Disabled England!

VisitEngland, the national tourist board, is today launching a new Access for All campaign, aimed to raise awareness of accessible destinations and businesses in England; informing disabled people of accommodation and visitor attractions when planning a day trip or holiday.

Following a successful pilot project in 2013/14, with four destinations; VisitEngland accessed funding from the European Commission to expand the Access for All initiative, with a grant of €125,000. For the past year VisitEngland has been working with seven local destination partners across the country, to create a series of access guides covering coastal, countryside and city destinations. These include:

Ø  Visit Kent

Ø  Marketing Birmingham

Ø  Visit Lincoln

Ø  Northumberland Tourism

Ø  Visit Peak District and Derbyshire

Ø  Experience Nottinghamshire

Ø  Visit Brighton
56 businesses are involved in the project; including a mix of accommodation and attractions such as Lincoln Cathedral, Brighton & Hove Buses, Chatsworth House, Turner Contemporary, Hotel La Tour, Vindolanda Roman Fort and Nottingham Belfry amongst many others. The businesses involved have worked hard to make changes – focusing on positive action - to improve perceptions of Accessible England.
VisitEngland research highlights that the overnight accessible tourism market is now worth £3billion to the English economy, with day visits bringing the figure up to £12.1 billion.  Over the past few years overnight trips by disabled travellers and their companions have increased by 19% with spend up by 33%.

The Purple Pound presents tourism businesses and destinations with a huge opportunity for economic growth. New figures from VisitEngland confirm an approximate value of overnight accessible tourism to the destinations involved:

·         Kent: £60m

·         Birmingham: £50m

·         Lincoln: £9m

·         Northumberland: £65m

·         Derbyshire: £45m

·         Nottinghamshire: £30m

·         Brighton and Hove: £14m
Some of the great initiatives include those introduced by Brighton & Hove Buses (part of the Go-Ahead group) which provides wheelchair access to 100% of their fleet. They are trialling the use of hearing loop systems on a bus; have a Helping Hand yellow card scheme; offer a wheelchair taxi guarantee if someone cannot get onto the bus and have many innovations to help disabled visitors use their buses.

VisitEngland, Chief Executive James Berresford, said: “The accessible tourism market is worth a sizable £12.1 billion to the English economy and many tourism businesses are realising that catering for disabled customers is not only a necessity but a wise investment.”