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 April here.

In this month’s Sentiment Tracker, cost-of-living perceptions have declined, with most UK adults being ‘cautious and very careful’ (49%).

Intentions for overnight domestic trips in spring and summer are in line with last year, with 67% very committed to UK trips for May, a slight rebound on last month. The number of UK adults more likely to choose UK trips (37%) outweighs overseas travel (28%) because they’re cheaper (55%). Perceived financial barriers to overnight domestic trips have increased, with ‘cost of fuel’ rising 15% from March.

Short breaks will dominate the next few months, including June and July, with the top destination ‘a city or large town’ for April – June and July – September and ‘hotel/ motel/ inn’ the leading accommodation. The top motivation remains ‘family time or time with my partner’ for both periods and ‘trying local food and drink’ the top activity, followed by ‘walking, hiking or rambling’.