Last week we launched our Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEP) Accessibility Support Programme, to help LVEPs identify, enhance and market their existing accessible tourism offer.
The programme, delivered by accessible tourism specialists Access & Inclusion UK, is supporting 37 LVEPs across England through a series of live webinars on the VisitEngland Academy e-learning platform and one-to-one support.
It is based around the ‘Kick-start’ programme within the Accessible & Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for LVEPs, a low-cost, high-impact approach to accessible destination development that works with existing products and focuses on providing accessibility information. A key part of this is to support LVEPs in adopting the key accessibility features data set and maximising their partnership with AccessAble to drive the uptake of Detailed Access Guides.
All LVEPs will benefit from the programme, no matter what stage they are at in their accessible tourism development journey.
Each participating LVEP has selected a dedicated accessibility lead, who will be upskilled on accessible destination development and best practice for providing accessibility information. These individuals will also be issued with a badge and certification upon completion of the programme.
Topics covered include:
- The foundations of accessible destination development
- Identifying existing accessible tourism product
- Engaging with businesses
- Providing clear and consistent accessibility information on destination websites
- Showcasing wider destination accessibility to consumers.
This accessibility support forms part of the wider LVEP programme, which is delivering support and grow the visitor economy through robust destination management, strong stakeholder relationships and clear planning. LVEPs have a key role in leading on accessible and inclusive tourism development and promotion as a national priority area.
Many LVEPs identified accessibility as an area where they have a training need, bringing about this exciting training programme to collectively move England forward as a truly accessible destination.
