The Global Business Travel Association Foundation has developed a toolkit to help buyers address traveler accessibility in their policies and practices, the organization announced.
The GBTA Accessibility Toolkit includes seven modules designed to help buyers in such areas as travel policy, traveler communication, supplier engagement and challenges and opportunities around travel accessibility. It also includes a glossary of terms and industry case studies. GBTA's Inclusion and Culture committee—which includes travel managers and buyers, consultants and representatives from travel management companies, online booking tools and other suppliers—helped to develop the toolkit.
Parts of the toolkit are available to the public, but the full product is restricted to GBTA members.
Citing a 2022 survey from Accessio, which surveyed 346 travel managers, GBTA said nearly four in 10 business travelers have accessibility requirements that can affect their travel experience. More than 70 percent of travel managers, however, said they either don't know or can't estimate how many of their own travelers have such requirements, particularly since some are hidden such as chronic pain, neurodiversity or mental health, the organization said.
"There is still a significant gap in understanding business traveler differences and how these translate into various needs,” GBTA Foundation managing director and GBTA SVP of sustainability and advocacy Delphine Millot said in a statement. "Our GBTA Accessibility Toolkit is designed to help companies address this issue, in turn enhancing the business traveler experience, maximizing the ROI of business travel, and supporting the delivery of travel services from across the supplier landscape."
The foundation also issued a call to action for the industry alongside releasing the toolkit, including encouraging buyers to conduct an accessibility self-assessment, find ways to confidentially collect and store traveler information on accessibility, positively respond to and support travelers who disclose accessibility requirements and demand more accessible facilities and services from suppliers. For the entire industry, the foundation said there should be collaboration to create a universal coding system for accessibility information.