Visit Dorset, alongside VisitEngland and Access and Inclusion UK, have been working to improve the accessibility information provided to visitors to our region. In order to do this effectively, we need to update information about what you, as businesses, offer and how we can showcase that information to visitors and customers.
What is accessibility?
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) are becoming hot topics in the business world. Let's break it down:
- Equality: Ensuring everyone has access to the same opportunities.
- Diversity: Valuing the unique differences among people and their identities.
- Inclusion: Creating environments where everyone feels safe and welcome.
These big-picture concepts are crucial, and accessibility is at their core.
Accessibility is all about removing barriers—whether they're physical, digital, informational, or attitudinal. It's the actionable part of EDI, especially for disabled individuals, but it also benefits everyone, including customers and colleagues with diverse identities.
For accessible tourism to truly shine, it must deliver products, services, and environments that empower people with impairments and accessibility needs to enjoy independence and autonomy in their experiences.
Why is it important?
- Improving customer service and the visitor experience;
- Meeting the needs of underserved markets i.e. disabled people;
- Responding to changing markets i.e. an ageing population;
- Tapping into the growth of ‘3G’ family holidays and breaks (where three generations of a family travel together);
- Ensuring that valuable business is not lost: one person with accessibility requirements can influence a whole group’s travel plans;
- Contributing to sustainable and responsible tourism product development;
- Growing visitor numbers, both domestically and inbound;
- Supporting resilience and recovery in times of crisis e.g. the COVID 19 pandemic;
- Creating more job opportunities for disabled people;
- Boosting the image of your business
- Return visit and advocates for your business
Updating your listing/s
We are currently asking all of our members to complete a short, easy to use questionnaire, (which should ONLY take between 3-5 minutes to complete), letting us know what the key accessibility features that you currently offer for people with accessibility requirements.
These facilities options within the survey have been developed with VisitEngland and other partners in the UK with extensive research to identify the most important features that people need to know in order to travel. The aim is to build standardised facilities and feature sets across all tourism websites, including leading OTAs such as Booking.com and AirBnB etc.
View our step-by-step guide to completing the form here.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
- The deadline to complete this form is Friday 11 July 2025. If you don’t fill out this form by the deadline then any accessibility facilities you currently display within your landing page on the Visit Dorset website will disappear and you will not be featured on accessibility pages and searches across the website.
- Please note that the website will only display features for your venue that you select ‘yes’ for, for example if you do not have facilities for assistance dogs, then no reference to this will be published.
The following are not included in this questionnaire as they are statutory responsibilities, which should be provided as standard:
- assistance dogs welcome;
- information on the 14 major allergens in any food provided, along with food labeling requirements.
Top tips for completing the questionnaire
- Be honest - if you have any doubt about a feature, do not tick the box.
- Read the guidance - follow the guidance available for each question.
- Review regularly - to ensure the information remains accurate, update the information as soon as you make a change and review the answers at least annually.
- You MUST add your url from the Visit Dorset website, that is NOT your own url/web address but the one from your listing on Visit-Dorset.com. e.g https://www.visit-dorset.com/listing/farmer-palmers-farm-park/15217301/ - you can simply copy and paste from the url bar at the top of the page into the form.
- If you have multiple listings on the website you will need to complete a separate form for each of these listings. If you aren't sure which listings you have on the website, please reach out to the team who will be happy to help – tourism@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
What else do we need from you?
Images
Do you have any great images showing visitors enjoying your place to stay, attraction, shop, restaurant or experience? We are always on the lookout for inclusive imagery to showcase the region, these will be used on the website as well as for press and media enquiries, and more, so please share with us what you have.
VisitEngland's Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses
For essential guidance to help you improve your welcome for customers with accessibility requirements, check out VisitEngland’s Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Businesses, which includes practical tips and action checklists specific to your business type and technical built environment guidance for when new-build, refurbishment, conversion, and adaptation projects are possible.
Our accessibility pledge and future plans
This exercise is part of a wider project to improve accessibility in our region for visitors and will feed into the improvements on a national level. We will be rolling out more information about improving accessibility with links to more resources, case studies, awards and information soon. Please keep an eye out for further updates via our monthly trade e-news.
