Enhanced programme: Enhancing destination accessibility through focused business development

This project, partly funded by the European Commission, ran from October 2014 to March 2016 and involved seven destination organisations and 56 businesses across England in a product development process. This was then followed by a national marketing campaign.

The aims of the Access For All Project (2014-2016) were:

• to develop and promote high quality accessible tourism itineraries encompassing all the elements of the tourism value chain;
• to support tourism businesses to improve information, customer service and facilities for the benefit of people with accessibility requirements;
• to foster partnerships between key tourism stakeholders and disability stakeholders;
• to support destination organisations to become local champions of long-term accessible tourism development.

Destination leads were supported by specialist access advisors throughout the process which included access audits of participating businesses, the development of accessibility improvement plans and a mystery shopping process to provide additional feedback. Accessibility Champions were trained at each business, whose front-line staff also took part in accessibility awareness training, supporting them to provide a warm and inclusive welcome for all visitors.

A consumer marketing campaign, which included the development of three supplements in the Daily Express Sunday magazine, editorial features and adverts, was supported by a social media campaign and promotion on destination websites.

Outcomes for destinations:

• five out of seven destinations said that they had learned a lot;
• all said that promoting accessible tourism had become a little or a lot more important to them;
• all were keen to continue relationships made with local access groups;
• and all had medium to long-term plans to further develop accessible tourism in their destination.

Outcomes for businesses:

• 72% of businesses said they had learned a lot;
• almost all businesses said they felt prepared to welcome visitors with accessibility requirements;
• and all but one business said they would recommend participation in a similar project.

Outcomes from the marketing campaign:

The total incremental spend generated by the advertising campaign was £32.7 million, compared with a target of £12 million.

Watch the video on the Access For All Project

Twelve businesses in the North York Moors region, from experiences to attractions and accommodation, were involved in the project, which ran from October 2021 to early 2023.

The North York Moors Accessibility Project (2021-23) aimed to:

• develop and promote a high-quality accessible tourism itinerary for the North York Moors, bookable for people with accessibility requirements in Germany and/or the Netherlands;
• support tourism businesses in the North York Moors to improve information, customer service and facilities for the benefit of both domestic and international visitors with accessibility requirements;
• support destination organisations (DOs) in the North York Moors to become local champions of long-term accessible tourism development;
• act as a ‘test and learn’ project to inform a potential wider roll-out.

Guided by Professional Accessibility Mentors, businesses undertook a development process which included an accessibility audit of their business and the development of an improvement plan, with a ‘mystery shopping process’ providing additional feedback and impetus for improvement. An online Accessibility Guide was created for each business to showcase their accessible offering, and guidance given on providing relevant accessibility information online.

At least one member of staff from each business undertook Accessibility Champion training, and front-line staff undertook online training to increase their skills, knowledge and confidence. Supporting each business through the process was a peer mentor from a similar business which had a more developed accessible tourism offering.

The destination organisations in the region - the North York Moors National Park Authority and Discover Yorkshire Coast - were integral to the process and were given guidance on creating an ‘Accessibility’ section on their own websites. Two destination-wide conferences, one at the beginning and one towards the end of the project, helped to raise awareness of the programme and inspire others to engage with the accessible tourism market across the region.

Following this development process, an international marketing campaign targeted at the Dutch market, showcased the region and the accessible tourism products developed in a promotional video on YouTube and an article in the specialist Support Mag magazine. This was supplemented by a domestic PR campaign using disabled influencers and own channel content on VisitEngland.com.

The international campaign generated over 9 million impressions, with the domestic campaign generating over 1.6 million impressions. In May 2023 the campaign was awarded Digital PR Campaign of the Year by TravMedia. 

All those involved in the project have moved their accessibility ‘offer’ along, feeling more confident and better equipped to welcome people with accessibility requirements. The expert advice, training, seed funding for accessibility equipment and general momentum from being involved has helped to develop accessibility in the region further and more quickly than otherwise would have happened.

The quotes provided throughout this Enhanced programme section of the toolkit are from people who took part in the VisitEngland North York Moors Accessibility Project, offering first-hand insight into the process.

See more about the North York Moors Accessibility Project