UK hospitality needs to do more for disabled and elderly guests

28 April 2006
UK hospitality needs to do more for disabled and elderly guests

The UK's tourism industry must do more to meet the needs of disabled and elderly people in the country, according to tourist body VisitBritain.

VisitBritain claims disabled people in the UK have a combined spending power of £50b, while over 65s traditionally take an additional 10 overnight holiday trips a year.

Together these lucrative, and largely untapped areas of the market, consist of 20 million consumers.

In a bid to address this VisitBritain has produced a guide - Britain's accessible places to stay - for those with sensory or mobility impairments, which lists all the quality-assessed properties in the UK.

Tom Wright, the tourist body's chief executive, said: "We know at least 2.5 million disabled people travel regularly, but that many more feel unable to do so because of a lack of facilities. Accommodation providers could reap significant benefits if they adapt their business to the special requirements of the guests".

Only 2% of known accommodation in the UK has been assessed as acceptable under the scheme and VisitBritain wants more properties to register.

Instead of a star rating, different symbols indicate that the property has been thoroughly assessed against stringent criteria.

National Tourism Structures, who's got it right? >>

VisitBritain chairman to quit >>

Tourist continue to visit but spend less >>

By Alix Young

Get your copy of Caterer and Hotelkeeper every week -

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking