As we know, lack of information is the biggest barrier to travelling for people with accessibility needs. This is why we were thrilled to see both Tasmania and Queensland commit to providing better information about their accessible offerings.

Queensland’s Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe recently announced that they will be auditing improvements to accessibility of Queensland’s popular visitor experiences as part of the Economic Recovery Plan for Tourism. Travability and Get Skilled Access, founded by Dylan Alcott OAM, will be conducting the review across six regions of Queensland. This will be great for Queensland’s tourism recovery in general, and especially with the Paralympics coming to Brisbane in 2032.

Tourism Industry Council Tasmania is embracing the Accessible Tourism program as part of Quality Tourism Framework by encouraging their members to get on board and be accredited. “This program hopes to support greater participation in travel by Australians with a disability by providing relevant, insightful information. This gives people the ability to make an informed choice by taking away the ‘unknown’ when holiday planning.”

We applaud the Queensland government, Queensland Tourism Industry Council and the Tasmanian Tourism Industry Council for their work on these initiatives and commitment to making tourism in their respective states inclusive for all. We hope to see other states and territories follow their lead in the near future.