Laying the foundations: Learn from other destinations
Top Tips
Benchmark your destination against others to see how your accessible tourism offering compares
Compare information on other destination websites
Network with other LVEPs and other organisations operating at a regional level, enabling you to learn from each other
Benchmark your destination
Benchmarking your destination against others is a good starting point, both to assess your current level of accessibility and to learn from the experiences and established good practice of others.
The drive towards making tourism more accessible began over 40 years ago in England. This means that, whether you are just starting out on your accessible tourism journey or have a more developed offering, there are lots of opportunities to learn from the experiences of others.
The examples provided throughout this toolkit will help you with this process. It will also be important for you to keep up to date with developments in the accessible tourism sector as you progress.
To help you with the benchmarking process, find out which destination organisations already have a well-developed accessible tourism offering:- Visit Peak District & Derbyshire
- Visit Kent
- Visit Cornwall
- Visit Bristol
- Visit Bath
- Visit London
- Visit Lincoln
- Newcastle Gateshead
- Visit Windsor
Take a look at the following examples of their provision:
Consumer-facing website
- Do they have a section on their consumer website dedicated to accessibility information?
- Do they have a filter system or ‘search’ function, enabling potential visitors to find tourism products which meet their access needs with ease?
- Does accessibility and inclusion run as a thread throughout all their content and campaigns?
Business-facing website
- Do they provide support or resources for their businesses to understand accessible tourism? What form does this take?
- Do they have a business-to-business marketing campaign based around accessible tourism?
- How does their business information and support on accessibility differ from what you are doing? What can you learn from this?
Quotation
“I’m a real believer in sharing best practices. Destination managers can learn so much from each other.”
Neil Chapman - Former Managing Director, Hovertravel
Network
Networking is another way for you and your businesses to learn from others.
Proactively connect with other LVEPs, enabling you to learn from, and support, each other. You could also consider partnering with another LVEP - ask your VisitEngland Regional Development Lead for advice on suitable partner destinations. If accessible tourism is new to you, it makes sense to partner with a destination whose accessible tourism offering is at a more mature stage. Alternatively, if you are already at a more advanced stage, you may want to volunteer to mentor another destination just starting out.
- Check if any of your existing networks are looking at accessibility
- Suggest that accessible tourism is a topic for future meetings, networking events or conferences
- Consider creating a subgroup focussing on accessible tourism to share information and good practice. This should include key stakeholders in your destination such as your Local Authorities.
- Look at other networks which might be helpful, such as the European Network for Accessible tourism (ENAT).
Tap into existing resources
Case studies and best practice guidance are provided throughout this toolkit, including national and international best practice and examples from different destination types such as rural, urban and coastal areas.
