Enabling all people to go to the toilet will help tourist attractions take a bigger share of the £14billion spent in the UK a year by parties that include a disabled person.
New and recent Regulations and “ best practice” guidelines mean management now have additional challenges to deliver an optimum solution for accessible tourism. To help them, leading disabled toileting solutions provider Closomat has published a white paper: Provision of Accessible Toilets in the Tourism Industry.
The white paper provides a simplified reference to achieve compliance for venues where people are spending a few hours or a day. It clarifies what is needed under the latest Building Regulations (Approved Document M 2013), plus the Equality Act (which replaced the Disability Discrimination Act) and BS8300:2009, to enable visitors with a visible or invisible disability to access appropriate toilets.
“A recent survey showed that 85% of families with a disabled member had left a venue early because of poor or unsuitable toilet facilities; 99% of its respondents said they would be more likely to visit a venue if they knew it had suitable toilet facilities- that includes wheelchair accessible toilets, accessible facilities with a changing bench and hoist (Space to Change), or a ‘full specification’ Changing Places assisted accessible toilet,” says Robin Tuffley, Closomat marketing manager.
“Tourism for All maintains that now, parties that include a disabled member spend £14billion a year on tourism and travel. On average we go to the toilet EIGHT times a day, so the validity and business rationale of appropriate toilet provision is clear. But many businesses don’t know how to go about accommodating disabled people’s needs, nor realise their legal duties.
“Because we are the UK’s leading supplier of disabled toileting in and out of the home, we have the experience and expertise to collate our knowledge into one document that gives everyone involved in the building specification process an easy to use, concise and informative reference point.
The white paper can be obtained, free of charge, from the downloads section of Closomat’s website www.clos-o-mat.com:
It is available alongside a raft of support material including CAD blocks, technical specifications, video, renders, and considerations for a trouble-free installation.