As an expert in the accessible travel and tourism market industry, Maahs Travels works with Ministries of Tourism, tourism boards, governments, hoteliers, business owners, parks and recreation, and entertainment venues around the world. Not only do we assess and audit the accessibility across disabilities for a destination, business, or venue, but we also work with each entity to develop strategies to attract more market share.

It involves a lot of analysis of data as well as collaboration across many stakeholders, but the outcomes are certainly worth the time and effort put into the project. In 2019, I was invited to speak in Dubai at the inaugural Dubai Accessible Tourism International Summit about accessible travel and tourism. After listening to 1⁄2 day of presentations by many talented and recognized leaders, it was evident that everyone was focusing on the actual “accessibility” of the location and things like ramps, audible signals, the use of braille and tactile information, but no one was speaking about all of the things that are necessary for a location, business, or destination to truly be inclusive and accessible.

Beyond the Ramp: True Accessibility

I decided to change the topic and the message of my third presentation for that Summit to fully explain the infrastructure that is necessary for any destination to be sustainable, inclusive, and accessible for people with disabilities. The title of my presentation was, “Accessibility. It’s more than a ramp.”