‘OPENBRITAIN’, the new high quality printed guide published by national charities Tourism for All UK and RADAR is published today. The full colour 456-page guide has over 1,000 entries, and includes a wide range of accessible accommodation, as well as attractions, equipment hire and other services. It has 50 pages of featured editorial, and an extensive section on Getting There and Back.
The new guide is supported by the national tourist agencies VisitEngland, VisitScotland and VisitWales, and it includes all accommodation providers assessed under the National Accessible Scheme, as well those inspected under schemes operated by VisitScotland, and VisitLondon. Information has also been drawn from a range of organisations including the Automobile Association, the British Hospitality Association, and the Regional Development Agencies. It includes some properties who are self-assessed, who will be subject to a mystery shopping check on the accuracy of the data.
The National Federation of Shopmobility has joined with RADAR and Tourism for All to promote the guide and website. Window stickers with the Open Britain logo provided to those who have supplied access statements and joined Open Britain will help to promote it as a system of information.
For a long time, surveys have shown that disabled people want an easier way to get the information they need, not just about accommodation, but about travel, things to see and do, places to eat and drink, without having to trawl through hundreds of different websites searching for information that all too often is not there. The new www.openbritain.net website that backs up the guide aims to do just that. Visitors and guests are invited to give feedback via the website.
OpenBritain enjoys the support of Government ministers who launched the initiative in July. Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP, Minister for the Olympics and Paralympics, Barbara Follett MP, the then Minister for Tourism, and Jonathan Shaw MP, Minister for Disabled People all expressed their support. In her foreword to the guide, Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP states:
“This guide is a necessary and timely contribution … Not only is it an invaluable and long-awaited resource for travellers with access requirements, it also serves as a powerful incentive for those businesses that are not listed here to raise their game.
It will encourage them to look again at their facilities, to re-appraise their abilitiy to meet accessibility needs, and to act to ensure that staff and managers are well equipped to provide high-quality services to disabled people’.
The new guide is supported by the national tourist agencies VisitEngland, VisitScotland and VisitWales, and it includes all accommodation providers assessed under the National Accessible Scheme, as well those inspected under schemes operated by VisitScotland, and VisitLondon. Information has also been drawn from a range of organisations including the Automobile Association, the British Hospitality Association, and the Regional Development Agencies. It includes some properties who are self-assessed, who will be subject to a mystery shopping check on the accuracy of the data.
The National Federation of Shopmobility has joined with RADAR and Tourism for All to promote the guide and website. Window stickers with the Open Britain logo provided to those who have supplied access statements and joined Open Britain will help to promote it as a system of information.
For a long time, surveys have shown that disabled people want an easier way to get the information they need, not just about accommodation, but about travel, things to see and do, places to eat and drink, without having to trawl through hundreds of different websites searching for information that all too often is not there. The new www.openbritain.net website that backs up the guide aims to do just that. Visitors and guests are invited to give feedback via the website.
OpenBritain enjoys the support of Government ministers who launched the initiative in July. Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP, Minister for the Olympics and Paralympics, Barbara Follett MP, the then Minister for Tourism, and Jonathan Shaw MP, Minister for Disabled People all expressed their support. In her foreword to the guide, Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP states:
“This guide is a necessary and timely contribution … Not only is it an invaluable and long-awaited resource for travellers with access requirements, it also serves as a powerful incentive for those businesses that are not listed here to raise their game.
It will encourage them to look again at their facilities, to re-appraise their abilitiy to meet accessibility needs, and to act to ensure that staff and managers are well equipped to provide high-quality services to disabled people’.
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