Disabled Access Day is all about encouraging disabled people to visit a venue they’ve never been to before, whether that’s a museum, a coffee shop or restaurant, a theatre, or anywhere else.
For tourism businesses, it is the perfect day to increase awareness about your accessibility, raise the profile of your business and attract new customers.
Disabled Access Day offers a fantastic platform to promote and showcase your accessible credentials to a market which generated just over £370 million in visitor spend in 2013 (VisitScotland). It forms part of a much bigger campaign – last year BBC, Sky News and ITV covered the campaign which included 261 venues, across 11 countries, and generated approximately 412,826,000 media impressions.
In 2016 the event will be held on Saturday 12th March and our aim is to include even more tourism businesses.
For 2016 Edinburgh is one of two UK ‘hub cities’ which also includes London, so will benefit form a whole host of exciting activities happening on the day.
How can you get involved in Disabled Access Day?
Edinburgh is Scotland’s hub city for Disabled Access Day which will take place on 12th March 2016.
There is already a range of fantastic tourism business who have signed up and will showcase their businesses on the day, including Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, The Scottish Parliament, The Royal Yacht Britannia, Camera Obscura, Edinburgh Festival and King’s Theatres, the Royal Lyceum Theatre – to name just a few.
But, we’d love even more venues to get involved – after all you don’t want to be the odd one out! Whether you’re a small locally owned coffee shop or a large museum – or in fact anything in between – there are lots of ways you can get involved. From a small entrance fee discount or a free coffee to larger events like a British Sign Language tour or an open day so people can explore your venue – there are lots of ways to participate! And if you’re not able to offer a deal then how about a good old fashioned welcome? Just let disabled people know that they are welcome and that you’ve got good disabled access!
It’s easy to sign up, follow our easy steps below:
- Register on Euan’s Guide: the disabled access review website and app and Disabled Access Day sponsor. Make sure you check out our top tips on how to write a great listing.
- Add an event to your Euan’s Guide profile for Disabled Access Day (plus you can add any other accessible events you might want to advertise through the website too).
- Download the venue resource pack from the Disabled Access Day website for some top tips on accessibility and ideas for activities, offers and events you could do on the day.
- Sign up to the Disabled Access Day newsletter to ensure you receive all our top tips and advice in the run up to 12th March 2016.
- Follow @Access_Day on twitter and like us on Facebook to stay up to date with the latest developments. You can also help us raise the profile of Disabled Access Day by sharing, liking and retweeting our content.
Once you’ve signed up we will support you on the run up to the day through a range of informative blog posts, provision of Disabled Access Day materials and advice and information on how to market your event. You’ll also be invited to a LinkedIn group where you can ask questions and discuss ideas with other venues who are taking part.
We hope you’ll join the other fantastic Edinburgh tourism businesses taking part in Disabled Access Day 2016 and use it as an opportunity to raise awareness of your accessible facilities. And remember, it’s also a great opportunity to receive visitor feedback and gather ideas about how you can improve your visitor offer to attract a bigger share of the market.
Find out more about how you can join Disabled Access Day 2016 and sign up on the Disabled Access Day website: www.DisabledAccessDay.com.
If you want to chat through an idea or would like more information please email takepart@disabledaccessday.com or call 0131 510 5106
Lauren Pluss
Disabled Access Day Manager