Disability advocates call for inclusive planning and services to improve accessible tourism on the Sapphire Coast

Bega Valley Shire Council has committed to improving inclusive infrastructure around the region, including upgrades at Pambula Beach, Bermagui's Bruce Steer Pool, and recently announced improvements to Short Point in Merimbula.

Although moves towards providing accessible places for people with mobility challenges are great, disability activists say this is only one piece of the puzzle.

Merimbula's Ron Finneran OAM uses a wheelchair to get around his local area, but said the accommodation providers, restaurants, and tourism providers were lagging behind and needed to come together to create better information on their businesses pages about the accessibility status of their service.

Mr Finneran believed accessible tourism could be a major source of income for the shire, "as long as it is promoted properly", something that would involve all businesses creating a cohesive approach.

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He suggested businesses should aim to provide more details about their services of their websites on whether or not they can cater for people with a disability. Another suggestion he had was a kind of one-stop-shop website that listed all the accessible businesses across the area.

"So in other words you don't have to investigate the whole internet to try and find accessible tourism," he said.

"The statistics will tell you that if you've got a reasonably accessible shire and have businesses that are accessible, that due to the amount of disposable income available to people with disabilities these days thanks to the NDIS, disabled people in the major population centres can organise a very fruitful holiday on the Sapphire Coast," he said.

As a person living with a disability he said it was difficult turning up to a great restaurant that you've researched online, only to find they only had stairs or narrow walkways.

"If there was a website with a list of restaurants that are accessible then you can investigate and make bookings while you're in the population centres rather than coming down here and being disappointed when nothing is available," he said.

Jenny Robb has sat on the council's Access and Inclusion Advisory Committee as an industry representative for the past five years and said the process needed to be about allowing people to make their own decisions about what they can and cannot do.

Ms Robb runs two Far South Coast businesses, Kiah Wilderness Tours and Light to Light Transfers.

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"There's certain things you can't make fully-accessible, like a kayak tour or walking the Light to Light, but there are elements of those businesses that could be made more accessible.

"They can't wing it, they can't just come and hope they can get into the accommodation they've booked, or do the things that they'd like to do.

"The approach is more about asking providers to tell people whether they've got a ramp and what the angle of it is, or telling people the door width so they know they can get their chair through, because there's all sorts of different chairs, and all sorts of different levels of disability."

She said it was a great time for people with a disability to travel because NDIS funding could allow them to take a trip with their carer, but it was vital they had the relevant information before leaving home.

"It's pretty disrespectful for an able-bodied person to assume or say to a disabled person that they can't do something, because look what Dylan Alcott has done, or look at what those Paralympians do," she said.

Ms Robb said these changes would also help others who may not have a disability but might be limited due to their age or have mobility issues like weak shoulders or bad knees.

Ms Robb has been working with Sapphire Coast Destination Marketing to create a strategic approach through workshops that will focus on a number of elements in the tourism industry.

She said one of the workshops would focus on accessibility and how to engage the tour operators and business in the area so that they could provide as much accessibility as possible, whether that means a ramp up to their front door and/or providing the right information people need before they plan their trip.

"It's really drilling into things like what is the height of the bed, is there space between the bed and the wall for a chair to get in so that someone can get from their chair and into the bed.

"All these really detailed measurements are things that a person with a disability, especially someone in a chair, can go oh I can actually get into that room, I might need help getting into the bath, but at least if I know that then I know what I'm dealing with,"

She said it comes down to getting people the specific accurate information they may require.

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"Don't assume that you know what they need, provide them with all the information and let them make the decision, that's where we're coming from," she said.

She said that this was not an issue exclusive to the Bega Valley, but all businesses working to provide this information would mean more economic prosperity for the region.

While the move to more accessible public facilities was one area the shire was finally heading in the right direction on, businesses now needed to follow through in order to encourage people to choose this destination over others.

"If people with a disability find a destination that works for them, they go back because they know it works for them," she said.