Recognised as one of Australia’s nine most influential female entrepreneurs, Hailey Brown has become a catalyst for change within the tourism industry. Upon recognising that blind and low-vision tourists were precluded from travelling as tourism marketing is visual, she created the world’s first sensory audio tourism app, Vacayit. She is highly experienced in the field of accessible tourism, universal design, inclusion, and diversity and aims to drive positive societal change around how destinations and operators market their experiences.
Visit Northern Tasmania’s Chief Executive Officer, Tracey Mallett, sits down with Hailey at the 2023 Tasmanian Tourism Conference where she presented on how tourism operators can market their inclusive tourism experience.
Hailey gets straight to the point and says it all comes down to operators making a start and simply considering people with disability. Ask yourself the question, are you thinking of every single customer? 1 in 5 people live with disability in Australia – and this includes a vast array of physical and mental disabilities. Start off by targeting one, and the continue to build off that.
Further to this, Hailey says it’s about both infrastructure and experience. It’s more than just widening a doorway or putting a ramp in – it’s about every touchpoint of the visitor journey. Resources such as Tourism Australia as well as peak bodies and service providers have lots of information that will point you in the right direction to get started. But it all starts by asking and listening to people with disability – asking the question, what can make your experience better?
Disability awareness training for your staff is a very good starting point as it will teach your staff to be welcoming of everyone. There is also a lot of opportunity within technology. Hailey’s organisation, Vacayit, creates immersive sensory audio guides for people who are blind and vision impaired off the back of recognising an obvious gap in how tourism operators were marketing their products and experiences purely off of sight alone.
Hailey is hopeful that Tasmania’s tourism industry – one that thrives off of working collaboratively – can lead the way in accessible tourism experiences.
If you want to take that first step and to look at your business through an accessible lens, please contact Hannah Lang, our Quality Tourism Advisor, who can provide you free access to complete the Accessibility Accreditation Module. Email us at info@tict.com.au.
Today’s episode is brought to you by our partner, Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service. PWS presents, protects and manages Tasmania’s extraordinary landscapes in partnership with the community. They work to conserve the state’s natural and cultural heritage while providing for sustainable use and economic opportunities for the Tasmanian community. Thanks to Tasmania Parks & Wildlife for their generous support of TICT and for helping to make this episode of Talking Tourism possible.