The Inbound Report

Covering the Inbound Tourism Industry Since 1996

Obama Connects at Connect

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When Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, came from behind a curtain and to the stage after being introduced by Chris Collinson, president of Connect Meetings, to address the more than 1,200 delegates to several parallel meetings of Connect groups that met recently at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee, Florida, it took more nearly a minute for the audience to quiet down at his urging.

Clearly, President Obama was a crowd favorite, both during the noisy welcome and as he responded to 11 questions posed by Collinson on behalf of those who came to the event—some of them enduring a line that stretched, at times, some four football fields long—to hear the former President as he and Collinson spent an hour on topics that were intentionally non-political.

Instead, what the audience heard was a President Obama who was relaxed and humorous—almost chatty—as he sprinkled his answers with occasional wry bits of humor, some of it self-deprecating (at one point, he joked about the size of his ears) and using not-so-subtle facial expressions (arching his eyes or exaggerating a frown) when making a point about the U.S. economy or some other issue.

Following is INBOUND’s recap of the questions that Collinson posed to President Obama, and a capsulized version of his answers.

Question: When did you know that you were in love with Michelle (Obama and his wife, Michelle, have been married for more than 27 years)?

Response: In what was his longest answer of the session, the former President got into considerable detail, even mentioning what he used to wear and how he first noticed Michelle; but, in short, the answer was that he knew after their first date.

Question: Which is the hardest—to be President, the wife of a President, or the daughter of a President?

Response: It is difficult to compare or answer simply, as each position poses unique challenges.

Question: How long were you President before they told you about Area 51? (Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force facility located within the Nevada Test and Training Range. According to some conspiracy theorists, it is also the site where remains of crashed UFO spacecrafts are stored.) 

Response: After a short time in office, he said, he had his “security person go take a look at it.” (This did not seem to be a serious answer.)

Question: If you had not become President, in what way would your life had been different?

Response: Here, President Obama went into a lengthy speculation as to what he—what any person—should seek in life, closing his answer with “wealth and power are not the things that bring you joy.”

Question: What were the highest and lowest points of your presidency?

Response: The highest point was the day that the Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress (March 21, 2010) and the lowest point was the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred—December 14, 2012—when, in Newtown, Connecticut  a deranged person shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children between six and seven years old, and six adult staff members. 

Question: Why don’t leaders show emotion?

Response: Here, Obama explained that, when he was a child growing up, the leadership figures in popular were all men (“Who didn’t look like me” and were not women) who were “strong and silent: types who never showed emotion. As we see more leaders who can and will express themselves with emotion, it will benefit everyone.

Question: Which will be President? Michelle, Malia or Sasha? (Malia and Sasha are the names of President Obama’s two daughters.)

Response: In his shortest answer, the former President indicated that all three women are certain that they do not want to live the life of a President, commenting, “Don’t wait for that to happen, y’all.”

Question: What does a day in the life of a former President look like?

Response: The former President said he had a difficult time, at first, adapting to the change in pace. He compared the change of pace in his work today to a scene in the 1999 film, Matrix, in which bullets are shot at Neo (Keanu Reeves) who dodges them as if they are coming at him in slow motion. He no longer thinks and works 24/7 but still keeps busy with a pace that is still more than that of the normal work day—with speaking engagements, travel, writing and more.

Question: Why is tourism important to you?

Response: While he went on to discuss this issue at length, his answer was basic—tourism is good for the U.S. economy.

Question: What do you hope to accomplish from this day forward?

Response: While it seemed apparent that he plans to stay active politically, the former President seems focused, for the time being, in carrying out the work of the Obama Foundation and its goals and objectives.  A Chicago-based entity, the Obama Foundation is overseeing the establishment of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. It also operates My Brother’s Keep Alliance which operates a scholarship program through the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.

Question: What is your favorite destination?

