Agents criticised for lacking disability awareness

Travel agents should have compulsory training in disability awareness because disabled people feel discriminated against when booking holidays abroad, a leading charity says.

A report by charity for the disabled Leonard Cheshire says that people with disabilities encounter difficulties from the moment they try and book a holiday.

Nearly half of those surveyed who had taken a recent holiday felt that their travel agent or tour operator lacked basic disability awareness. This is despite the UK’s 10 million disabled people having an estimated combined spending power of £80 million.

The charity’s head of external policy John Knight said: “The package holiday has been around for 50 years so why should disabled people still find travelling abroad difficult? Disabled people have a right to holiday outside the UK and the travel industry must improved accessibility to ensure they can.”

The ‘Wish You Were Here’ report found that travel agents did not have good enough understanding of disability to ensure holiday packages are fully accessible. As a result, disabled client arrived at a resort only to find they could not get around.

The charity called on ABTA to work with disabled people to produce clear and universally applied standards for presenting information on accessibility.

Agents and operators need to gain a better understanding of accessibility, both in terms of disabled holidaymakers’ requirements and the accessibility of their shops and services.

The report said: “Disability awareness training should be compulsory for all those responsible for selling holidays to the general public.”

The charity found that smaller travel companies were more helpful in identifying suitable holiday destinations and accommodation for disabled travellers.

“Staff in smaller companies were felt to have greater knowledge of the resorts tbey were marketing. Many had visited resorts and properties themselves and so were in a better position to advise on accessibility of the accommodation and local area,” the report said.

But the charity that the only way any disabled people could guarantee an accessible break was to use a specialist company to tailor-make the holiday package for them. However, this option is financially prohibitive for the majority of disabled travellers and Leonard Cheshire said that accessible travel should not be the preserve of those with a budget which allows them to use specialist agencies.

“Tour operators will have reached an acceptable standard of service for disabled customers only when disabled people are able to visit their local high street and book a trip with the confidence that every aspect will be accessible and meet their requirements,” the report said.

Leonard Cheshire also called on airline flight crew to undergo similar training to agents after finding that 32% of the 103 people surveyed found aircraft toilets to be inaccessible and 22% had their wheelchair or disability aid damaged in transit.

More than a quarter of respondents described how quick insurance companies were to equate disability with poor health and charge a premium while others talked of how expensive it was to insure mobility aids.

The report also revealed that more than a quarter of those who had not been on a holiday in the past year said they were unable to afford holidays, while 25% had not taken a holiday in the past year because of problems with accessibility.

Almost one in three (29%) had experienced problems with the accessibility of holiday accommodation.

The report added: “There was a feeling amongst some of those surveyed that, owing to a lack of understanding of disability, some tour operators have a narrow view of what they consider to be ‘suitable for disabled people’ and try to restrict disabled travellers to a handful of hotels, which could be considered safe options.”

Despite the frequent difficulties the report found that 80% of those who had taken a holiday said that it had ultimately proved a positive experience.