VisitEngland Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses
Introduction
Accessible tourism can help businesses in many ways by tapping into under-served and growing markets, differing customer groups and local communities. Wherever you are in your accessibility journey − and however new or well-established your business is − this Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses aims to give you the practical hints and tips, and the reassurance and confidence, to move forward inclusively.
As a best-in-class resource for the tourism industry, this toolkit introduces the legal, commercial and ethical importance of accessibility, before providing guidance related to:
- Customer groups and how to remove barriers.
- How to provide an inclusive welcome with integrity and empathy at its heart.
- The availability of inclusive features and facilities (whether physical, digital or operational).
- How to market your accessibility to potential and existing customers.
- How to become a more inclusive employer and create an inclusive internal culture within your business.
- Measuring success and ensuring accessibility journey accountability.
- The support bodies, influencers, awards and schemes to help you best communicate and celebrate your accessibility.
This holistic toolkit consolidates and replaces a range of standalone VisitEngland guides on accessible and inclusive tourism, creating one comprehensive resource. This document is under regular review by VisitEngland and the expert authoring team at Mima, with feedback being welcomed. Should you have suggestions for content development, please email us at feedback@visitengland.org.
Sections
An introduction to this accessible and inclusive tourism toolkit
Aimed at micro, small and medium-sized tourism businesses wanting to embark on, or continue, their accessibility journey and reach the £14.6bn accessible tourism market.
Section 1: What is accessibility?
Accessibility involves removing barriers to provide positive experiences for all. In the case of this toolkit, it’s about ensuring that everyone can enjoy tourism.
Section 2: The benefits of providing an inclusive experience
The spending power of disabled people and their households is called the Purple Pound. The annual tourism Purple Pound in England alone is worth £14.6 billion.
Section 3: Know your customer
Focus on understanding how you can remove barriers to provide an accessible experience for your customer, rather than their medical condition(s).
Section 4: An inclusive welcome
The key to providing an inclusive welcome is communicating inclusively with your customers and colleagues.
Section 5: Accessible features and facilities
The built environment presents accessibility challenges for many customers with accessibility requirements, and we all have a responsibility to be aware of and remove these, where possible.
Section 6: Marketing your accessibility
Having an accessible website and social media presence is key to marketing your business inclusively. Digital accessibility hints and tips are provided in this section.
Section 7: Inclusive recruitment and employment
Your staff members and volunteers should be able to have the same positive, accessible experience that is available to your customers; it’s important to ‘practise what you preach’.
Section 8: Continuing your accessibility journey
Thank you for reading this Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses. Wherever you are and however much time, space and resources are available to you, there are many quick wins and longer-term actions you can take to ensure that both your customers and colleagues with accessibility requirements are able to experience inclusive online spaces, built environments and social operations as part of their visit to, or work day at, your business.
VisitEngland Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit For Businesses accessible Word version
VisitEngland Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit For Businesses accessible Word version
Downloadable documents
As part of this toolkit, there are downloadable business-specific actionable checklists for you to use to plan and prioritise improvements, as well as some more aspirational technical design guidance for when built environment amendments or installations are possible.
Top 20 tips
These top 20 tips can help you to prioritise changes within your business. Download digital versions below.
Top 20 Tips for Self Catering Venues.pdf
Top 20 tips for self catering venues, part of VisitEngland's Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses.
Top 20 Tips for Hotels.pdf
Top 20 tips for hotels, part of VisitEngland's Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses.
Top 20 Tips for Visitor Attractions.pdf
Top 20 tips for visitor attractions, part of VisitEngland's Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses.
Top 20 Tips for Food & Beverage Businesses.pdf
Top 20 tips for food & beverage businesses, part of VisitEngland's Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses.
- Download (26.79 KB)
Top_20_Tips_Self_Catering_Businesses.docx
A Word version of the Top 20 Tips for Self Catering.
Download (26.29 KB)Top_20_Tips_Hotels.docx
A Word version of the Top 20 Tips for Hotels.
Download (22.73 KB)Top_20_Tips_Visitor_Attractions.docx
A Word version of the Top 20 Tips for Visitor Attractions.
Download (25.7 KB)Top_20_Tips_Food_and_Beverage_Businesses.docx
A Word version of the Top 20 Tips for Food & Beverage Businesses.
Action checklists
These practical action checklists are designed to help you understand the practical changes you can make and include ‘quick wins’.
Self Catering Action Checklist.pdf
Practical action checklist for self-catering venues, part of VisitEngland's Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses.
Serviced Accommodation Action Checklist.pdf
Practical action checklist for serviced accommodation, part of VisitEngland's Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses.
Visitor Attraction Action Checklist.pdf
Practical action checklist for visitor attractions, part of VisitEngland's Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses.
Food & Beverage Action Checklist.pdf
Practical action checklist for food and beverage businesses, part of VisitEngland's Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses.
Business Events Venues Action Checklist.pdf
Practical action checklist for business events venues, part of VisitEngland's Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit
Business Events Organisers Action Checklist.pdf
Practical action checklist for business events organisers, part of VisitEngland's Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit
- Download (55.7 KB)
Self Catering Accommodation Action Checklist_Word version.docx
A Word version of the self catering accommodation checklist.
Download (52.65 KB)Serviced Accommodation Action Checklist_Word version.docx
A Word version of the serviced accommodation checklist.
Download (55.67 KB)Visitor Attractions Action Checklist_Word version.docx
A Word version of the visitor attraction checklist.
Download (50.84 KB)Food & Beverage Action Checklist_Word version.docx
A Word version of the food & beverage checklist.
Download (51.64 KB)Business Events Venues Action Checklist_Word version.docx
A Word version of the business event venues checklist.
Download (59.21 KB)Business Events Organisers Action Checklist_Word version.docx
A Word version of the business events organisers checklist.
Technical guidance for the built environment
This technical guidance for the built environment provides inclusive design principles that should be applied to new-build, refurbishment, conversion, and adaptation projects as far as practicable within any existing site or building constraints.
Technical Guidance for the Built Environment_webaccessible.docx
Technical guidance for the built environment for accommodation, visitor attractions, food & beverage businesses and business event venues.
Employer resources
Download non-branded PowerPoint slides and accompanying trainer notes, to help you provide basic accessibility awareness training for your staff, and an Accessibility Champion brief.
VisitEngland Inclusive Tourism Training Slides_webaccessible 2023.pptx
Inclusive tourism training slides and notes.
Accessibility Champion Brief.pdf
A brief for creating an Accessibility Champion role in your business.
Accessibility personas
The Accessibility Personas can help you learn about the different impairment groups, based on individuals who have accessibility requirements and their real-life tourism experiences. Download a digital version below.
Accessibility Personas.pdf
Accessibility personas based on people with lived experience of accessibility.
- Download (24.39 KB)
Accessibility_Personas_Word_Version.docx
A Word version of the Accessibility personas.
Statistic data sources
The following document provides the sources of statistics and data referenced within the toolkit.
Statistic data sources.docx
References for statistics and data used throughout VisitEngland's Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses.
Promote the toolkit
This downloadable Communication Toolkit can help you to promote the Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit to your network, with sample social media posts and enewsletter stories.
Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses_Communication Toolkit.pptx
Download the key messages, sample social posts and enewsletter stories to promote the toolkit to your network.
