Increase your share of the UK’s £15.3 billion ‘accessible tourism’ market

Destination North East England has set out our ambitions and commitment to driving the accessibility agenda across our regional visitor economy, celebrating and driving quality within our industry.

We support businesses to increase their share of the UK’s £15.3 billion ‘accessible tourism’ market by improving experiences for visitors across the region and benefiting local communities. Government wants the UK’s tourism offer to be considered the most accessible of any in the world and to maximise the value of the ‘purple pound’, which is the spending power of people with access needs.

There are 1.8 billion disabled people in the world, representing 17% of the population and our region is committed to ensuring that visitors with access needs receive the warmest possible welcome.

We are a region that is renowned for our warm welcome and we must ensure we create equitable experiences for all our visitors

Creating accessible and inclusive experiences for your visitors

Everyone Welcome is funded by the North of Tyne Combined Authority and Destination North East England, will support businesses to increase their share of the UK’s £15.3 billion ‘accessible tourism’ market by improving experiences for visitors and benefiting local communities. This free programme, will ensure visitors, including those living in the region with hidden and physical disabilities, can experience our destination with confidence.

Everybody Welcome helps businesses to produce relevant information and excellent services for their visitors, including a range of people with additional access requirements, both visible and hidden, older people and families.

This open to businesses across Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, Gateshead, Durham, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

FREE Resources and Support

Working with staff in the tourism and hospitality sector Everybody Welcome supports businesses to produce relevant information and excellent services for their visitors with access requirements, both visible and hidden, older people and families: By signing up you can access:

Staff training, toolkits and guidance on a wide range of conditions, barriers and access requirements from industry experts.
A three-part webinar series to find out how you can implement small wins to make your business more inclusive, including how to develop an accessibility statement.
WelcoME: An established digital platform, enabling visitors to source information relating to their specific needs and ask questions in advance of their visit as well as helping venue staff create a warm and inclusive welcome.
3D Virtual Tour for selected venues: A valuable marketing tool which gives visitors a taste of what’s on offer to help with visit planning.

You must register to access here for these FREE resources.

Sharing best practice and continued learning

Destination North East England is working towards making our region a more inclusive and accessible visitor destination, engaging the tourism business community to identify the current provision and challenges, bringing together destination expertise, accessibility experts, innovative technology to find solutions and attract more visitors.

Destination North East England also have representation on the VisitBritain Accessibility Group and are part of the Tourism Industry Council’s Inclusivity and Accessibility Working Group.

Make sure you sign up to our Destination North East Support Hub to work with us to share best practice and address challenges our sectors and visitors face.

Did you know?

Globally, there are 1.8 bn disabled people, representing 17% of the population and by removing potential barriers which these visitors face, businesses and destinations can unlock a valuable and underserved visitor and customer base.
£12 billion is spent annually by people with disabilities and their travel companions on overnight stays and day trips in England.
27% of North East residents have a disability and 22% live with one nationally, so it is vital that we continue to learn from the community and provide exceptional experiences for all.

3D Virtual Tour

Useful Information

Check if you are registered with AccessAble here

Name: Destination North East England
Price range: $

Create and publish your own accessibility guide for free

Access Visit England’s Accessible Tourism Toolkit for Businesses

Purple Tuesday social movement

Become a disability confident employer

Supporting disabled people at work

Government Disability Action Plan

To make the UK the most accessible place in the world.

Learn more

Access and Inclusion UK are delighted to be working with Destination North East England on this exciting project which has so much potential to benefit the destination, its businesses, visitors, and the local community. “There is no mystery to accessible tourism: at its heart, it is about demonstrating to people that ‘we know you; we understand you and we value you to make everybody welcome.

Jane Cooper, Access and Inclusion UK

The Everybody Welcome Initiative is really important to us, as it is to lots of businesses in the region, because it helps us to understand that not only is it the right thing to do to accept everybody, and make sure our spaces are great for everyone, but also it makes business sense. We’ll definitely carry on being involved in the Everybody Welcome Initiative, we see it as a brilliant way to keep reaching new audiences.

Keith Merrin, Director, Tyne & Wear Archives &  Museums

We’ve been very excited to join in with this initiative, it’s a new resource for us which we can approach and get some new insights into how we can improve for our guests going forward. I would encourage everyone to take part in making their building more accessible to customers – it’s a win win situation.

Chris Marsh, General Manager, Spanish City

Everybody Welcome case study

Sign up to Everyone Welcome

Play your part in ensuring visitors with hidden and physical disabilities, experience our destination with confidence.

Accessibility