Accessibility & Inclusive Tourism - Educational & Awareness Raising Assets - AWARD

West Midlands Growth Company want to deliver meaningful activities focused on accessibility and inclusivity. We have sought advice from an accessibility consultant who sits on our Tourism and Hospitality advisory board and their recommendations form the basis of this brief.

A key recommendation is to explore the production and promotion of educational videos to support the tourism and hospitality sector to better welcome disabled visitors to the region and to their businesses. Our colleagues at Birmingham City Council (BCC) have commissioned a series of staff training videos focused in this area and we want to support this programme of work by delivering a B2C campaign alongside which raises awareness amongst consumers and visitors about the importance of access for all.

WMGC currently provides access to a disability equality training programme on the Visit Birmingham website, aimed at the tourism and hospitality sector, to better welcome disabled visitors. The e-learning programme, which is free to access and commissioned by Birmingham City Council, is part of our Accessible Tourism Hub. The BCC commissioned videos will also sit on the Hub, and we (if as we work through this project deem it appropriate to) could also signpost the assets created as part of this tender brief to the Hub too.

Although the content on the Hub is of very high quality and disabled-led, it is recognised that customer-facing staff in the industry are often not provided with the time to sit and perform lengthy training. Therefore, WMGC and BCC have considered alternative delivery methods of learning and development for welcoming disabled visitors, more suited to their work environment, such as impactful video shorts with signposting to the hub. This is what the BCC developed videos will achieve and will have a B2B focus. We wish to deliver an awareness raising campaign alongside this across our social platforms to support wider understanding and the importance of accessibility needs to a wider B2C audience.

To support our wider work around accessibility, our accessibility consultant also identified a powerful opportunity to review and refresh the Visit Birmingham website content related to accessibility. Disabled visitors face unnecessary barriers when planning a trip due to missing or inaccurate information around transport, hotels and things to do. The purpose of such visits may be for events, leisure or work conferences, and visits may be international or domestic. We are currently addressing the gaps and updates to the Visit Birmingham website.

The successful supplier will work alongside WMGC's Visitor Economy team and our designated accessibility consultant to deliver a series of meaningful and educational videos which can be used as part of a B2C campaign focused on access for all, to ensure visitors to the West Midlands are ensured a warm welcome and a positive experience, regardless of their access needs.