Response: He cited Hawaii, where he was raised, and some popular U.S. cities, but the former President was most laudatory of U.S. national parks, which he described as America’s “Crown Jewel.”

ARC’s Dan Swain on Connecting More DMOs with Travel Agencies

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Dan Swain, director of data sales for the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), knows his way around the airline industry. He’s been with ARC for a dozen years and, previously, he worked for Austrian Airlines and US Airways. Of late, Swain has become a familiar figure at travel and tourism conferences as he explains to audiences just what ARC is and what it does—most recently he is more than likely telling others in the industry how they can use ARC’s database to track the purchases and destinations of airline passengers throughout the world, using the Global Agency Pro platform. He’ll be a featured speaker next week at Connect Travel’s RTO Summit Florida, in ChampionsGate, Florida. (For more information on the event, visit www.rtosummit.com.) We recently spent some time talking with Swain about ARC and its Global Agent Pro, launched two years ago, which is a data tool designed to help DMOs improve their marketing and promotional results. The following are excerpts from our conversation.

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INBOUND: First, since it’s likely that many people are still unaware of what ARC is and does beyond providing a payment settlement platform for travel agencies and the airlines, could you give us a brief “this-is-what-we’re all about” so that we can better understand your work and the work of your organization?

Swain: Sure. ARC is an airline industry-owned entity, and we’ve been around for more than 50 years in one form or another. And, yes, our core business is settlement and we accredit travel agencies to sell airline tickets on behalf of our airline owners and participating airlines. So, we have a unique insight into the travel agency community and the types of travel that they’re able to support for the industry.

In addition to our settlement/clearing house function, we also have a very robust data business, which allows us to offer insights into traveling patterns and recent trends for tickets sold not only in the United States, where we’re focused, but also from anywhere in the world through our partnership with the International Air Transport Association (IATA). For the DMO community, this is especially interesting because we’re able to combine the ARC and IATA settlement platforms to provide a truly global point of sale database for DMOs from which to get that insight.

 

INBOUND: What prompted ARC to develop the Global Agency Pro data management program, and when did it come about?

Swain: Global Agency Pro is about two years old, and it is the result of a closer partnership we have with our friends at IATA. ARC and IATA have for many years created data products—primarily for our airline owners and partners. We perform several services for airlines. But we’re constantly having interesting discussions with other players in the travel and tourism industry resulting in products and services for all types of entities—everything from travel agencies to airports. DMOs comprise the newest group for which we’ve created products.

Before Global Agency Pro, ARC had a stand-alone product using ARC-only data (U.S. point-of-sale only) in which we offered travel agency insights for the U.S. community as well. What’s new with Global Agency Pro is that it is a truly global offering that brings in a much more extensive database of airline ticket sales.

 

INBOUND: To help us better understand—or, in our case, more easily understand Global Agency Pro—do you have a brief “101” or case study of how someone uses it? I was thinking about the case of Atout France. (It is the France Tourism Development Agency, the French organization responsible for promoting France as a tourism destination—you can access a copy of ARC’s case study of how it uses Global Agency Pro here.)

Swain: Yes, Atout France is one of our most robust users and advocates. They do some really interesting work. But our core value proposition is to the greater DMO community, because many of them don’t necessarily recognize the volume of business that still comes through the travel agency community in the United States, which sells 50 percent of U.S. airline tickets. That includes small mom-and-pop leisure agencies that most people think of, but in addition to that, it includes the managed corporate travel community and the OTAs as well.

ARC has huge visibility in terms of air travel in the U.S. We also know through IATA’s data that global travel agencies sell more than 50 percent of tickets in their local markets as well. Most people don’t realize how robust the agency community still is.

What we can do is give DMOs insight into not only how many passengers are coming to their destination, or where those passengers are coming from but, uniquely, we can also tell them who sold those tickets. Instead of just knowing that you’ve got a large population of people coming from a particular country—especially for international inbound interests—we can tell them which travel agencies in that county are making the sales. So, they’re able to use our data to not only see the volumes of passengers, but also create a relationship with the sellers of that travel.

