Bighton & Hove is one of four destinations to have been chosen to work with national tourist board VisitEngland, on its Access for All campaign aimed at championing and improving accessible tourism in England.
The city was invited to take part in the initiative because of its commitment to improving accessibility for visitors. Accessible tourism is estimated to be worth over £2billion a year to the domestic tourism industry, and has strong growth potential.
As part of the campaign, which is funded by £100,000 from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund plus contributions from partners, the city council’s tourism arm, VisitBrighton, coordinated work to identify top class accommodation and attractions, ensure they are delivering the highest possible standard of access for visitors and to identify areas for improvement.
A range of tourism experiences, including visiting the Royal Pavilion, Preston Manor and the city’s museums as well as three hotels, Thistle Brighton, Jurys Inn and Hilton Brighton Metropole, were assessed.
Primary audits looked at access to each of the hotels and attractions, including public areas and bedrooms, signage, literature and websites, to assess accessibility for wheelchair users, and hearing and visually impaired visitors.
As part of the process front-line staff received training and the businesses had to work through an improvement plan to ensure all areas were as accessible as possible for disabled visitors.
The participating businesses now feature in a new local access friendly guide available in either PDF, large print Word or audio format from www.visitengland.com/access-brighton
For those who cannot access the guides online a limited number of printed copies are available from official Visitor Information Points across the city, including the Brighton Centre box office, Brighton Pier, Churchill Square shopping centre and the Jubilee library.
Offers, downloadable factsheets about accessible places to stay, visit and eat, and maps showing step-free access to the main hotels and attractions, the locations of dropped kerbs and disabled parking bays are also detailed on the VisitBrighton website. www.visitbrighton.com/plan-your-visit/accessibility
For the RV Lifestyle Guide of the 100 Best things to do in England, click here:
Geoffrey “Pride is not a sacred cow” Bowden, chair of BHCC’s Economic Development & Culture committee, said: “This campaign is a cost-effective way for us to showcase our accessible tourism businesses and attract more visits from disabled travellers and those with access needs.
“We know there’s plenty more work to be done to ensure access isn’t a barrier wherever possible but this is a step in the right direction and it’s good to know that Brighton & Hove is among the destinations leading the way.
“The aim of the work done at the hotels and attractions is to ensure that accessible rooms as well as public spaces are accessible to the highest level they can achieve. The venues that took part have invested their time and money into this important work and I hope they will now reap the rewards in terms of extra enquiries and bookings.”
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