Liverpool offers a warm welcome to disabled delegates
13 Oct 08An event promoting disability awareness amongst the hotel and conference industry is taking place in Liverpool this month.
The 'Welcoming Disabled Delegates' conference will demonstrate the ways in which venues can improve business by offering a warmer welcome to disabled delegates.
Sponsored by The Mersey Partnership, and hosted by The Gateway Conference Centre in London Road, Liverpool, the seminar on October 16th has already proved extremely popular, with many of the places filled within the first couple of days.
There are over 10 million disabled people in Britain, and the estimated spending power of disabled adults is around £80 billion.
Access to services is not just about installing ramps and widening doorways for wheelchair users - it is about making services easier to use for all disabled people, including people who are blind, deaf or have a learning disability.
Guest speakers at the event include David Wade-Smith, Chairman of the Mersey Partnership Tourism Board, disability consultant Jude Sefton MBE, Director of Access Unlimited, and Kerrin MacPhie, Head of Sales at the BT Convention Centre.
David Wade-Smith says: "At TMP, the tourism board for the Liverpool City Region, we are constantly striving to ensure that Liverpool and Merseyside is the destination of choice for disabled visitors. We offer and stage regular training seminars and events to make sure that local business are aware of the measures they can take to maximise on this valuable market.
"There is always so much more that hotels, restaurants, retailers and attractions can do to improve access to their premises. It's not just about the law. It makes great business sense. Businesses that offer the best levels of access win in so many ways. High levels of 'universal access' deliver higher levels of disabled visitors, families with disabled members as well as creating better access for prams, pushchairs and older people all of which will always show their appreciation by spending more of their hard earned cash with businesses that make the extra effort.
"I am delighted the organisers have selected Liverpool to host this conference. This proves that we can now justifiably claim to be one of the key destinations."
Jude Sefton MBE travels across the UK delivering disability equality training programmes and says: "As a disabled parent, my commitment to 'access for all' was born out of the frustrations we experienced as a family once I became a wheelchair user. It is great to see so many organisations are keen to attend this conference in order to provide a more accessible experience for each and every visitor."
Nigel Byrne, Gateway Conference Centre Manager, says: "Our own statistics state that in 2007, 21% of visitors out of a total of 20,000 visitors to The Gateway had disabilities and we would like to ensure that all our customers' needs are being fully met. This seminar will give practical advice to the conference and hospitality sector on how to improve services to this very important customer sector."
Kerrin MacPhie, Head of Sales at the BT Convention Centre, adds: "Promoting disability awareness is vital to the hotel and conference industry and this seminar will highlight the actions that need to be taken to ensure that all venues are fully accessible to all customers. As the city's major conference venue, welcoming disabled people and providing access to all areas has always been the top priority."
The event will be based around the ways local businesses can improve their facilities and train their staff to work in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 2005.