For something like the RTO Summit audience, which is focused on (international) tour operators, we find that most tour operators are also travel agencies. This means that if they’re issuing airline tickets, we have visibility there as well. Interestingly, our data is not delayed like many other sources in the marketplace. If that ticket is sold today for travel six months from now, we can see that ticket today. ARC can provide a good forward indicator of future travel to the destination as well.

 

INBOUND: You have a point about tour operators in other countries. In Brazil, you can walk into an office and on one side of the room is the travel agency and on the other side is the tour operator. That’s how co-mingled they are there.

Swain: Absolutely. And the volumes that they send are very significant. If you talk to the general population, they’re like, “Oh, I don’t use a travel agency any more. I book everything by myself online.” Well, those online bookings are often via an OTA like Expedia, which is a travel agency. Maybe for a relaxed weekend domestic trip, they don’t need a traditional travel agency to help them, but most people are happy they get the help and insights of a travel agency when they’re booking a more extensive international trip or tour. Travel agencies provide a lot of additional value to those customers who are planning a more high-end or complex trip.

 

INBOUND: For those DMOs who are just beginning to familiarize themselves with the Global Agency Pro, do you have any ballpark figure that you can tell us as to how many DMOs use the product?

Swain: This product is available globally—in the U.S. via ARC and outside the U.S. via IATA. We’ve got about two dozen DMOs using the system today, and we sell it as a subscription. The DMO receives access to an online platform where, on a daily basis, they can run reports and do queries as to tickets sold to their destination. Uniquely, they can also run reports on travelers going to competitors or peer destinations as well. If they identify travel agencies who are supporting their peers but not their destination—or not supporting theirs to the same extent—it’s an excellent way to identify areas of opportunity, like creating a new relationship with that travel agency or tour operator.

 

INBOUND: Is it on a sliding scale? That is, larger destinations more, smaller DMOs pay less?

Swain: That’s correct. We base our pricing on the volume of tickets included in the data subscription. A smaller destination is going to pay less than a larger destination, just by the aspect of how many tickets are involved in their reporting. Everything is done by an annual subscription. An annual subscription gives them access not only to daily, updated ticket reports, but also historical data going back to 2010. So, when they sign up with us, they instantly get access to almost a decade’s worth of travel history.

 

INBOUND: At the RTO Summit, will people be able to meet with you one-on-one? Will they be able to sign up on the spot? Has that ever happened?

Swain: It’s absolutely possible if they want to. We are capable of creating a contract with them on the spot, and we’ll also be providing demos and custom proposals for anybody interested.

 

INBOUND: Is there anything else I’ve missed you would like to cover?

Swain: We’re looking forward to working closely with the DMO community, and we’ll be happy to connect any prospective customers with current users. And we have testimonials and more information on our website as well. (https://www2.arccorp.com)

A Conversation with Will Seccombe

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Will Seccombe

A veteran travel and tourism industry leader, Will Seccombe is president & managing director of Connect Travel, which provides a wide portfolio of events and resources (including the INBOUND Report) that support and serve the industry. He recently took part in a panel discussion hosted by the ONE Travel Conference on Shopping, Dining & Cultural Tourism that focused on the future of such events for the travel trade. We had the opportunity to talk with Seccombe about the subject and what follows are excerpts from that conversation.

 

INBOUND: You just completed participating in a panel discussion on “The Future of Travel Trade Events.” With so many other media and channels of distribution available for travel suppliers and buyers to transact business, why is it so important that face-to-face meetings and the events that facilitate them continue to be a part of trade events as we have come to know them?

