ALPINE ACCESSIBILITY PROJECT

The Alpine Accessibility Project’s aim is to support and encourage increased access to the region by all tourists including those with disabilities, seniors and families traveling with young children. Grit Media came onboard to create the Alpine Accessibiltiy Toolkit which involved filming in teh region for both the project and for No Limits. Below is video designed to open the toolkit and features Macca. Thanks to Margot Hurrell, Project Manager and to the cast and crew who attended the shoot. Here is a little more about the project:

With the help of a grant from the Australian Government under the Australian Tourism Development Program (ATDP), through AusIndustry, Disabled WinterSport Australia (DWA) is working with alpine resorts, outdoor activity providers, accommodation operators, local councils and other businesses within the alpine regions of Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania to assist in developing Australia’s alpine areas as leading year-round tourism destinations for people with mobility, vision and hearing impairments.

This was a 12-month project that aimed to assist providers of accommodation, outdoor activities, attractions and facilities to develop their skills and awareness of accessibility issues, increase their level of occupancy, and to market their products to a growing and largely untapped market of people keen to visit the alpine areas. The project aims to develop a sustainable community based accessible tourism program for people with a disability as well as seniors and others who have access needs.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Almost four million Australians – around 19% of our population have access requirements that may be a result of a physical, intellectual or other disability. This figure increases to around 35% of our population at any one time, if you include people with temporary disabilities that may be a result of a range of causes such as sporting injuries and medical conditions. Two other groups that have access requirements are seniors who may have mobility issues, and families with young children in prams.  Together these provide a significant business opportunity for organizations which have accessible environments, as people with access requirements, their carers, friends and family will choose destinations according to the ease of access and quality of service provided.  People with access requirements still want new, exciting travel and tourism options.

People with a variety of access needs will benefit from good access, including parents with prams and pushers, older adults, delivery personnel, staff and customers with disabilities. Improving access for all people, to all businesses including cafes, restaurants, activity providers, resorts and accommodation providers will result in economic and social benefits for the Australian Alpine regions.

There are four parts to the project:

• Compilation of a database of appropriate and realistic “accessibility” information on accommodation, transport, activities and activity providers in the Alpine regions that can be fed into various tourism and operator websites.
• Information session for tourism providers on Accessibility Awareness.
• Opportunity for an assessment of accommodation, facility and activities that can be included in the marketing database
• Training and development resources and an integrated marketing plan to assist accommodation, facility and activity operators to provider accessible accommodation that is integrated with accessible outdoor pursuits and attractions.

The key outcome will be to assist in developing Australia’s alpine areas as leading year-round tourism destinations for people with mobility, vision and hearing impairments.

This is an Australian Government funded initiative under the Australian Tourism Development Program.