24 Oct 2025
Making Tourism Accessible
Tourism Northern Ireland hosted an Inclusive and Accessible Tourism event in Antrim this week to support the industry with improving their visitor experience.
Almost 90 tourism businesses attended the event at the Dunadry Hotel and Gardens to learn more about how they can embark upon or continue their own accessibility journey.
Recent research has found that of the approximately 1.4 billion people travelling the world, 15% identify as disabled or having an accessibility requirement.
Furthermore, 91% of disabled people will try to find out information about accessibility before visiting somewhere for the first time, while 58% will avoid going to a venue if it has not shared its access information.
The tourism businesses gathered for the event at the Dunadry Hotel, which was hosted by Jamie Shields, Co-Founder of Disabled By Society, heard from a host of industry speakers, who spoke about their own inclusive and accessible journeys.
These included Bridgene Keeley, Director of Sales & Marketing at the McKeever Hotel Group and Nisha Tandon, CEO of ArtsEkta.
Best practice videos on behalf of Lavery’s, Titanic Belfast and Ramada Wyndham, Belfast were also shown to those gathered.
During a panel discussion, representatives from Exploris & Crumlin Road Gaol, Marble Arch Caves, the McKeever Hotel Group and Black Box spoke about their own business experiences.
Mark Thompson, Visitor Information Manager at Tourism NI, spoke about the importance of consistency in relation to how accessibility information is displayed, while Eimear Davis, Major Events Manager at Tourism NI, spoke about the inclusivity and accessibility practices adopted at The 153rd Open in July.
Attendees also explored the Tourism NI `Inclusive & Accessible Tourism Toolkit’, which offers practical hints and tips, giving businesses the reassurance and confidence they need to move forward inclusively.
Eimear Callaghan, Head of Experience and Development at Tourism NI, said: "Providing an accessible and inclusive tourism experience for all our visitors is of paramount importance and we were delighted to deliver a second workshop this year focusing on this vital area.
“The strong attendance demonstrates that tourism businesses are keen to do more in this area and to ensure they are best placed to offer the best possible visitor experience to all.
“Our Inclusivity & Accessibility Tourism Toolkit, modules on our E-learning platform 'MyTourismNI' and listening to the experiences of other tourism businesses already active in this area, will all help our industry enhance our famous giant welcome for all”.