Disability-friendly Tourism Infrastructure Increases Arrivals
Hospitality and other travel service providers could see revenues from travel by the disabled double if they removed obstacles and made their hotels, restaurants and transportation systems more accessible, a new study has found.
In the past two years, some 21 million adults with disabilities in North America traveled for pleasure and business, but many encountered barriers at airlines and airports and, to a lesser degree, hotels, according to the new survey by Open Doors Organization and the Travel Industry Association of America.
Some 60 percent of travelers with disabilities were hampered by various obstacles at hotels, said the study. Some 48 percent were stalled by physical barriers like heavy doors, while 45 percent found customer service problems – staff unaware of services for them, for instance.
Another 15 percent of those polled could not be accommodated for hearing impairments or other communications issues, said Laurel Van Horn, a consultant for Open Doors, a Chicago group that teaches business how to become more accessible.
“Very few hotels do specific training for this market,” Ms Van Horn said of travelers with disabilities.
The problems were more rampant for air travelers. Some 84 percent of travelers who flew cited obstacles on planes and 82 percent encountered problems in airports, according to the survey of 1,373 Americans, conducted by Harris Interactive.
The average number of leisure trips and hotel stays was up 50 percent from 2002, when the Open Doors group conducted a similar study on spending and market trends.
The group timed the release of its study near the July 26 15th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. “It is rather dismaying at this point to see so many obstacles still in place 15 years later,” Ms Van Horn said. “It’s pretty much across the board.”
The study showed that more people with disabilities are buying more hospitality services in areas in addition to hotels and air travel.
Some 71 percent of adults with disabilities dine out at least once a week, according to the study, which also showed a 6 percent increase in casual dining from 2002. In the new survey, 40 percent of people with disabilities complained that there is too little room between tables.
The study also found that 20 percent of people with disabilities rented a car for travel in the past two years. But half said they would be more inclined to rent a car if it were delivered to and picked up from them, and 36 percent would be willing to pay more for this service.
Americans with disabilities spend more than $13 billion a year on travel.