When most people think about accommodating people with disabilities in their business we get a scared feeling in their gut & their mind scrambles to search for that all-important date when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect. It doesn’t have to be that way! When business owners open their eyes & start to realize that there’s literally billions of dollars to be made in the obtainable travel market, I believe we will start to remove the fear associated with the ADA.
there’s currently over 50 million people with disabilities in the United States & 180 million worldwide, representing the single largest untapped tourist market in the world. According to a recent Harris Poll conducted in conjunction with the Open Doors Organization & the Travel Industry Association of America, the 50 million people with disabilities in our country have a combined income of over $175 billion. In 2002, these people took 32 million trips & spent over $13.6 billion on travel ($4.2 billion on hotels, $3.3 billion on airfare, $2.7 billion on food & beverage, & $3.4 billion on retail, transportation, & other...