Tourism businesses from the North East gathered last week to celebrate Purple Tuesday, a global social movement with a mission to improve the customer experience for disabled people and their families.
At the event, held at Crowne Plaza in Newcastle, businesses heard from Chris Veitch from Access and Inclusion UK. They were encouraged to make a public commitment to improve accessibility and practices, ensuring that customers with access needs have a more inclusive and positive experience.
As part of the Everybody Welcome initiative, funded by North of Tyne Combined Authority and delivered by Destination North East England, businesses across the region have been accessing support, industry expertise and tools to increase their share of England’s £15.3n accessible tourism market.
Everybody Welcome aims to improve experiences for visitors, ensuring visitors (including those living in the region with hidden and physical disabilities), can experience the destination with confidence.
Destination North East England has set out an ambition and commitment to driving the accessibility agenda across the regional visitor economy, celebrating, and driving quality within the industry.
Destination North East England is led by NewcastleGateshead Initiative (NGI) on behalf of the region, working with delivery partners Visit Northumberland and Visit County Durham and working in partnership with all seven local authorities.
Ian Thomas, visitor economy director, NGI, said: “The Government wants the UK’s tourism offer to be considered the most accessible of any in the world and to maximise the value of the ‘purple pound’, which is the spending power of people with access needs. There are 1.8bn disabled people in the world, representing 17% of the population and our region is committed to ensuring that visitors with access needs receive the warmest possible welcome.
“Ensuring the North East is playing its part in making the UK the most accessible visitor destination in Europe, is a key priority for the visitor economy here. We hope that through the Everybody Welcome initiative, businesses feel empowered to continuously improve their offer so that any visitor receives the same excellent welcome the North East is so famous for.”
