Beyond the Ramp: Practical Accessibility for Every Visitor - Nowra

Inclusive tourism is no longer a “nice to have”, it’s a growth opportunity, a service standard, and an expectation from today’s travellers.

More than 70 million trips in Australia each year are taken by travellers with accessible needs and their companions, around 1 in 5 trips nationwide. In 2024 alone, these travellers contributed $29.2 billion in tourism spend, making accessibility one of the most significant and growing opportunities for tourism and hospitality businesses.

Beyond the Ramp: Practical Accessibility for Every Visitor is a hands-on, interactive workshop designed to help tourism and hospitality businesses understand accessibility in a broader, more practical way. Rather than focusing on compliance or specialised infrastructure, this workshop explores how small, thoughtful changes across the visitor journey can significantly improve comfort, ease, and usability for a wide range of visitors, while also strengthening your business.

Grounded in Universal Design principles, the session demonstrates how accessible practice benefits everyone: older travellers, families with prams, people with temporary injuries, neurodiverse visitors, and those navigating situational limitations... not just people with permanent disability.

This workshop goes well beyond what happens when a visitor arrives at your business. We’ll explore how people with access needs find, assess, choose and experience tourism products, and what that means for your marketing, online presence, storytelling, service delivery and staff confidence.

Designed specifically for real-world tourism and hospitality environments, the session is practical, engaging and supportive. Through examples, group activities, guided reflection, and local case studies, participants will leave with a clear understanding of accessibility as good customer experience and smart business practice, along with a personalised action plan they can start implementing immediately.

What Participants will learn

Participants will gain practical insight into:

• How accessibility extends far beyond disability and supports a wide range of visitor needs
• The core principles of Universal Design and how they apply in everyday business settings
• Where common barriers occur across the full visitor journey- from online discovery and booking through to arrival, movement, facilities, and staff interactions
• Practical, low-cost improvements that can be implemented immediately
• How to communicate accessibility information clearly, honestly, and confidently across websites, listings, imagery, and language
• How to identify opportunities within their own business to create more welcoming, user-friendly experiences
• How small changes can significantly improve customer satisfaction, repeat visitation, and word-of-mouth
• Why accessibility is not just inclusion...it’s good business

What we’ll cover:

Understanding different types of disability and access needs; the full customer journey from discovery and booking through to arrival and experience; what inclusive travellers look for in your website, listings, imagery and language; how to position and market your business with confidence and clarity; real-life case studies and practical examples; role play and group discussion; and practical exercises to help you refine your story and identify improvements. This is a practical, interactive workshop, not a lecture.

What Participants will recieve

• Pre-workshop self-assessment
• Accessibility “Quick Wins” checklist
• Visitor journey mapping template
• Personalised action plan tailored to their business

What’s different about this workshop?

This workshop is strongly focused on real-world application rather than theory and is designed specifically for tourism and hospitality businesses. It combines practical customer journey, marketing and storytelling exercises with honest conversations about what businesses can and can’t offer, and how to communicate this clearly and confidently to visitors. Delivered in a supportive, peer-based environment, the session recognises that businesses are at different stages of their accessibility journey. Participants will leave with clarity on small, achievable changes they can implement immediately, as well as a clear understanding of longer-term opportunities to work towards over time.

Pre-workshop commitment (important)

To get the most out of the session, all participants are required to complete pre-workshop material. This includes short pre-reading content and a simple self-assessment to understand where you currently sit on your inclusion journey. These materials will be emailed to you ahead of the workshop with clear instructions and completion is required prior to attending the workshop.

Post-workshop follow-up

All participants will be invited to a facilitated online follow-up session that will run for 90 minutes in early May, bringing the group back together to share progress and challenges, ask follow-up questions, and continue learning and accountability. Details will be provided after workshop registration and attendance.

Who should attend?

This workshop is ideal for accommodation providers, visitor experiences and attractions, food and beverage businesses and cellar doors, tour operators, event and venue managers, and destination and tourism staff. You don’t need to be “accessibility ready”, but you do need to be open to change.

Presented by Melissa James from Inclusive Tourism, bringing extensive experience in accessible tourism with practical insight, real examples and an engaging facilitation style focused on action and outcomes.

Workshop locations & dates:

This workshop will be delivered in three locations: Illawarra, Shoalhaven and the Southern Highlands . Duration is four (4) hours.

• Tuesday 10th March | Shellharbour | 1.00pm - 5.00pm | Registration link
• Wednesday 11th March | Nowra | 10.00am - 2.00pm | Registration Link
• Thursday 12th March | Bowral | 9.00am - 1.00pm | Registration Link

Workshop registrations will close on Thursday 5 March at 6.00pm to allow sufficient time for all participants to receive and complete the required pre-work prior to the workshop.

In addition to the DSSS pre-work, participants are encouraged to access the Destination NSW Accessibility and Inclusion resources as optional, self-paced learning. These materials sit outside the workshop program but are highly complementary and can be worked through at your own pace, before or after the workshop, and revisited as needed. Recommended Destination NSW resources include The Welcome Framework (Austrade), Quick tips for creating accessible and inclusive experiences and On-demand webinar series, covering:

• Disability inclusion in the visitor economy
• Inclusive customer service
• Creating accessible digital content
• Inclusive marketing and communications

These resources provide broader context and ongoing professional development, while the in-person workshop remains focused on practical application, discussion, local case studies and hands-on exercises tailored to your business.

Image credit: Shellharbour City Council