Seccombe: It might seem a bit counter-intuitive with the explosion of technology and so many new ways to communicate, from social media to live video conferencing from your phone, but I believe that face-to-face interaction is more important now than ever before.  I especially believe in the intentionality of pre-scheduled one-on-one appointments like we have at Connect Travel Marketplace, the RTO Summits and Active America China. In the craziness of our hectic daily schedules, e-mails get missed, calls all go to voice mail and just lead to the game of tag, but when you know that you have 10- 15 minutes to sit across from a partner and look them in the eyes, you build relationships that last and those relationships lead to business.  This model works for new business in all markets, even when there can be a language challenge.

While is stands to reason that a one-on-one meeting is a great opportunity for new business, because of the power of human connection, we find that it can be even more powerful to have an intentional, scheduled meeting with a long-time partner. It is great to catch-up over a drink at the bar, but the scheduled appointments drive focus of the time together.

INBOUND: As far as inbound travel to the United States is concerned, are there any markets or regions in the world for whom the in-person trade event is especially or particularly important … and why?

Seccombe: Following up on the previous question—Brand USA has shown how important it regards the trade show for the European market by announcing at its very first Brand USA Travel Week last month in London that it has already scheduled the next six editions of this event—through 2025—at different destinations in the continent. What should we make of this?

The Connect Travel team participated in the inaugural Brand USA Travel Week and we were very impressed with the programming of the week and the attendance of both European buyers and U.S. suppliers at the show.  Again, a great opportunity to sit down face to face in a manageable environment to build relationships and grow business.

INBOUND: Connect Travel now has six events that focus on inbound travel and tourism to the U.S.—RTO Summits in Los Angeles, New York and Kissimmee, Florida, Active America China, Active America China The Receptive Edition, as well as another Florida-based trade show, the Connect Travel Marketplace. So, are you able to give us any kind of “state-of-the-market” assessment regarding the condition of the Visit USA product based on what you’re picking up from those who are coming to these events?

Seccombe: I am very bullish on the long-term outlook for international inbound travel to the U.S. I do believe that the U.S. travel industry is coming off of 10 years of solid growth and that these past few years it has been pretty easy growth. It is hard to find a North American destination that is not reporting annual record visitor numbers. There will be a bump in the road and the industry is going to have to work harder and smarter to grow business and market share. We feel that the Connect Travel events will be well positioned as the best alternatives to efficiently and effectively build international business.

INBOUND:  You have two events this month in San Francisco. One of them, the eTourism Summit is 20 years old and fairly well known in the travel and tourism industry. The other, the Connect THRIVE Summit, is a first-time event. Where do you see THRIVE heading in the future?

Seccombe: The Connect THRIVE Summit is focused on community development through LGBTQ travel, sports and entertainment.  We are featuring an amazing roster of speakers including Anderson Cooper, two Olympians, Fred Dixon from NYC & Co, Joe D’Alessandro from San Francisco Travel and Leah Chandler from Discover Puerto Rico—as well as representatives from US Travel, Brand USA, IGLTA, ITB, USTOA, LGBTMPA, PFLAG Canada, and the U.S. Cultural and Heritage Marketing Council. Like the international inbound events, the Connect THRIVE Summit will feature pre-scheduled one-on-one appointments between destinations, resorts, attractions, media, marketers, tour operators, meeting planners and sports rights holders. We are very excited about the program and are looking forward to announcing our 2020 Host destination next month.

Brand USA Week—The Bailey Perspective

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Shari Bailey is vice president of Connect Travel (publisher of the INBOUND Report) and a veteran of more than two decades in the U.S. travel and tourism industry, working in both its public and private sectors, and she has stopped counting how many trade shows she has either attended or been a part of on the event management side of the business. Few in the industry have as much familiarity with trade show staging and management, or in selling at a show as a supplier—an ideal person, we thought, to get some feedback on the just-concluded and Brand USA Travel Week Europe, which was held last week in London. We spoke with her about the event a few days ago and it was time well spent. Some excerpted parts of our conversation follow.

 

INBOUND: How does Brand USA Week Compare to other travel trade shows in general?

