MESSAGE FROM THE HON JOHN AJAKA MLC
Minister for Ageing and Disability Services

ACCESSIBLE TOURISM MINISTERIAL FORUM

It should go without saying, but everyone should be able to enjoy everything NSW has to offer. No one by virtue of their race, age or disability should be deprived of experiencing NSW.
The NSW Government is working hard to make NSW the ‘State of Inclusion’. This means ensuring that people with disability are able to access the physical environment, transport, information and communications channels, and a wide range of public facilities and services. 
To make this happen, communities need support in making decisions that support inclusion. Decisions like; planning inclusive events, ensuring people with disability have access to shops and buildings, listening more carefully or helping people communicate more effectively. 
Importantly, the NSW Government is focused on identifying and removing barriers to make our world-class holiday destinations and tourist attractions more accessible. 
Enhancing accessible tourism delivers significant social and economic benefits. It has also been estimated that the potential tourism market for those with disability is over $8 billion per annum, 11 per cent of the tourism market. 
I am proud to share with you here, the key findings of the Accessible Tourism Forum.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this important discussion, and I look forward to working with you to ensure that people with disability are included in the broad range of tourism and recreational activities that NSW has to offer.

John Ajaka MLC

Accessible Tourism Ministerial Forum - 11 May 2016
Background 
The NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) has commissioned The University of Technology Sydney Institute for Public Policy and Governance (UTS:IPPG) to bring together a range of stakeholders to identify ideas and actions that will enable people with disability and their carers to better access tourism opportunities and promote social inclusion; capitalising on the social benefits and economic opportunities associated with accessible tourism.
In total over 55 people with disability and representatives of a range of organisations attended the Ministerial Forum; including disability service organisations, tourism and digital marketing companies, consumer advocates and industry peak bodies. 
The forum included two guest speeches and two panel discussions. 
•	The two guest speakers were Donna Rygate (Local Government NSW) and Professor Simon Darcy (UTS: Business School). Their presentations have been provided to all attendees and are also available upon request.  
•	The two panels discussed positive actions and initiatives previously undertaken in this space and how to build and optimise these actions in the future.
Information gathered from the Ministerial Forum will inform the project’s final report and options for improving access to tourism and recreational activities for people with disability in the future.  
Executive Summary 
Outlined below are the key themes and ideas that were discussed during the forum. 
Enabling information provision and diffusion is crucial 
•	Engaging large information warehouses and marketing platforms to provide data on accessibility in a sustainable way would significantly improve information available. This would include engaging digital media and marketing companies (i.e. booking.com, TripAdvisor) and industry peak bodies (i.e. Business Chamber of NSW, Australian Hotels Association NSW)
•	Businesses need to be supported to confidently describe what accessibility features they offer, supported by customer satisfaction feedback that signals actions needed to improve access. Participants noted the importance of describing the actual access features available; it was argued that the absence of any information about actual access might stop people from even considering using a business.  
Supporting research on Australian accessible tourism market  
•	Since 2010 there has not been a module in the National Visitor Survey (organised through Tourism Research Australia) measuring participation of people with disability. It is essential that access questions are included in the 2017 survey. 
•	There are also other data sources that could be used to understand the accessible tourism market  including the NSW Seniors Card and the Companion Card)  
Building relationships between government, industry, businesses and disability organisations that drive improvements to access
•	Relationships between local councils, businesses and the disability sector at a local level have been very effective in achieving practical outcomes, particularly where these result in growth and new jobs. 
•	An accessible tourism plan for NSW would enable sharing information about what works, and a consistent approach to information collection and distribution, which would grow jobs across the state.
Understanding and articulating the future impact of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) on participation and investment in tourism and recreational activities 
•	Initial data from NDIS trial sites indicates consistent spending on recreational activities by people with disability, and there is widespread optimism in the business sector about the economic possibilities of providing more accessible tourism services for people with disability. 
•	NDIS offers both opportunities (i.e. there will be opportunities for people to spend more on recreational activities) and challenges in improving access.
Providing resources and expertise to help make changes and improvements happen at organisational and community level  
•	Organisations and councils that have integrated and invested in staff with expertise in disability and access issues have had proven success in improving access to services and products.
•	A significant focus in planning and collaboration exists in 2016/17 as councils across NSW develop Disability Inclusion and Access Plans.   
Demonstrating how accessible tourism delivers broader benefits to communities and helps create more inclusive communities  
•	Improving access is good for both locals and visitors. Improvements to access benefit older people and families with young children in prams making communities generally more inclusive. 
•	Addressing access issues in holistic or place-based ways enables people with disability to better access a wide variety of experiences (both high profile events and more everyday social engagements).
