Here’s why the industry is missing out by not catering to the special needs market
Planning your trip is one of the most exciting parts of going on holiday.
But when you look closer it can also be the most difficult and frustrating things. Think about connecting flights, working out where your accommodation is in relation to public transport, navigating language barriers, making sure all the activities on offer fit your schedule, the list goes on.
It’s enough to give even the most seasoned travellers a migraine.
So imagine what it’s like for those with disabilities.
Issues with accessibility and understanding cause big problems for people with special needs and their families, making trip planning much harder and often more limited than for able-bodied travellers.
Which is a big problem not only for inclusion but for the entire industry when you consider that almost one in five Australians have a disability, 80 per cent of which are physical, and 20 per cent are sensory, mental or intellectual.
That’s why Janeece Keller, CEO and founder of Bound Round, and Julie Jones, founder of Have Wheelchair Will Travel decided to launch Travel with Special Needs (TWSN) earlier this month.
Designed to assist families and carers of passengers with special needs in researching, planning and booking travel, TWSN aims to make travel possible for people of all abilities and needs.
The new platform shares special rates and travel offers for tours and packages designed for guests with special needs and their travelling pals.
The handpicked offers are reviewed by Jones herself, who is a certified accessible travel consultant and also has oodles of know-how in special needs travel from her own experiences travelling with her family including her son Braedon who lives with cerebral palsy.
Her passion for getting the word out about special needs travel started when she launched her blog Have Wheelchair Will Travel, documenting her travels with Braedon and sharing her accessible travel tips with the wider special needs community.
We caught up with Jones to find out more about what the industry can do to make travel more accessible for people of all abilities.
Jones told us Have Wheelchair Will Travel came about after she and her family won a trip to Disney Land back in 2011.
“It was just so liberating to be able to actually go on the trip,” she said.
“With my background as a travel consultant, I was able to research all the access and how we’d manage the trip.
“We just had such a seamless trip and it was so fabulous to feel like my son’s disability and the wheelchair weren’t going to hinder us actually doing what we thought we’d always do as a family.
“I was just telling friends about it but it seems like such a waste that I had all this information about how to get in here and where the good access was and what discounts you could get so somebody suggested I should try a blog.”
Jones told us that her son always likes to be on the go, so they had plenty of material to work with.
“It was just so well received and people were so grateful and started to send me photos of them doing the holidays we had shared.”
Maintaining her blog and interacting with her audience made it clear to Jones that there was a broad spectrum of the community that wasn’t having their needs met.
“I just thought it would be fantastic if somebody would be able to road test packages for people with special needs so the community could have the confidence to book their trips. So that’s where the idea for Travel with Special Needs came from,” she told us.
Jones said the industry needs to focus on having clear messaging when it comes to accessibility, and suppliers need to give more information.
“If I look at a hotel’s website and see an accessibility tab on the front page, immediately I feel much more confident. If I then click on that tab and that hotel has their accessible room with photos, I’m just blown away.”
“The industry sees the special needs community as a niche market so it’s not on their radar to cater to but the actual fact is they’re catering to three major markets if you’re thinking of every family with a pram, every older person who’s now finding stairs more difficult and the disability market, that’s actually quite a good percentage of the market,” Jones told us.
“It becomes a case of people socially wanting to be inclusive but it tends to come down to marketing dollars.
“But if you break it up in that respect and look at it as a dollar amount and what the tourism industry could actually reap as a reward, it’s a good amount to want to capture.”
So what can agents do to help make travel more accessible?
“Agents need to ask questions and be open to what their passenger might need and not be afraid to say that they don’t have experience in that area but they would like to help the person have their trip of a lifetime or whatever it is that they want.”
According to Jones, access to travel has been very important to her family as a way of managing her son’s disability.
“Every family is very busy day-to-day but with all the medical appointments and therapy and things like that holidays become more of something to look forward to and a way of reconnecting as a family.”
“Travel is one of those things that takes you out of that world for a while. Even though it’s still there, it just gives you something you can look forward to and look back on.
“I feel really passionate that everyone should have that opportunity.”
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
bound round have wheelchair will travel travel with special needs travelling with disabilityLatest News
Collette goes off the beaten track with Canyon Country tour
To be clear TW is not advocating actually walking off the beaten track. Avoid the coyotes. Stay on the beaten track.
Intrepid & Korean Tourism Organisation team up to give agents a cooking masterclass
These guys learnt that Korean cooking is more than just putting kimchi on 2-minute noodles (as we once thought).
Winner, winner! Intrepid reveals the 9 lucky agents that won $2k
Who won the incentive? Which Intrepid trip will they spend it on? What day of the week is it again? Where am I? Huh?
Corporate Traveller reports 42% increase in Easter traffic this year
Business travellers just love Easter! Expect plenty of chocolate stained documents returning to the office on Tuesday.
Turbulent year wiped $384m off Qantas brand value: Report
Meanwhile, eating tuna at your desk can damage your own personal office brand value by several thousand dollars.
