Wheel the World, the travel company dedicated to making travel more accessible for travelers with any disability, recently launched a program aimed at boosting accessibility within destinations and promoting these destinations to those with disabilities.
The Destination Verified program is a step toward making travel more accessible to those in wheelchairs or who have other challenges across the globe. While its focus is on increasing awareness and providing detailed, helpful, destination-specific accessibility information for travelers who need it, it’s a program that Wheel the World co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Camilo Navarro believes should be used by all destinations — including at airports and theme parks.
“The specific problem that Destination Verified is solving is that most destinations don’t have their accessibility information out there: It’s not available, or it’s not accurate,” Navarro said in an interview with TravelPulse.
“Secondly, even if they have that information, they don’t have the booking solutions, a simple way for people with disabilities to book travel services. Thirdly, (destinations) don’t have enough training and understanding about the different types of disabilities, what are the dos and don’ts, what’s the difference between a cognitive disability and a mobility-related one, a sensorial one.”
Navarro said the combination of these three problems — the lack of information, the lack of booking solutions and the lack of training — makes destinations unable to attract people with disabilities to visit them. “Destination Verified was born to tackle that specific problem,” she said.
Destination Verified begins with a destination’s accessibility audit, in which Wheel the World’s trained mappers assess a location’s accommodations, tours, restaurants and attractions with over 200 data points marking how accessible they are according to those with physical, cognitive and sensorial disabilities.
For example, when mappers enter a hotel, they mark and measure entrances and measure the height of the beds in accessible rooms, among many other checks.
The destination marketing organization then receives a detailed report with recommendations on how to improve certain aspects of the destination’s accessibility and is encouraged, though not required, to improve them.
Destinations that have received the Destination Verified seal also receive a page on Wheel the World’s website, complete with all the accessible experiences they offer, available to view and book by people with disabilities and their travel companions.
Travelers who make a Wheel the World account can also enter their accessibility needs in their private profile, which is used to filter accommodations and experiences that are accessible just for them.
In October, Visit Mesa in Arizona became the first area to receive the Destination Verified Seal. Other areas have followed, including Visit Colorado Springs, Travel Oregon and Visit Lexington, Kentucky.
Mesa, whose motto is “Live Life Limitless,” has enhanced the city’s accessibility — and the partnership with Wheel the World helps increase the confidence of travelers with disabilities heading there.
Navarro believes the world is going to be 100 percent accessible in the future. “We think that people with disabilities are the largest minority on Earth,” she said.
“Sooner or later, every one of us will be part of it as a consequence of aging. … We created the seal of approval with the inspiration of how we can allow more people with disabilities to travel to more destinations in a more confident way,” she added.
Travelers with disabilities take over 40 million annual trips and generate $23 billion annually. These numbers could be much larger: Eight in 10 Americans with disabilities reported negative travel experiences due to a lack of information and specialized services.
“Because the world is going to become accessible no matter what, those who take action first are going to have an advantage over those who don’t,” Navarro said.