Shari Bailey: In talking with the other suppliers who were there, it is clear that it was very well received. People really, really liked the format. It was more personal. It was smaller. (The last tally we saw had it at 179 European buyers, and 97 U.S. exhibitors.) Yes, they brought in European operators. But their numbers were not huge; it was all the people you needed to see in one place under one roof. They felt that the format was more intimate, much more personal. You get to spend more time with people (appointment sessions were 20 minutes long) and to talk with operator companies that you wouldn’t have the opportunity to talk with at some of the larger events.

 

INBOUND: So, the longer appointment sessions and the smaller crowd, seemed to work well?

Shari Bailey: It was definitely a good use of time. People really enjoyed it. The key takeaways were: It was a more personal setting; because it was just Europe, people weren’t fighting for attention with other countries—it was very localized and focused on European business; it was an intimate setting in which US Supplier companies were able to spend time with European Buyers throughout the entire event; not just during the appointments but during the enrichment sessions and evening events as well. The participants were able to speak with operators that they normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to  spend time with. There was a good showing from Eastern Europe which, generally, you don’t get to see at other events. So, in addition to their tried-and-true markets, U.S. suppliers also got to explore new ones.

 

INBOUND: Were the tour operators there mostly familiar faces or new faces?

Shari Bailey: It was a mix. There were certainly operators who people knew and had worked with before. But there were additional companies—specifically the Eastern Europeans—that, because of the time or expense involved in traveling to the U.S. for shows suppliers don’t get to see as much. Or, if they’re at World Travel Market or ITB, those shows are just so big that they just don’t get the chance to see everybody they would like to.

 

INBOUND: What was the sense you got as to how the outlook is for travel to the U.S. from Europe?

Shari Bailey: I think that it looks strong. The first day of the event was primarily for suppliers and it was comprised of market updates from all of the European regions—who was up, who was down, who was flat and what it looked like moving into next year—and everything looked very positive for travel.

 

INBOUND: Any red flags, any concerns expressed about the impact of Brexit?

Shari Bailey: No, no flags that really came up at the show. There were some enrichment sessions on Brexit, but the overall feel was “We don’t know until we know.” Yes, it’s going on. Yes, we have to watch it closely, but we still don’t know what’s going to happen with that.

 

You have to remember that, for people who live in the region, taking a vacation is ingrained in their behavior. They have a lot of vacation time and they like to travel. So, what it may affect is the length of time they’re gone … or the category of the hotel they might stay in. Or, it may affect the spend more than it affects them actually going on vacation, but they’ll still travel.

 

INBOUND: Is the currency exchange rate and the strong U.S. dollar having an impact?

Shari Bailey: Not really. I think that people recognize that the U.S. has a strong dollar right now, but the U.S. is also one of those destinations that’s on a list for people to go to. It’s the same with Brexit and how it’s affecting travel there: You’re still going to travel—you just may not travel two times to the United States—it might just be one and, then, a short-haul holiday that’s closer to where you live. And when you do go to the U.S., it might be for a shorter period of time, and your activities may change a bit.

 

INBOUND: I once read the results of a survey showing that British consumers would rather give up just about any other activity than travel.

Shari Bailey: Right. For a country that has as many vacation days as they do, it’s always been ingrained in them that they take vacations. It’s not necessarily a privilege. It’s a right, and using that vacation time is important to them. And they’re going to do it. They’ll find a way to do it—within the funds that they have and the exchange rate they have.

 

INBOUND: How about the question of what people traveling to the U.S. are looking for?

Shari Bailey: I think that the big talk is “Living Like a Local.” People want experiences, not just to attend something. They want to be involved in it. So, when they’re looking at travel, it really is: What would a local do? How could I be involved in that? What’s off the beaten bath? Those are really big. And from the Scandinavian-Nordic region, sustainability in their travel is something that people are looking at more.

 

INBOUND: It sounds like you must have been really busy at the show. Did you have a full appointment schedule?

