Meeting of the Parliament 25 September 2014
I thank the Scottish Government for bringing forward this debate. I have been motivated to speak in the debate by the difficulties that a constituent of mine has experienced in trying to go on holiday with his wife, who uses a wheelchair. I will come back to that.
Tourism is clearly important to Scotland’s economy. Recent figures show that 11.2 million tourist trips were made to Scotland, contributing expenditure of £2.6 billion. The sector is important, and we should always look to grow it.
Some people might regard the provision of infrastructure for accessible tourism as a challenge. They should not do so; accessible tourism is a massive opportunity for Scotland and already contributes almost £400 million to the Scottish economy, as members said. Worldwide, between 600 million and 900 million people have an impairment, and in Europe 70 per cent of the 124 million people who have a disability are physically and financially able to travel and often do so accompanied by friends and family. The estimated purchasing power of people with disabilities in the UK is £80 billion a year.
People with disabilities—I am conscious of what Dennis Robertson said about the terminology and I will try not to let him down—represent a huge market. We have a chance to ensure that Scotland is prepared to benefit from accessible tourism, but there is some way to go. We know that 70 per cent of disabled people are able to travel but do not do so, because of a lack of accessible accommodation and basic facilities.
I am pleased that work is being done in that regard. The minister and other members mentioned the training on making services for tourists more accessible, which I very much welcome. In this year of the Commonwealth games and the Ryder cup, great efforts have been made to ensure that events are accessible. There has been a massive effort to ensure that flagship events are as accessible as possible, but it is probably easier to put in place arrangements for one-off events than it is to ensure that tourist facilities more generally are accessible. In its helpful briefing, Inclusion Scotland set out a range of issues that face people with disabilities, such as the shortage of fully accessible public transport, which is a key barrier.
That reflects the concerns of my constituent. He contacted me about the problems that he has had over the past two years in arranging suitable holiday accommodation for his wife, who is disabled and wheelchair bound, due to frontotemporal dementia, and needs fully accessible disabled accommodation that has an overhead or portable hoist and stand aid in the bedroom and toilet. He talked about the lack of hotels and B and Bs in Scotland that have such facilities and made the point that establishments that provide equipment often charge extra for it. He has been able to find only one establishment that does not charge extra for specialist disabled equipment: Crathie Opportunity Holidays, in Mr Robertson’s constituency, which was mentioned by Nanette Milne.
Inclusion Scotland referred in its briefing to the concern that
“accessible accommodation is often only available in the more expensive hotels”
or that hotels charge for specialist equipment. We know that people with disabilities are more likely than non-disabled people to be living in poverty, yet they must bear the brunt of those extra costs.
I wrote to VisitScotland on my constituent’s behalf and it talked in its reply about the accessible tourism project, part of whose purpose is to share information and ensure that businesses help each other to find the most suitable and reasonably priced equipment. I hope that that will succeed and lead to more locations not charging a premium for providing such equipment.
Another issue that my constituent raised, which Jenny Marra and Nanette Milne touched on, is the lack of disabled-access toilets in Scotland, which can make journeys nigh on impossible and very difficult. My constituent referred to particular problems in the Highlands, the Borders, the Western Isles and the northern isles, which he described as no-go areas for disabled people—or people with disabilities, I should say—who need fully accessible toilets.
I raised that issue with VisitScotland, which said that it does not have jurisdiction over the matter. I accept that, but I hope that it can work with its partners to improve the situation.
Mike MacKenzie (Highlands and Islands) (SNP) rose—