Cape Town Tourism's Limitless campaign serves as a groundbreaking model for destinations seeking to cultivate inclusivity and accessibility within their tourism offer. Launched in 2023, Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, describes this innovative initiative as a symbol of the city's determination to overcome barriers and create unforgettable experiences for everyone, regardless of their abilities. This case study explores Cape Town's pioneering strategy, focusing on empowering blind tour guides, enhancing digital accessibility and crafting inclusive experiences that cater to a diverse range of visitors. With 16% of the global population having some form of disability, accessible tourism initiatives are crucial for ensuring universal access to tourism experiences.

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Fostering a Culture of Inclusion

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The Limitless campaign champions inclusivity through a multifaceted approach, encompassing several key initiatives. Cape Town Tourism has produced a Pocket-Friendly Universal Access Guide that helps visitors learn about the city's accessible tourism offer. This translates to a comprehensive list of wheelchair-accessible attractions and activities, accommodation options and restaurants. This guide also includes information about how disabled visitors can travel around the city, including the MyCiti Bus that has 'boarding bridges' for wheelchair users, tactile paving and induction loops to help visually and audibly impaired visitors respectively. This ensures a smooth and seamless travel experience for all.

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While most destinations' accessibility efforts focus on ensuring inclusion for wheelchair users, Cape Town Tourism goes beyond this traditional focus. By taking a more holistic approach to tourism development, the Limitless campaign also enables visitors with other forms of disabilities to enjoy travelling in Cape Town.

• Yellow Frame Points: The now-iconic Yellow Frames, strategically placed across scenic locations in Cape Town, offer a unique and memorable photographic opportunity for all visitors. These brightly coloured frames cater specifically to those with visual impairments, helping the 338 million people globally who suffer from blindness or moderate to severe visual impairments while also augmenting the visitor experience for all travellers. Previously, experiencing the city's sensory richness – the vibrant atmosphere, historical architecture and captivating landscapes – might have posed challenges. However, the Limitless campaign addressed this gap with the Yellow Frames. Furthermore, to enhance the experience for visually impaired individuals, Braille plaques were incorporated into the frames, allowing them to understand and appreciate the surrounding beauty in a tactile way. Much like alternative text has become a key feature of digital accessibility for blind web users, Cape Town Tourism's investment has extended this approach into the tourism experience to minimise barriers and help blind travellers better imagine and visualise the surrounding environment.
• Supporting Winston Fani: Cape Town Tourism played a pivotal role in nurturing the talent of Fani, South Africa's first certified blind tour guide. By sponsoring his tourism qualification, the DMO empowered Fani to lead unique street art tours. This initiative exemplifies the city's dedication to fostering accessible and inclusive tourism experiences.
• Braille Integration: Braille descriptions are woven into the very fabric of the visitor experience. Fani's tours, for instance, incorporate Braille descriptions of the artwork, allowing visually impaired individuals to engage with the artistic landscape of the city. Furthermore, murals are enhanced with Braille touch points and QR codes linked to audio descriptions, offering a layered and enriching experience. This multi-sensory approach ensures that visitors with visual impairments can still connect with and appreciate their surroundings.

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A Website Designed for Everyone

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Cape Town Tourism recognises the critical role of digital accessibility in creating an inclusive world. Its commitment is reflected in the design of its destination website, capetown.travel. The website incorporates a readily accessible accessibility widget, easily identified by a pink circular button. This widget unlocks a range of options designed to accommodate users with diverse needs, including:

• Epilepsy Safe Mode: This mode minimises flashing elements on the website, ensuring a comfortable browsing experience for users with epilepsy.
• Visually Impaired Mode: This mode caters to individuals with visual impairments such as bad eyesight, tunnel vision, cataracts or glaucoma. It adjusts the website's presentation to enhance readability and user experience.
• ADHD Friendly Mode: Recognising the needs of users with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the website offers an "ADHD Friendly Mode." This mode creates a less stimulating environment by minimising distractions, allowing users with ADHD to focus on the information they seek.
• Blindness Mode: This mode ensures compatibility with screen-readers installed on the user's computer or smartphone.
• Cognitive Reading Mode: This mode allows users to adjust fonts, text, titles and background colours to personalise their browsing experience.
• Voice Navigation and Audio Controls: The website goes beyond visual elements, offering voice navigation and audio controls. This enables users with visual impairments or those who prefer audio-based interaction to navigate the website seamlessly.

These are just a few of the website's many accessible features. Cape Town Tourism understands that true inclusivity goes beyond meeting legal requirements. Their website design prioritises readability and user experience for a wider audience, demonstrating their commitment to creating a truly accessible digital space. In today's competitive tourism landscape, ensuring a user-friendly and accessible website is not just about compliance; it's about attracting a wider audience and showcasing a dedication to inclusivity.

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Setting New Standards

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Cape Town's remarkable strides in creating an accessible destination are commendable, but the city's commitment to continuous improvement is equally impressive. The Limitless campaign outlines several initiatives aimed at further enhancing accessibility:

• Expanded Social Media Accessibility: Cape Town Tourism plans to expand its social media presence, incorporating enhanced audio options to cater to users with visual impairments.
• Visual and Audio Maps: The development of visual and audio maps is underway, providing visitors with a clear understanding of accessible routes and attractions.
• Audio Guide Expansion: Audio guides will extend beyond artwork to encompass restaurants, hotels and guesthouses, offering a more comprehensive and immersive experience for visually impaired visitors.
• Internal Training and Development: A long-term vision of fostering a culture of accessibility is driving internal training and development programmes focused on accessible sensitivity and awareness.

These initiatives demonstrate Cape Town Tourism's unwavering commitment to exceeding accessibility standards and ensuring that travellers of all abilities can fully enjoy their experiences.

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Other destinations have also strived to improve accessible tourism. The following are some notable examples:

• Piedmont: The Turismabile project highlights good practices of businesses offering accessible and inclusive tourism experiences and training resources, acting as a hub of inspiration for other businesses to follow suit.
• Tokyo: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs has launched a dedicated accessible tourism portal, regularly updating lists of accessible attractions, restaurants and accommodation as well as information about accessibility at Tokyo airport, on local transport and additional accessibility information and support that can be accessed within the destination.
• Düsseldorf: In the build-up to the 2023 Invictus Games, Visit Düsseldorf strengthened digital accessibility by integrating the EyeAble widget on its website. The DMO also helped businesses to become certified by Reisen für Alle and partnered with Wheelmap to promote wheelchair-accessible experiences.
• Western Australia: Tourism Western Australia has developed an accessible trip planning tool, highlighting accessible road trip options, attractions, beaches and accommodation. An interactive map also pinpoints the exact locations for beach wheelchairs, accessible public toilets and changing places, visitor information centres and accessible attractions.
• England: VisitEngland partnered with AccessAble to support tourism businesses through guided accessibility assessments to help them identify improvements to become more inclusive.

Destinations should become increasingly aware of more stringent regulations soon coming into force, in particular in Europe where the new EU Accessibility Act will soon require destinations to up their game when it comes to accessibility. Cape Town Tourism's Limitless campaign serves as a powerful inspiration for DMOs worldwide, demonstrating the transformative potential of inclusive tourism. The initiative clearly demonstrates why DMOs should actively invest in developing inclusive experiences that improve the destination's universal access, alongside their more established role of being an inspiring source of information for visitors and advising businesses on their accessibility journeys. By prioritising accessibility and fostering a welcoming environment for all, destinations can not only enhance their visitor experiences but also contribute to a more equitable and inclusive society.