Next Steps
These are the proposed next steps that would lead to immediate improvements in access to tourism and recreational activities. They have been identified based on discussions at the forum. 
•	Engage key tourism and recreation information sources (i.e. Australian Tourism Data Warehouse, Google, TripAdvisor, Zomato) to collect and distribute information regarding accessibility in manner that can be easily uploaded and utilised. 
•	This could include using councils or disability services and advocates to help with the systematic collection of data on accessibility.  
•	Work with digital marketing platforms (i.e. Zomato, Booking.com, TripAdvisor) to incentivise reviews of accommodation, restaurants and other recreational facilities to create trusted consumer voices and enable the distribution of reliable information. 
•	Develop templates and resources (i.e. tool kits and standards) with regional councils and businesses that would help guide the development of accessible products and services in their local area. 
•	Ensure future National Visitor Surveys (organised by Tourism Research Australia) collect data on the accessible tourism market. This is vital to understanding and articulating the opportunities associated with accessible tourism and the types of services and activities that are in demand.  
The section below provides a summary of the discussions during the forum. 
Panel Discussion 1
Question: Looking back, what has already been done in this space and what has been working well?
Panel Members 1	
Name	Position	Organisation	
Donna Rygate	Chief Executive Officer	Local Government NSW	
Martin Heng	Accessible Travel Manager & Editorial Adviser	Lonely Planet	
Dr. Helen Margherita Smith	Bushwalking Program Officer	National Parks Association NSW	
Sean Willenberg	Disability Inclusion Officer	NSW Business Chamber	
Summary of Panel 1 Discussions 
•	Reliable information supports planning and enables participation in spontaneous activities.
•	Ensuring sustainable information provision (i.e. keeping information up to date and relevant) is also vital to enable people with disability to plan a trip or participate in an activity with confidence. 
•	There is accessible transport and other infrastructure in Sydney that could facilitate access to tourism and recreational activities; however there are information gaps that limit people’s awareness of what is possible. 
•	Leading practice in the delivery of information on accessible nature tourism includes; Parks Victoria, Alberta, British Colombia and Germany. These could be used as models for NSW. 
•	Delivering information through Expedia and Trip Advisor would enable people with disability to access information and be informed about a range of travel experiences that are available. It would also provide a platform for their reviews and satisfaction ratings to support other people looking for information.
•	Information provision is also important from a business and industry perspective. 
•	Addressing access issues needs to be done by engaging peak industry bodies convincing them to support improvements to access. The economic benefits of improved inclusion need better articulation.
•	Improving access needs to be considered across a whole destination or community; cannot be done through one off projects. 
•	Councils that invest in staff that have expertise in disability services and access issues have made significant practical improvements at a local level.  
•	Greater awareness of businesses that are undertaking projects that improve access helps influence more businesses to improve access to services and products. 
•	Efforts need to be made to tie the story of accessible tourism to a broader story about access and inclusion across many different dimensions or fields (i.e. access to employment opportunities). 
•	There needs to be a cross-sectoral and holistic approach to address accessibility issues and there needs to be consideration of the business perspective.  
Panel Discussion 2
Question: Looking into the future, what successes and existing projects can we build on and optimise?  
Panel 2	
Name	Role/Position	Organisation	
Prof. Simon Darcy	Professor and expert in Accessible Tourism	University of Technology Sydney: Business School	
Geoff Buckley	Managing Director	New Earth Tourism	
Andrew Bowring	Business Head	Zomato	
Jenny Spinak	Accessibility Manager	Sydney Opera House	
Summary of Panel 2 Discussions 
•	Building trust and relationships between people with disability and business is important to improving access. 
•	Industry and business can see accessibility as a compliance issue. This can affect relationships they have with the disability sector. 
•	Business and industry might benefit from information about the size of the accessible tourism market or how to meet the needs of people with disability.  
•	Research on accessible tourism market could be done by updating the National Visitor Survey, which has not collect data on accessible tourism since 2010 and by accessing FACS companion card data. 
•	There needs to be accountability and evaluation of what businesses report as being accessible, consumer engagement is a useful model for this feedback in the age of social media.  
•	Classifying information that is available is useful so people with disability understand whether things are easy, medium or hard to access. 
•	Opportunities exist to better utilise digital media and marketing platforms to distribute information. 
•	Huge databases that house information on businesses (i.e. Australian Tourism Data Warehouse) also already existed and could be updated. It is vital to use existing digital platforms rather than making multiple platforms and information points - fragmented information points are much harder to maintain. 
•	Organisations (i.e. Sydney Opera House) that dedicate resources and utilise knowledge of experts in disability services and access issues have improved access to services. 
•	Improving access helps retain existing audiences and also helps attract new customers. 
•	Brands are strengthened by awareness and promotion of positive work done to address access issues.  
•	Improved education and awareness of accessible tourism and recreational activities is an opportunity, particularly through tourism distribution channels particularly travel agents that specialise in accessible tourism.