Laying the foundations: Leadership and culture change
Top Tips
Procure accessible tourism training for your team
Share your vision for accessible destination development with businesses and stakeholders
Incorporate access and inclusion into your day-to-day activities to facilitate culture change.
Lead on accessible and inclusive tourism development
As the organisation leading on destination development, it is important that you have a clear vision for accessible tourism which is reflected in your strategy and ways of working. To facilitate this, you and your team need to understand accessible tourism and the value of creating an accessible destination.
Procure accessible tourism training for your team, covering:
- an overview of accessible tourism
- the barriers for disabled people and others with accessibility requirements, both at business and at destination level, and the solutions which can help to overcome them
- marketing accessibility and Accessibility Guides
- action planning: what will you do differently as a result of the training?
A list of disability awareness training providers is included in the business toolkit.
Your leadership role also extends to your businesses and stakeholders. By sharing your strategy and vision for accessible destination development with them, you can begin to create a holistic, destination-wide approach to accessible tourism development.
- Develop a vision / mission statement and strategy for the development of accessible and inclusive tourism in your destination, which aligns with your overall vision for your LVEP
- Share your vision and strategy with your businesses and your wider stakeholder group to:
- demonstrate your commitment to accessible tourism development;
- engage with other key stakeholders, businesses and local communities;
- encourage them to become actively involved in your plans;
- develop ownership of the role they play in improving destination; accessibility.
- Develop a vision / mission statement and strategy for the development of accessible and inclusive tourism in your destination, which aligns with your overall vision for your LVEP
Quotation
“LVEPs have a leadership role. They can fulfil this by giving encouragement and sharing best practices within their network and members. They can also be role models of best practice themselves. For example, by featuring inclusive images within marketing materials, which shows leadership and demonstrates what others should do. It may motivate their business partners to think more about this if it was not previously on their agenda.”
Neil Chapman - Former Managing Director, Hovertravel
Regenerative Tourism
Regenerative Tourism
Accessible tourism and sustainability are closely linked. Ensuring that destinations are accessible for all visitors and members of the local community is a key part of social sustainability and regenerative tourism.
It is important to ensure that any regenerative/sustainability strategies incorporate accessibility and inclusion, to maximise the opportunities in both areas and provide greater visibility to accessibility initiatives.
In 2024, the Global Destination Sustainability Movement, in partnership with Destination North East England, delivered a first-of-its-kind, world-leading, Regenerative Visitor Economy Framework to support the region’s visitor economy. The framework covers inclusion and the role this plays in marketing, employment and well-being, benefitting local communities and contributing to social sustainability.
Change culture
Through effective leadership, you can encourage long term culture change: new ways of working where accessible tourism is part of mainstream activities and not an ‘add on’.
Consider ways in which you can get your team on board and involved, so that they take ownership of accessibility development.
Incorporating access and inclusion into all your activities will support this culture change. It may also help to amplify its importance to your businesses more effectively than only hosting ‘stand-alone’ accessibility events.
Whilst culture change does not happen overnight, time, consistency and patience will help new ways of working become ‘just the way we do things round here’.
Include accessibility criteria within your:
- training programmes;
- procurement briefs;
- funding opportunities;
- awards programmes;
- marketing activities and imagery.
Think about the workshops you regularly hold and consider how you might integrate accessibility within these, for example:
- a marketing workshop could include ‘marketing your accessibility’
- a photography workshop could include ‘creating inclusive imagery’
- a website workshop could include ‘Providing online accessibility information’
- a social media workshop could include ‘Inclusive social media hints and tips’
- a customer service workshop could include ‘Welcoming visitors with accessibility requirements’.
Remember to include signposting to the Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses in all of the above.
“Accessibility and inclusion should always be an integral part of destination planning and marketing. Being an accessible destination not only helps visitors to feel like they are truly appreciated and welcomed wherever they go, but it also enables tourism businesses to access a valuable share of the accessible tourism market.
Improving accessibility provides an invaluable opportunity to obtain loyal customers, increase overnight stays, boost visitor spend, extend the tourism season and, above all else, provide memorable and enjoyable experiences for people with additional access needs. It benefits all visitors and doesn’t always require major or expensive changes.
There are many ways that destinations can get involved, from hosting workshops and training on accessibility, to ensuring that accessibility is at the heart of key events such as conferences and networking events.”
“Visit Peak District & Derbyshire has been committed to seeking funding to improve accessible tourism in the area, and we’re proud that our recent European Regional Development Fund project, ‘Growing and Developing the Visitor Economy in Derbyshire’, identified accessibility as a key strand. As a result, we’ve helped hundreds of local businesses improve their accessibility and inclusivity, fuelling their growth as a result.
Accessibility funding and workshops have served as a catalyst for change for many local tourism businesses, and we’re proud to have 40 accredited Accessibility Champions – and counting – in the Peak District and Derbyshire, who fly the flag for accessible tourism in the area.”
Lindsay Rae – Deputy Director and Head of Industry Engagement, VisitPeakDistrict and Derbyshire
