By KATH GANNAWAY
ACCESSIBLE tourism is an untapped market that Yarra Ranges is missing out on, according to speakers at a seminar held at Yarra Glen last week.
Tourism and business operators from across the shire were at the Memorial Hall to hear about a sector that currently represents 11 per cent of the tourism market but which it is estimated could make up 25 per cent of the market by 2020 with ‘Baby Boomers’ included in the demographic.
The seminar, presented by Yarra Ranges Tourism, Yarra Ranges Council and Tourism Victoria on Thursday, 8 May, was attended by more than 40 operators.
“The new frontier of the tourism industry is understanding that accessible tourism is a viable and valuable market segment,” one of two guest speakers, Bill Forrester from Travability said, speaking on the economics of inclusive tourism.
He challenged the view of operators in terms of their perspective of people with a disability which he said most often came down to non-participative, passive, travelling with a carer and looking to the lower end of the market.
“I want to change those perceptions. The thing to remember about disability, it’s the only minority group in the world that anybody can join in an instant,” he said.
He showed examples overseas where operators had succeeded in capturing the disability market and offered practical examples, from signage and placement of furniture to heritage buildings that had adapted to meet the needs of the disability market.
He listed the Loft in the Mill in Olinda, Three Sugars Café in Warburton and Global Ballooning in Dixons Creek as examples of local businesses that were already accommodating a growing market.
“There are a lot of good examples out there, what is not there is marketing to promote it,” he said.
Mr Forrester introduced Kiff Saunders from Global Ballooning as the second speaker, saying he was a world leader in ballooning and first in the world to come up with an accessible balloon basket.
Mr Saunders spoke of what it meant, not only in a business sense, but on a personal level, to offer an opportunity for someone to experience a part of life that was not available to them previously.
Injured in a serious motorcycle crash in 2010, Mr Saunders’ ability was significantly compromised as he went through a lengthy rehabilitation. It led to connections with TAC and later with SCOPE and the development of the accessible basket.
“You feel very proud if you can offer a person an experience that’s not been available to them before,” he said.
While his message was about the social and emotional investment, it also was very much about broadening those experiences as a region.
“I would love to think we have a quantum accessibility tourism operation here,” he said.
“I would like to see conversations about making this region an accessible tourism region and I encourage everyone in this room to take up the dialogue,” he said.
Mr Forrester and Mr Saunders were joined by Paul Albone from Tourism Victoria, Yarra Ranges Council’s Disability Advisory Committee member Cliff Wise and local business operators Jodie Philipsen of Devine Escape in Dixon’s Creek and Brad Stevens from Loft in the Mill for a question and answer session after the presentations.
