Travelers with Disabilities: The Untapped Market

When most people think about accommodating people with
disabilities in their business they get a scared feeling in
their gut and their mind scrambles to search for that
all-important date when the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) went into effect. It doesn’t have to be that way! When
business owners open their eyes and start to realize that there
are literally billions of dollars to be made in the accessible
travel market, I believe we will start to remove the fear
associated with the ADA.

There are currently more than 50 million people with
disabilities in the United States and 180 million worldwide,
representing the single largest untapped tourist market in the
world. According to a recent Harris Poll conducted in
conjunction with the Open Doors Organization and the Travel
Industry Association of America, the 50 million people with
disabilities in our country have a combined income of more than
$175 billion. In 2002, these people took 32 million trips and
spent more than $13.6 billion on travel ($4.2 billion on hotels,
$3.3 billion on airfare, $2.7 billion on food and beverage, and
$3.4 billion on retail, transportation, and other activities).
This study suggested that these travelers would double their
spending if some minor amenities were made available. Meet and
greet programs at airports, preferred seating on airplanes,
hotel rooms closer to amenities, and employees who go out of
their way to accommodate guests with disabilities topped the
list.

The current trends in adaptive travel show most of these
travelers taking advantage of destinations that they know are
already accessible such as cruise ships, Florida, and Las Vegas.
The visitors bureaus and businesses at these destinations that
have gone to great lengths to ensure their visitors that there
will not be any accessibility issues during their stay. From
personal experience and years of traveling in a wheelchair, I
can guarantee that these locations have built and will continue
to build strong relationships with travelers with disabilities.
This group is a very loyal one, who will often return to the
same city, hotel, or activity provider year after year if they
have a good experience. If everyone were to catch on to this we
would see growth in the tourism industry like we have never
seen!

With this in mind, it is a wonder that more business owners have
not taken steps to make their accommodations more accessible and
even start marketing to these travelers. If the staggering
numbers listed above aren’t proof enough, the U.S. Census Bureau
recently stated that nearly 16.5% of all people with
disabilities in the U.S. leave their home two days per week or
less. That constitutes nearly 11 million people that are not
traveling at all. Also keep in mind that there are millions of
people in their golden years that are looking for accessible
travel accommodations. Many of these people use canes or
walkers, travel with oxygen tanks, or have other mobility
impairments, and are not included in disability statistics.

With millions of people in need of accessible travel options,
and with our Baby Boomers (almost 25% of our population)
starting to reach retirement age as well now is the time to
start thinking about improving marketing efforts to include
people with disabilities and about better overall accessibility
in general. By educating business owners on the benefits of
marketing to people with disabilities and educating travel
agents who are fighting a losing battle with the internet, we
can begin to focus on this new target market.

If you want to take advantage of the rapidly growing adaptive
travel market, get started now! I recommend hiring an expert to
get your business rated and start removing barriers to access as
soon as possible. Think about accessibility anytime you’re
planning a remodel or addition. These improvements will benefit
everyone, not just people with disabilities. For those of you
who have already taken steps to improve accessibility, start
bragging about it.

Craig Kennedy is a published adaptive travel author,
accessibility consultant, and motivational speaker with almost
ten years of adaptive travel experience and more than 15 years
of tourism and service industry expertise. He specializes in
resort business growth and customer attraction through better
overall accessibility, education, and marketing, and works with
businesses who wish to become leaders in accessible travel and
accommodation.

Craig P. Kennedy, Steamboat Springs, Colorado, CK Consulting:
Setting Standards for Accessibility www.CKConsultingonline.com.
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