Northern BC Tourism Association helps advance accessibility and welcome visitors back to barrier-free attractions

About one in five Canadians over the age of 15 have a disability and 88% of people with a disability take a holiday each year, Destination British Columbia reports. Investing in accessible infrastructure and programming helps ensure everyone can experience the transformative power of travel and presents the North with an opportunity to grow its visitor economy.

With $150,000 from PacifiCan’s Tourism Relief Fund, the Northern BC Tourism Association worked with local tourism businesses and not-for-profits to build accessible infrastructure, operations and tourism experiences that support travellers with mobility, sensory, and neuro-diverse accessibility requirements.

This funding helped develop a self-audit tool and ongoing advisory and training opportunities for local businesses. It’s also helping these businesses become more inclusive by improving the accessibility of their facilities.

Overall, this investment will foster tourism growth for years to come. Already, the program has:

• maintained 40 jobs
• helped attract 2,000 domestic visitors to the North
• assisted 90 businesses and not-for-profits