already paid for.

TravelAbility Ambassador Update with Kristy Durso

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TravelAbility Ambassador Kristy Durso had a full summer with speaking engagements, industry connections, advocacy projects, and a growing list of initiatives designed to make travel more accessible.

Kristy Durso, seated in a wheelchair, poses with a group of eight people and a golden retriever in a ballroom.

Outside Days

At Outside Days in Denver, Kristy was the only wheelchair user represented outside of two disability-focused sessions. Rather than letting that lack of representation define the experience, she used her seat at the table to challenge the industry and their emphasis on intentional communities.

During a session on data and consumer tracking, she asked, “Are you tracking your clients with disabilities? Are you tracking your visitors with disabilities when they come?” The answer was no.

Later, during a conversation about building intentional communities, she raised a bigger question: “The first thing you lose when you have an accident and become disabled, you have an illness that makes you disabled, or you have a child born with disabilities, you lose your community.”

She continued, “As you sit here and you talk about these intentional communities, I have to wonder: Is there a place for me?”

The response was significant. Kristy connected with industry leadership and is now hoping to return next year as a speaker in the conference’s regular programming, rather than only disability-focused sessions.

She also began working with more than a dozen adaptive outdoor recreation programs in Colorado, connecting them with mainstream tourism providers. The goal is to make it easier for families with mixed abilities to discover and book adaptive recreation without navigating a maze of separate reservations and providers.

Travel Nevada Rural Round Up

At the Travel Nevada Rural Round Up, where she returned for a second year, Kristy’s breakout session sparked action. Two grant organizations told her they were changing their criteria to give greater preference to disability-focused businesses. 

One attendee even returned with news that he had received a grant based on an idea Kristy gave him at last year’s conference. Working with a dark-sky site, she had suggested 3D models of constellations so visitors who are blind or have low vision could better understand what they are experiencing. The proposal received automatic approval.

National Lieutenant Governors Association Conference

At the National Lieutenant Governors Association conference, Kristy says she was given “10 minutes to change the way they think, and I think I succeeded.” She later accepted a keynote invitation for the Louisiana Governor’s Conference and has already been invited to participate in the upcoming Florida Governor’s Conference.

Outside Agents

At the Outside Agents conference, where Kristy was a keynote speaker, she organized an informal dinner conversation, where 27 travel advisors showed up to learn more about accessible travel. 

“As you sit here and you talk about these intentional communities, I have to wonder: Is there a place for me?”

Kristy Durso

Building Bridges Across the Travel Industry

Kristy’s advocacy is also producing tangible industry connections. She introduced Ignite Adaptive Sports to Hero Door Opener, which has since been purchased for the facility, and connected Royal Caribbean with Freedom Tracks for potential beach access on a private island.

She presented her airline and hotel SOP protocols to United Airlines for consideration and created both a booklet and web-based version of hotel protocols to help front desk staff quickly understand how to accommodate travelers with disabilities.

At the Schoolhouse Hotel Accessibility Innovation Showcase, Kristy served as MC. 

Kristy led a disABILITYsa webinar and had the opportunity to talk with physical therapy students through Regis University.

She is also pushing the travel insurance industry to address wheelchair and prosthetic coverage. “Airlines are going to continue breaking wheelchairs,” she told insurance representatives. “If we can get big businesses like you guys behind us, pressure on the airlines to do better, rather than it just being individuals, I think we can actually create movement.”

What’s Next

Kristy’s calendar isn’t slowing down. By the time this hits your inbox, she’ll have wrapped up four days of content creation in Fort Lauderdale and the Florida Governor’s Conference. Next up is work in Huntington Beach and Anaheim, the All Wheels Up Conference in Colorado Springs, and Access the Skies by PVA, where she’ll help wheelchair users prepare for air travel.

“I don’t want to appeal to just people with disabilities,” Kristy says. “My goal with anything I do is to bridge the gap and cross over between the two in ways that make people laugh and think.”

Accessibility Champion: Travel Oregon Wins ESTO/s All Ways Welcome Award

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Travel Oregon team celebrating on stage at the U.S. Travel ESTO Awards, with Kevin Wright holding the award.

“Travel Oregon” has slowly become synonymous with “inclusive travel.” This past spring, no one was surprised when Travel Oregon won Travel + Leisure’s Global Vision Award for their efforts in becoming the first Accessibility Verified State. 

So it won’t be a shock that Travel Oregon also took first place in ESTO’s All Ways Welcome Award. The category recognizes a marketing campaign or destination-led initiative that advances inclusivity and accessibility in destination marketing and makes travel more welcoming for underrepresented or historically excluded audiences. 

Kevin Wright, the Vice President of Global Marketing for Travel Oregon has been featured as a TravelAbility Accessibility Champion for the way he’s brought attention to accessibility and transformed the atmosphere across Oregon. His personal journey began with a family soccer game that almost went terribly wrong, before discovering the sensory kit and well trained staff at guest services who saved the day.

Start. You don’t need to have all the answers or a perfect accessibility strategy before you begin.

Kevin Wright, VP of Global Marketing for Travel Oregon

The impact has grown well beyond one leader. DMOs across the state are embracing accessibility with an enthusiasm that is increasingly hard to ignore. 

When asked what advice he’d give destinations who may be inspired and want to follow his lead, Kevin’s answer was simple: “Start. You don’t need to have all the answers or a perfect accessibility strategy before you begin. Start by listening to travelers with disabilities, invite them into the process, find partners who can help you understand where the barriers are, and then take meaningful action. At Travel Oregon, we’ve learned that accessibility isn’t a project with a finish line—it’s an ongoing commitment to making travel more welcoming for everyone. The most important thing is to begin, learn along the way, and keep moving forward.”

Becoming Accessibility Verified is only the visible evidence of a team that’s willing to do whatever it takes to welcome all. 

Now that is surprising. 

Hats off to Travel Oregon on a job well done, an attitude that is contagious, and initiatives that are leading the industry forward.

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