National tourist board VisitEngland has launched Speak Up!, a free online guide designed to help tourism businesses market their accessibility to disabled travellers. 

Packed full of information, advice and examples of best practice, the guide covers a wide range of marketing tools from social media to promotional brochures, all aimed at helping business owners attract more of these valuable visitors, worth over £2 billion.

Currently, one in six people in the UK have an ‘activity limiting’ health problem or disability, and this figure is set to grow as the population ages; by 2025, more than a third of the UK’s population will be over 55.

The new Speak Up! guide is a one-stop resource for attractions, accommodation providers and other tourism businesses to better meet the needs of disabled customers and also businesses looking to target this market.

Topics covered include pricing incentives, public relations, online and print holiday listings and working with specialist tour operators.

The new Speak Up! guide adds to a wealth of free tools and resources VisitEngland has developed with a range of partners to help tourism business across England offer the best possible experience to disabled visitors. 

Ross Calladine, head of business support, VisitEngland, said: “There is a multitude of promotional channels available for businesses to reach the valuable accessible tourism market.  Speak Up! aims to make sense of these, helping tourism businesses to effectively communicate with disabled people – who spend over £2billion a year on overnight trips in England.”