What is accessible tourism?

Accessible tourism means your tours, rooms, venues and events work for everyone, whatever their disability, mobility or age.  

If you work in tourism or hospitality, it belongs in every plan: every event, every new room, every new tour.

Travellers have more choice than ever, and plenty of them choose based on whether a place works for them. If you are not talking about accessibility, you are quietly turning those guests away.

Here is what it means, why it pays, and where to start. 

What accessible tourism covers

While there is no universally accepted definition of accessible tourism, an easy way to think about it is tourism and travel that is accessible to all people, with disabilities or not, including those with mobility, hearing, sight, cognitive, or intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, older persons and those with temporary disabilities. 

Put simply, are the tourism options you have to offer viable options for everyone? Yes, everyone.  

Accessible tourism isn’t solely limited to people with disabilities. Have you considered how your business can accommodate people travelling with small children or in large travel groups? 

Accessibility goes as far as things like food and beverage options to accessible toilets and showers. It is easy to consider the obvious things like ramps and handrails, but make sure you’re not overlooking the more subtle things you can do to make things more accessible. 

Why is accessible tourism so important?

Let’s not beat around the bush here: accessible tourism is important because people with disabilities, regardless of their disabilities, are people, and they should be afforded the same options as everyone else. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 1.3 billion people experience significant disability. That is 16% of the world’s population, or 1 in 6 of us. Accessible tourism is the right thing to do. It is also good business. 

Why would any operator shut out one in six people? 

Closer to home, Tourism Australia research found around a quarter (24%) of international travellers considering Australia have an accessibility need, and 86% say accessibility influences their choice of destination.

The accessible tourism market 

Did you know that, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 52.3% of Australians aged 65 and over had disability in 2022? Travellers with disability and access needs, and the people travelling with them, also made up 21% of domestic tourism spend in the June 2023 quarter, worth $6.8 billion.

If your guests skew older, accessibility is not a side project. It is your market. 

What can I do to be more accessible? 

Most operators think they have accessibility covered. Most miss the small things that matter most. 

The first thing you should do is an audit of your venue, attraction, or products. For example, if you offer tours, why not go on the tour yourself, taking notes about any potential barriers that need to be made more accessible for tourists? 

Do you offer hospitality? Spend a night in your accommodation. Is there anything in what you have to offer that isn’t accessible? This doesn’t mean that every room you offer has to be fitted out to accommodate people with different needs. However, you should have rooms available that are suitable. 

We recommend seeking out the expertise of Inclusive Tourism. They offer services, online resources and training.  

Want your accessibility shown clearly online?

Start with the resources: Tourism Australia keeps a page of accessible tourism resources for operators. Then make what you offer easy to find. Write an access statement for your website, show your entrances, rooms and bathrooms in photos and video, and answer the common questions in your bio and Highlights.

Tell us what your venue offers and we will help make sure the guests who need it can find it on social. Start your enquiry