Principles of
Accessible Travel
Shared Principles
Accessible travel should enable people with disabilities to travel with confidence, dignity, independence, and enjoyment.
Meaningful progress requires the industry to address accessibility across the full traveler journey and across three connected pillars.
Core Principles
Responsibility: Businesses, destinations, and service providers should take responsibility for identifying and removing avoidable barriers.
Consistency: Travelers should encounter clearer and more consistent accessibility practices and information across sectors and geographies.
Continuous Improvement: Accessibility is an ongoing journey that requires regular evaluation, learning, and improvement.
Beyond Compliance: Accessibility should create experiences that are welcoming, inclusive, and usable, not simply meet minimum legal requirements.
End-to-End Accessibility: Every part of the Accessible Travel Chain matters because a barrier at any point can undermine the entire journey.
Proactive Accessibility: Accessibility should be planned in advance rather than addressed only after a traveler asks for help.
Visibility: Organizations should actively communicate and market accessible products, services, and experiences to travelers with disabilities.
The Three Pillars of Accessible Travel
Accessible Facilities: Physical environments, transportation systems, products, services, and digital technologies should minimize barriers and support people with a wide range of access needs.
Accessible Customer Service: Staff, policies, processes, booking channels, and communication should support knowledgeable, respectful, and consistent service.
Accessibility Information: Information should be accurate, detailed, clear, comprehensive, trustworthy, easy to find, and useful enough for travelers to make informed decisions independently.
Intended Outcomes
Equity: People with disabilities can travel with dignity, confidence, independence, low effort, and a high level of enjoyment.
Inclusion: People with disabilities can participate in the same travel experiences, products, services, and destinations as other travelers.
Sustainability: Accessibility initiatives create lasting value for travelers, businesses, destinations, and communities.