Industry News

For need-to-know industry news from VisitEngland and VisitBritain, keep reading below.

Accessibility Update

With the spending power of disabled people and their households (also known as the Purple Pound) worth £275 billion to the UK economy, making your business as accessible as possible is more important than ever.

Sharing accessibility information is extremely important as many people with physical and mental disabilities prefer to look up destinations in advance. A lack of accessibility information is likely to prevent them from visiting.

Here are some easy ways to improve your accessibility:

1. Have a clearly titled and easily located ‘Accessibility’ page on your website.
2. Highlight as many details on facilities, features and support as possible, including accessible toilets, parking and large print documents. Consider offering even more detail, such as the width of doorways and different surfaces.
3. Remember accessibility affects a wide range of people, including wheelchair users, d/Deaf people and those with mental health conditions.

An Easy Win: Stoma-Friendly Toilets

Did you know that one of the easiest ways to improve your accessibility is with a stoma-friendly toilet? This doesn’t have to be a disabled toilet – ‘normal’ cubicles can be easily adapted to cater to people using a stoma bag.

Key changes include: hooks to hang clothing and belongings, shelves to lay out medical supplies, bins inside the cubicle (an important addition for male toilets), mirrors (though not always essential) and a stoma-friendly toilet sign.

For more information, please read this guide to stoma-friendly toilets and visit the Colostomy UK website.

Website Accessibility

The accessibility of your website (not just the content) can also influence potential visitors’ decisions. Most people look for details online using a handheld device. Consequently, these need to be clear and easy to find. This offers clearer information and increases customer loyalty. Here are our top tips for displaying accessibility information online:

• Use headings and subheadings to divide paragraphs and provide clear signposting.
• Use short paragraphs to make the information more digestible.
• Make buttons clear with an obvious call to action.
• Contrast the colour of linked text, make it bold and underline it.
• Use a screenreader to trial how your website looks to those who use one daily.

We want to include as much information as possible on our Accessibility in Norwich page! If you make any changes, such as adapting to a stoma-friendly toilet, please let us know by emailing [email protected].

This Month’s VisitEngland Sentiment Tracker

You can find VisitEngland’s Domestic Sentiment Tracker for July here.

In this month’s Sentiment Tracker, cost-of-living perceptions have remained stable, with most UK adults being ‘cautious and very careful’ (45%). Intentions for overnight domestic trips for the next 12 months are below those of 2025 and noticeably lower for winter. This likely reflects the instability in the Middle East and its knock-on effects on the cost of living.

Consequently, 59% are very committed to UK trips for August. The number of UK adults more likely to choose UK trips (40%) outweighs overseas travel (28%) because they are ‘cheaper’ (57%). Perceived financial barriers to overnight domestic trips have remained stable, while ‘UK weather’ (33%) and ‘rising cost of living’ (30%) are the top potential barriers for the next 6 months.

Short breaks will be more prominent in the next few months, with the top destination ‘traditional coastal/ seaside town’ for July – September and ‘a city or large town’ for October – December. For both, ‘hotel/ motel/ inn’ is the leading accommodation and the top motivation is ‘family time or time with my partner’. The top activity is ‘trying local food and drink’ for both periods.