With more than 13 million disabled people in the UK holding a spending power of £250 billion a year, the “purple pound” is big business.
This is TTG’s round up of three tours adapted for wheelchair users.
Kenya accessible safari specialist Rahisi Tours’ new three-day Mount Kenya experience sees clients journey from Nairobi to the Old Moses Mountain Camp, before visiting the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy and Animal Orphanage.
“Mount Kenya offers the chance for wheelchair users to meet the bongo antelope and learn about the active breeding programme at the Mount Kenya Animal Orphanage,” says Rahisi Tours’ director Stephanie Scawen.
“There’s also a track to see the incredible views around the mountain. All our tours bar one are suitable for wheelchair users, and we assist the physically disabled with our carers if needed,” says Scawen.
BOOK IT
The Mount Kenya tour is priced at £1,015pp with transport from Nairobi, accommodation at the Penguin House hotel in Nanyuki and the services of a guide included.
Accessible travel specialist Enable Holidays is offering an extended Vietnam itinerary for 2020.
The 14-night Wonders of Vietnam tour now includes an overnight visit in the Halong region, a one-night cruise on Halong Bay and visit to the Imperial City of Hue.
All Enable’s tours offer accessible accommodation and excursions for wheelchair users, says managing director Lynne Kirby. “Disability is very wide- ranging, so it will never be a situation of one size fits all.
Our team are adept at sourcing the best-adapted rooms, liaising with airports and airlines, providing adapted transfers, equipment hire in resort, designing accessible excursions, and offering nursing care.”
BOOK IT
Enable Holidays offers the Wonders of Vietnam trip from £3,079pp with adapted transfers, flights, wheelchair- accessible accommodation and an English-speaking guide.
Roma Experience, which specialises in guided tours and sightseeing excursions of Florence, Pompeii and Rome, has launched new accessible itineraries exploring the Colosseum and Vatican City.
“The travel industry has not adequately addressed the issue of accessibility,” says Robert Pardi, business development partner at Roma Experience.
He hopes the operator’s Accessible Rome: Colosseum Tour is a step in the right direction. It has been designed with wheelchair users in mind, offering clients an adapted minivan and private guide who will lead them through the Roman Forum and the Colosseum.
Client feedback has been positive, says Pardi: “We’ve had more than 100 enquiries for our new accessible Rome tours and have booked 20 tours for between May and August 2020.”
BOOK IT
The four-hour private tour is priced from £610pp with private transfers and skip-the-line tickets included.