FAMIL: Room-Res & Singapore Tourism Board shows agents the Lion City’s roar
Click this article to see a man very impressed by a 20-layer chocolate cake. We're not kidding, he loved it!
Oceania Cruises offers sailors free pre-cruise hotel stay
Looking for ways to make your holidays as long as possible? Look no further.
Bonza launches new website to compliment app, agent portal
Does news about an airline's website fill you with ecstasy, glee and joy? Get your hit of the good stuff here.
MTA agents attends ‘Lunch ‘n’ Learn’ with AMA Waterways
When organising the event, Lunch 'n' Learn beat out Dinner 'n' Divulge and Breakfast 'n' Banter. Understandably so.
Travelmarvel reveals 2025 South America tours
If you spot any typos in the newsletter today it is because TW became distracted Googling images of Machu Picchu.
Tourists from 5 countries could be BANNED from visiting Australia
Anthony Albanese's immigration laws could impact tourism from certain countries.
Just how many passengers will Qantas & Jetstar hop around this Easter?
Airline workers are ready for gleeful Easter travellers! Also prepared for sticky children with chocolate on their face.
Air New Zealand gets ready for bumper Easter weekend
Air NZ gears up for travelling passengers this Easter, while TW looks to beat our egg eating record. 117 here we come!
Four Seasons Yachts reveals first itineraries to the Caribbean & Mediterranean
These trips look so good we wish there were five seasons! Alright, we'll see ourselves out...
FAMIL: Travellers Choice treats top agents to the wonders of Rotorua
This one's got plenty of famil pics and no one looks shockingly hungover in them! Clearly no TW staffers were there.
European Waterways celebrates 50th anniversary with week-long founders cruise
Plan on celebrating your 50th anniversary with a bottle of Moët and fairy bread? European Waterways has better ideas.
100th route! Jetstar celebrates the launch of Brisbane-Avalon with 12 hour sale
Jetstar knocks a ton and celebrates with a sale while TW once scored a ton and celebrated with about 17 beers.
Record-breaking year for NSW as visitor expenditure soars past $50 billion
Enjoy running round the Opera House? Be prepared to elbow even more tourists out the way.
Norwegian Cruise Line makes play for solo travellers
NCL ensuring you don't have to go trawling Tinder to find a cruise partner. Thank goodness, we were sick of catfishing.
Entire Travel Group’s Canada and Europe 2024/25 brochures are out now
Entire's new brochure is bittersweet; it both informs your clients and makes you envious of the holiday they'll take.
Malaysia Airlines adds 3 new destinations & A330neo seats
More seats means cheaper airfares and more money to spend on overpriced airport sandwiches. Woohoo!
Two divine days onboard Crystal Serenity
It's only pure serenity onboard this ship. Anxiety, agitation and anguish have been rejected by the bouncer.
How the Globus Family of Brands elevates coach touring: Travel Weekly TV with Chris Fundell
Chris' here so you don't think coaches mean peeling your thighs off a sticky leather seat every time you stand up!
The Flight Centre Foundation gears up for massive 2024 with 3 new board members
The foundation looks to invest $200k this year, spurring the TW journos to figure out how to qualify as a charity.
Barking Owl Communications to head up Anantara & Avani in ANZ
Fellow PR competitors had been barking up the wrong tree even thinking of bidding for this job!
Amex GBT to purchase CWT for $871m
It's big deals like this that get a firm handshake - hence the sore hands over at the CWT and Amex GBT offices.
1000MTG’s second global conference reminds agents to ‘strive and thrive’
Alongside messages to 'strive' and 'thrive' were those to 'survive', 'drive', 'arrive' and 'jive' (when appropriate).
Qantas A330 makes “loud bang”, pilots forced to shut down one engine
Qantas refusing to let Boeing have all the headlines in aviation world today!
GX Community Tourism Summit 2024 location revealed!
The new location has arrived and it'll blow your socks off! Time for another trip to Target for more socks then.
Visiting the destination my Mum didn’t want me to
Yet again, this journo has been a stress to his mother. Discover how this trip spurred his mother's anxiety here.
Agents come out of their shells at P&O’s turtle hatchery event
For some, it's a few glasses of bubbles to lure them out of their shell. For these agents, it was a bit more literal.
Boeing cleanout: CEO, chair to go as safety crisis plagues the manufacturer
CEOs are falling thick and fast these days. We should have started up a bingo game with their headshots in the office.
Virgin looks to swap MAX 10 order for MAX 8s amid Boeing delays: Reports
Virgin has changed its order for something smaller. Much like we have to at Maccas following a worrying doctor's visit.
Club Med unveils newest luxury yacht for 2024/25 early bird sale
This yacht is preserved for the early birds! Night Owls may also get onboard depending how late they stay up.
Abercrombie & Kent 2024 Asia Portfolio is here
Round up the family and get planning an Asia jaunt. Or, if they're hard to handle, brush them all and go it alone!
Elevate your earnings: Final days to secure double commission with Inspiring Vacations’ March offer
What could inspire you to sell more Inspiring Vacations? Double commission of course! That's all the inspiration needed.