Accessible tourism
Accessible tourism is the ongoing endeavour to ensure tourist destinations, products and services are accessible to all people, regardless of their physical limitations, disabilities or age.
People with access requirements include those with young children in prams, seniors with mobility requirements and people with permanent or temporary disabilities. Their access requirements may include physical/mobility, hearing, vision and/or cognitive.
Valley Hops Brewing, Fortitude Valley, Queensland © Tourism and Events Queensland
Australian policies and legislation
Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021-2031
The focus of Australia’s Disability Strategy is to drive action at all levels of government to improve the lives of people with disability. A range of actions within the Strategy will help ensure more people with disability can enjoy holiday travel.
Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992
The Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992 protects people with a disability from discrimination and legislates that reasonable adjustments are made to reduce barriers for people with a disability.
Let's Go Surfing, Bondi Beach, New South Wales © Tourism Australia
Resources and contacts
- Understanding the opportunity for Australia in Accessible Tourism – Tourism Research Australia, in partnership with Tourism, Events and Visitor Economy branch of the Victorian Government, and Tourism and Events Queensland, commissioned a study into accessible tourism in Victoria, Queensland and Australia. The research was conducted between April and August 2017.
- PhotoAbility – Stock image library featuring individuals with disabilities in travel, leisure and lifestyle settings.
- Push Adventures – Push Adventures is a South Australian business, founded in 2014, that offers advice to make tourism businesses inclusive and accessible by a whole range of guests.
- Sydney for All – A visitors' guide to Sydney using universal icons to help users decide which attractions provide the appropriate level of access.
- Accessible Victoria – The official tourist site for Melbourne and Victoria including information on accessible accommodation, activities and attractions and the best ways to get around in Melbourne and Victoria.
- Queensland Inclusive Tourism Guide – The Queensland Government has developed a guide for making businesses more accessible and inclusive to assist tourism operators understand their legal obligations in relation to accessibility, increase their knowledge about the market for inclusive tourism, and develop strategies to improve the accessibility of their business to appeal to a wider range of visitors of all abilities and ages.
- TravAbility – TravAbility is dedicated to Inclusive Tourism through education, advocacy, and by providing accessibility information for the world’s best travel destinations.
- Cangoeverywhere.com.au – A website created to help seniors, baby boomers, people with disabilities and anyone with special requirements, find accessible accommodation, restaurants, activities and more around Australia.
- Travellers Aid Australia – An organisation that provides simple, practical travel-related support and aid to help visitors of all backgrounds travel independently and confidently.
- Vision Australia – Vision Australia (an organisation which assists those with vision impairment) has a large range of fact sheets on issues relating to people who are blind and vision impaired. The fact sheets range from accessible design for homes to customer service tips.
- Inclusive Tourism: Economic Opportunities – This report is part of a project that aims to enable regional tourism businesses and local governments to improve information about and the marketing of inclusive services and products. This project is led by Local Government NSW with the University of Technology Sydney, Institute for Public Policy and Governance providing research support.
- Inclusive Tourism – This is a collection of online material that includes digital assets such as images, infographics and a short animation as well as written content like a media release, fact sheet, case studies and a short document summarising new research on the economic opportunities from Inclusive Tourism.
- Getaboutable – Pronounced “Get-About-Able”, a social enterprise focused on improving travel and leisure options for people with disabilities. All profits are re-invested to empower people with disabilities to participate in travel and leisure activities, and to help the travel and leisure sector be more inclusive for people with disabilities.
- Accessible Holiday Accommodation – Choose from a variety of accessible holiday accommodation from basic to complex disabled needs. Be informed about what exactly is provided in terms of accessibility with over 50 answers to your most pressing questions and helpful photos. Feel secure knowing you and your family can have a relaxing stay.
- Studying in Australia – provides information for students with a disability who are studying in Australia.
- Travel For All – Allows tourism operators to share detailed information and the accessible amenities of your property in your Travel for All listing. From a travellers point of view, Travel For All will gather the information you need to make informed decisions about where you stay and what you do when on holiday, or travelling for work. Your accessibility needs may be extensive, or you may have just a couple of key requirements that must be in place. The operators listed on Travel For All will include the information you need.
- Out There Travel Care – Holiday care specialists available to accompany individuals and families holidaying in and around Cairns, North Queensland. Catering for holiday makers with differing abilities and people looking for assistance to get around and enjoy their holidays in the Cairns region.
- The Access Agency – The Access Agency provide access consulting, communication strategies and advisory services in Accessible and Inclusive tourism. We live with disability and work with destinations to offer unique insights and actions into the opportunities this valuable sector offers.
