‘Accessible’ tourism a growing market
Kiwi businesses have embraced accessible tourism, adding features for the disabled to accommodate New Zealand’s increasingly diverse tourists.
Tourism is one of the country’s largest exports, with tourism expenditure last year of $34 billion.
Sudima Hotel operations director Les Morgan said it would benefit everyone if tourist destinations became more accessible through any number of means, including better wheelchair access, making information more accessible online or catering for the hearing or sight impaired.
‘‘It makes commercial sense, but it is also the right thing to do. The
Unfortunately the symbol of disability is a wheelchair. Howarth HTL director Michael Pusinelli
disabled population in tourism is enormous and the baby boomer market is aging and growing,’’ Morgan said.
The features Sudima has added to its Auckland hotel include braille on room numbers, nibs on hand rails, slip guards on stairwells and dog bowls for guide dogs.
Howarth HTL tourism consultancy firm director Michael Pusinelli said businesses in the tourism industry had to go beyond the legal obligations.
‘‘Unfortunately the symbol of disability is a wheelchair. But much more could be done than providing toilets for wheelchair accessibility,’’ Pusinelli said.
NZ Tourism Guide, owned by Yellow, has also rejigged its website to enable users to navigate just with a keyboard. For those with sight impairment, there is also a feature that reads out the text.
Chief executive of Yellow Darren Linton said it was about creating a seamless experience for tourists online to offline, and Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said the incentives outweighed the challenges.
‘‘It expands who can stay at your hotel and early adapters get the advantage of building their reputation early,’’ he said.