Accessibility Business Toolkit
Helping Cumbria become a more accessible destination
As VisitEngland’s official Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP), Cumbria Tourism is working to help our county become a more accessible destination – for both out-of-county visitors and local residents travelling for leisure.
When we talk about becoming a more accessible destination, we mean trying to better meet a diverse range of access needs, which will be unique to each individual; from those with more obvious visible impairments, like mobility issues, to a range of hidden disabilities.
We all know that access to our stunning landscape has a positive impact on health and wellbeing, and we want to share those benefits with as many people as possible.
The resources below give you some practical hints and tips to help more people enjoy accessible visits and have positive shared experiences with their groups/family members.
VisitEngland Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit
VisitEngland’s extensive Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit provides a comprehensive in-depth advice to support micro, small and medium-sized tourism businesses wanting to embark on – or continue – their accessibility journey.
The sections include:
As part of the toolkit, there are downloadable actionable checklists for different types of tourism and hospitality businesses, to help you plan and prioritise improvements.You’ll also find more aspirational technical design guidance, to consult when built environment amendments or installations are possible.
Other training opportunities and resources
There are a range of additional training opportunities available for businesses (both online and face-to-face) with free resources provided by different charities and support organisations continuing to expand all the time.
It’s worth keeping an eye on Cumbria Tourism’s events page for short workshops, including our Welcome to Excellence: Welcome All Customers one day courses, designed to help businesses and staff understand and meet the accessibility and inclusion needs of all customers.
Other Cumbrian based providers like Bendrigg and Calvert Lakes offer disability awareness training for tourism and hospitality businesses and can tailor training to your needs.
If you want to understand how to better structure your website and online content then we recommend the free introduction to web accessibility course supplied by W3C Web Accessibility Initiative.
Get In Touch
If you’d like to find out more or get involved with future Accessible Cumbria activity, contact Gemma Procter on GProcter@cumbriatourism.org.