Shari Bailey: Yes. And having a 20-minute appointment really gave people enough time to sit down and talk a bit about what they were looking at for next year. We did appointments for three days, and there was a maximum of 12 appointments a day. So, for the entire event, you could have up to 36 appointments. We were full. Most people were. And Brand USA did a great job at managing the ratio—making sure that they had the right number of buyers and suppliers there that supported the atmosphere they were going for.

 

INBOUND: Is it safe to say, then, that you’ll be back next year?

Shari Bailey: Oh yes. As far as Connect Travel goes, we were there supporting our partner, Brand USA, in their new endeavor. We were very pleased with the event. And we’ll certainly will back to support them in any way possible—again.

 

Before the event even kicked off, Chris Thompson (Brand USA president & CEO) got up and said that they were so sure that this was the right type of event and investment for the U.S., that he announced the next six years of the show and its location. *

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* Location of Brand USA Week

2020-2025

2020: United Kingdom

2021: Germany

2022: United Kingdom

2023: France

2024: United Kingdom

2025: Netherlands

Just What is the TravelAbility Summit All about?

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Jake Steinman, editor-in-chief of INBOUND, as well as the founder of a portfolio of popular tour and travel industry events and conferences acquired earlier this year by Connect Travel, has been concentrating on a new project—the first TravelAbility Summit, a highly focused conference dealing with the issue of accessible travel. He launched the effort a year ago, and the first Summit will be staged Nov. 12-13 in San Francisco. Steinman recently participated in a panel discussion on the subject of accessible travel at the U.S. Travel Association’s recent annual ESTO conference in Austin, which brings together DMO leaders from all kinds of destination organizations. INBOUND’s editor talked with Steinman several days ago about his ESTO experience and how the TravelAbility Summit is shaping up. Following are excerpts of our conversation.

INBOUND: So, what have you learned in the past year as you’ve been putting together the TravelAbility Summit, and what did you learn about accessible travel needs at ESTO?

 Steinman. We’re creating an awareness event designed to help destinations and their industry partners become accessible as a way to drive more tourism.

You could see this coming. Seventy-five million Baby Boomers are going to be ageing into a disability, and the tour and travel industry is going to have to develop an infrastructure and products for them as they move into that phase of life. They are the ones who are going to have the time and income to travel.

 

“For the Disabled, Travel is a Commando Raid”

Travel involves getting from point A to point B—from home to the destination—that is an arduous and stressful journey for people who are “abled” so you can imagine what it’s like for those with a disability. Disability blogger Cory Lee Woodard recounted the intense preparation and contingency planning he had undertaken before a long haul flight that made it sound like a commando raid. On long haul flights he doesn’t eat or drink for 36 hours before takeoff so he won’t have to use the bathroom. And then he still has to worry about his motorized wheelchair arriving undamaged.

But to affect change during the transportation process, much of which is regulated by the ADA and the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), involves advocacy by disability lobbying groups. Improving accessibility at the destination level however, is something that I believe can be done by raising awareness within the DMO’s communities of hotels and attractions and that small gestures and incremental improvements in service can make a big difference

INBOUND: And, of course, you’re not talking about a single disability that a destination has to address.

STEINMAN: One thing I’ve learned is that every single disability has a spectrum, and so it’s virtually impossible to be accessible for everyone.

INBOUND: Speaking of destinations and accessibility, you recently attended US Travel’s recent ESTO conference in Austin, Texas— which is all about destinations at all levels—where you organized a panel around accessibility. How did that go?

Steinman:  We view accessibility as a new and inexpensive form of product development for destinations. The product is already there in the form of museums, hotels and attractions that are already ADA compliant and DMO’s can aggregate them onto an accessible section on their website and then promote it to people with disabilities and their families. DMO’s are in charge of long-range planning and they need to fast forward five to ten years from now when 25% of the baby boomers with time and money to travel will have aged into a disability.  If they are prepared for them today, they will be perfectly positioned for these baby boomers who will be selecting their vacations based on what’s accessible to them.

