John O’Sullivan set the tone of the day by stating: “Accessibility is not something we treat separately, it’s something we treat as we would any normal customer, albeit there’s some different logistical and operational variances that happen around it.” The panel discussion opened with Simon Darcy, Ivor Ambrose and John O’Sullivan providing Best Practice in Accessible and Inclusive Tourism.

In 2019 the bar for accessibility and inclusion was raised internationally, thanks to the European Accessibility Act.  Ivor Ambrose reminded us that “Even if you don’t have this legislation in your country, your visitors will be expecting to get the standards that they get at home“. Ambrose emphasised the importance of not only broadcasting your accessibility features publicly, but training staff accordingly. “The people who are taking the bookings on the telephone….they should know about the accessibility of their business, and they will capture maybe not just that one person who has a disability, but the whole group that’s coming with them.“

Accessible and Inclusive tourism goes beyond customer service and into HR as a fundamental part of employee attraction and retention. “Today, about 15 to 16% of our entire 5,500 employee base are what we call “opportunity disabled Indians” or “opportunity deprived Indians”” Aradhana Lal shares. Lemon Tree Hotels have developed an inclusion model called the Seven Pillars of Inclusion that starts at the very top of the company and is deeply embedded into the HR strategy.