Boost to the economy
Laura Smith OBE Games Director, Sharon Sloan and Andrew Stuart (Special Olympics GB athletes from Forth Valley), Yvonne Hay MBE Games Director and Andrew Bain, CEO of Active Stirling at Forthbank for the games launch in April. The games logo is also shown Tourists with all sorts of disabilities are being seen as a huge boost to Stirling’s economy.
Local businesses are being encouraged to tap into the widening market by ensuring they are catering for and welcoming the athletes, their families and friends - and to continue their efforts well beyond the event’s closing ceremony.
The start of the Special Olympics GB 40th Anniversary Games in Stirling next week will see the area welcome over 1000 intellectually disabled athletes and their families. VisitScotland is urging more businesses to become a part of the Inclusive Tourism movement with statistics showing that, as well as being the right thing to do, catering for these guests can be a money-spinner…
In the UK, one in five people are disabled, of which only eight per cent are wheelchair users and 70 per cent have invisible disabilities.
People with disabilities are among the most loyal, repeat customers with 86 per cent making a return visit to places they enjoy and cater for them.
In terms of word of mouth business, 83 per cent of disabled customers tell others about it and 49 per cent share on social media.
The over-55s sector alone has a growth potential of 31 per cent in domestic trips.
The value of the so-called ‘purple pound’(disabled people market) in Scotland is an estimated £1.33 billion, with £822million in day visits, and £504million in domestic trips. They travel in larger groups and stay longer plus spend more per trip.
The‘grey pound’(over 55 year olds) has a total market value of £1.27billion, spending 20 per cent more than the average consumer on leisure and hospitality. Around 42 per cent of over 65 year-olds have a disability (and 33 per cent of 55-65 year olds).
VisitScotland regional director Neil Christison said:“Inclusive Tourism is one of VisitScotland’s core business objectives. This is not just about doing the right thing to welcome everyone to our country but with a market worth of £2.6 billion, this is a huge commercial opportunity for Scotland too.
“Providing clear and comprehensive accessibility information is key to increasing your inclusiveness. It enables customers to prepare for their visits and empowers them to make confident decisions about their travel plans.
“VisitScotland provides a free online tool for businesses to create an accessibility guide. Fill in a simple questionnaire, and the tool will create a comprehensive, standardised guide in plain English, which you can link to from your website.
“Several of the city and surrounding area’s businesses and attractions are already making strides to become more inclusive, making Stirling a fantastic host for the Special Olympics GB 40th Anniversary Games.”
VisitScotland Inclusive Tourism executive Gabrielle Blackburn added:“Our goal is to make tourism accessible to all. Events like these are great opportunities to help focus us on how to improve our accessibility and become inclusive.
“We encourage all businesses in Stirling and the surrounding area to take this chance to complete our online accessibility training and create an accessibility guide, to show that Scotland is truly a place where everyone is welcome.”
One of the area’s top tourist attractions, Blair Drummond Safari Park, has been among those striving to meet the needs of its disabled visitors, including being one of the first venues in the area to install a state of the art Changing Places toilet facility.
Safari Park manager Gary Gilmour said:“Everyone should be doing whatever they can to make sure they remove any barriers for potential customers and visitors who have disabilities. As well as just being the right thing to do and something that should be a natural part of a business these days, there is a huge market out there. We want everyone to come here, feel welcome and feel able to stay as long as they wish.”
To find out more on VisitScotland and Inclusive Tourism visit: www.visitscotland. org
Go to www.accessibilityguides. org to create your own guide now.