We see DMO’s taking different approaches to promote accessibility as a new product and one of the best examples is Indianapolis. The disability community has a saying: “Nothing about us without us.”   The CEO, convened a meeting with several of the local disability organizations covering mobility, blindness, autism and simply asked what they needed in a website and then built what many consider the best destination website for accessible information.

Who Should be the Accessibility Go-to Person on a DMO Staff?

If they currently have someone responsible for “inclusivity” or “diversity”— African American or LGBT market—accessibility fits naturally as the ADA is part of the Civil Rights Act. If not, it should fall under the Visitor Service training function as it’s their job to educate front line hotel and attraction staff, which can greatly reduce complaints and negative feedback.

INBOUND: How does one go about developing an Accessibility Strategy?

Steinman: There is a small, but growing group of accessibility consultants who can help the tourism industry develop an accessibility plan that would address different disabilities.  For those that want dive in I suggest they begin with autism. It doesn’t require equipment and there are several credible training organizations, consultants and even apps that can be used. Myrtle Beach has been promoting an Autism Day care center that gives parents with autistic children time to enjoy the destination.

 

INBOUND: Since you don’t really control the actual visitors experience how do you avoid setting unrealistic expectations? 

Steinman: We are all in the pioneer stage right now and, as the old saying goes, the pioneers get arrows in their backs and the settlers get the land. The arrows, in this case, come in the form of criticism.  One way to deflect criticism would be to advise industry partners to provide as much accurate and detailed website information about the accessibility features that exist, or include actual images, which can remove most of the ambiguity and would be greatly appreciated.  Another is to inform them about innovative technology and products that we have aggregated here on our website.

We implemented blindness access technology to our museum exhibit, but not one person has used it. Blind visitors and their families are probably not aware that this exhibit is even accessible.  The most efficient approach is to promote the exhibit to residents through a the local blindness organization and to visitors and locals through digital marketing that targets families members of the blind.

There are ways to manage expectations about the information on your website. One way would be to openly acknowledge that information on the site may not address the needs of everyone with a disability, but that your website is a work-in-progress that will continue to improve with input from the disability community. Managing expectations is also a function of customer service training and how people are treated.  The Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel CVB recently added an accessibility module to their customer service training program.

 

INBOUND: Can you tell me more about the structure of the TravelAbility Summit? The speakers? The program?

Steinman: There are three main segments we will bring together at TravelAbility: the tour and travel industry, the disability travel community, and innovative technology and product providers with low-cost practical solutions that can be used by hotels and attractions to make themselves more accessible. There hasn’t been conference on travel accessibility in the U.S. for 13 years and in that time many new products and services have been developed by social entrepreneurs that we have featured on our website and will be inviting to present at the Summit.

Below are the companies we will be inviting to take part in the TravelAbilityPre-Conference “Launchpad” workshop on the afternoon of November 11th.  This workshop will be free to conference registrants.

 

In addition to destinations we’ll welcome anyone in the travel space that is interested in learning how to become more accessible. We have to start somewhere and we’re limiting attendance to 150 people to maximize networking. We’re also concentrating on destinations as they have the capability to spread the word to their industry partners—hotels, attractions, museums, restaurants who rely on them for trend information that will affect their future business.

We’ll make all the presentations available to all attendees so they can use the content to form their own workshops that can be led some of the experts they meet at the Summit. .

 

INBOUND: Any plans for the future of the Summit?

Steinman: I have a three-year plan. The first year will be completely focused on raising awareness that will result in a mind shift about how and why to address disability tourism. In the second year we’ll focus on training the trainer workshops and in year three we will layer on an awards ceremony to recognize best practices.

 

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To learn more about the TravelAbility Summit, click here.

To subscribe to the Summit’s official newsletter, the TravelAbility Insider, click here.

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