Do you want my money or not? 8th October 2013

Introductions and Welcome

• About AVF Marketing

• About Arnold Fewell

– Hotelier with THF

– Conference organiser

– Permanent wheelchair user since 2003

– Chartered marketer and FCIM

– Multi Catey winner

– AccessChamp launches in January

Untapped markets

• One in three of YOU

Will you come to my assistance?

• Research showed that 65% of general public

said NO, why?

Will you come to my assistance?

• The need for staff training

Why would you bother?

• There is a £2 billion market for disabled people in England alone staying

away from home (source VisitEngland).

• 11 million disabled people in the UK plus 6 million carers

• = 25% of UK population

• 75 million in Europe.

• 78 million in the USA (including friends & families).

• 10 million in UK are over 65

What is the business case?

• By 2025 a third of the population will be over 55

• International visitors with a limiting condition

spend over £300 million in England.

• 1 in 3 of all people will be a carer at some

stage in their life

• Stay longer, travel off peak, spend more

• 35% of grandparents take family away

• Worldwide 1.3 billion people

• 18.5% of world population

Accessible Tourism

• World Travel Market Blog suggests Accessible Tourism soon to be

largest travel market

• Minister values market at £80 billion

• Three stages of the market:

– Obligation (law in place)

– Opportunity (where we are now)

– Ordinary (the new sustainability)

The legal requirement

• I will assume that all your attractions, hotels and transport links are compliant

• So what else do you need to do?

Accessibility for all

• Accessibility is about making it easier for everyone

to visit

• People with disabilities

• Families and wheelchair users

• Deaf people and foreign visitors

A strategy of making reasonable adjustments

• Delivers great customer service

• Low cost improvements

– A dimmer switch for a blind person

– A magnifying glass for reading

– Reserving a table for a wheelchair user

– Grab rails

– Providing a portable hearing loop

• It is not rocket science

Accessibility statements

• Starting point is your website

• Needs to be visible

• Readable versus technical (marketing material)

• It is a key selling document and if not

there I move on to somewhere else

Assistance dogs

• Make sure they are all welcome?

Training, training, training

• Low cost improvements make all the difference

• See the person not the wheelchair

• Non disabled people talking to disabled people

• Specific awareness about different disabilities

Help from VisitEngland

• www.visitengland.org/access

• Access Statement guidance and online tool

• National Accessible Scheme

• Listen Up! booklet containing tips and advice to help tourism businesses

welcome customers with hearing loss

• Speak Up! online guide to help tourism businesses market their accessibility

to disabled travellers

• Winning More Visitors – online guide designed to help destinations

provide access information on their websites

The rewards

• More disabled people staying

• Bringing carers, family and friends

• Telling others who tell others via

social media

• Repeat business

• Higher spend

• Spin off to families with pushchairs

• Foreign visitors

• A growing market as we ALL get older

and live longer

I want to spend my money, will you get some of it?