Equality for travellers with access requirements is a myth

Responsible Travel's new report argues that the industry must step up

Activist travel company, Responsible Travel, has revealed the latest chapter in its manifesto for the future of tourism which reports that the travel industry is failing people with accessibility requirements, leaving vast swathes of our global society behind.

Everybody needs global accessibility. 1 in 7 people on the planet live with a disabling condition. Not only that but as a population, we are living longer than ever before which means we're even more likely to have access requirements in the not so distant future. In fact right now more than 46 percent of people over 60 worldwide live with a disability.

On average, adults with a disability travel just over half the distance of others. Three quarters of people with mental health issues, including anxiety and depression say their disability has stopped them travelling.

Justin Francis, CEO of Responsible Travel says: “The tourism industry can and must do better. Change is possible if businesses can cast aside their fears of not being 'perfect' and start real conversations with customers. At the moment we have a dysfunctional market place: there is a demand for accessible tourism services but the market is not supplying. This presents the tourism industry with a huge opportunity – to not only do the right thing but also realise the untapped potential in the £249 billion 'purple pound'. And let's not forget, by making our tourism environments more accessible, we also benefit the local communities that live there; creating a win-win for all.

Responsible Travel's accessibility chapter reports that:

Travel websites and products - In 2018 3 million travel service providers across Europe found that just 9 percent had accessible products on offer.

Airports - Free special assistance is not available across the globe. Even in the UK 57 percent of UK adults with a disability find airports and flying difficult.

Airlines - In the first three months of 2019 in the US, over 2000 wheelchairs were damaged by airlines.

The configuration of planes means that it is often impossible for those with reduced mobility to use the toilets without the help of a companion, as cabin crew are not permitted to help.

This often means they have to fork out for the price of another ticket for someone to travel with them.

Getting around – Shockingly only 3% of the Paris Metro is accessible. If you want to get on a bus in Delhi, drivers are not trained in helping passengers with additional needs and regularly drive on without stopping.

Legislation - Unless disabled people make complaints, many businesses do not make the adjustments legally required. The onus is unfairly placed on the person with accessibility needs to find the support and finances to challenge and pursue legal action.

Destinations - Pedestrian wheelchair users are over a third more likely to be killed in a road accident than the general public, due to poor accessibility of pavements. 75 percent of all assistance dog owners surveyed had been refused access to a service at some point because they had an assistance dog with them.

Responsible Travel's report has found that action is urgently needed, starting with travel companies publishing information on what trips are accessible and for who, and responding to requests from people with access requirements as transparently, helpfully and quickly as possible. 

“As a travel business ourselves, we opened up a conversation with our specialist holiday partners 18 months ago, to find out what was possible in the world of adventure travel. We found that our partners were doing far more in terms of accommodating customers differing needs than they actually advertised.  Our response was to help them categorise and label their trips appropriately. There's plenty more to be done here but I'm proud to say we now have over 140 accessible holidays on our website, with more being added every day.” says Justin Francis, CEO Responsible Travel.

To read the full report along with the proposed list of actions in the manifesto, please visit https://www.responsibletravel.com/copy/manifesto/accessible

An infographic is available here

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Contact:
Ellie Weehuizen, ellie@responsibletravel.com 01273 829 267
Tom Gibson, Tom@responsibletravel.com 01273 829 271

About Responsible Travel

Responsible Travel is an activist travel company that offers over 6,000 holidays in 190+ countries across the globe. We've sold over £150m worth of holidays all of which share the aim of creating better places to live in and to visit. We have been campaigning for positive change in the tourism industry since 2001 and were the first business to use the term responsible tourism.

Responsible Travel was the first travel company to adopt carbon offsets in 2002, and the first to drop them in 2009

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About The Fork in the Road: A manifesto for the future of tourism
www.responsibletravel.com/manifesto
Responsible Travel believes tourism is out of control. We think the industry has reached the fork in the road: there are two choices. Either we come together to tame tourism into a force for good or we continue further into a global crisis. Our manifesto contains 14 chapters dedicated to global issues in which tourism plays a massive part.