A survey carried out by Adapted Vehicle Hire and the charity, Tourism For All UK, has revealed that 86 per cent of disabled people think the UK travel industry is still not providing sufficient information about disabled access and facilities.
The study also found that 87 per cent of respondents had been prevented from travelling because of their disability.
London was identified as the part of UK with the best disabled access and facilities but despite improvements made in the run up to the Paralympics, the Underground was singled out for criticism.
The UK’s airports and train stations also fared badly in the survey with respondents claiming more needed to be done to make them accessible for all.
However, more than 92 per cent of people thought that disabled access had improved overall in the past ten years – 28 per cent thought that access was ‘significantly better’.
Lorraine Farnon the managing director of Adapted Vehicle Hire, said: “The results clearly demonstrate that despite gradual progress, more needs to be done to make the travel industry more accessible for disabled people.”
Carrie-Ann Lightley, Information Officer from Tourism For All UK, said: “Tourism For All has been campaigning for the past 30 years to improve the range of travel options and facilities for disabled people. Our view is that tourism is important to everyone and we support the government’s aim of making UK tourism the most accessible in Europe.
“Access to some rural and historic sites will always present more of a challenge for disabled visitors, but places like airports have scope for significant improvement to better meet the needs of disabled travellers.”
The survey results also identified Cornwall and Devon as the most popular holiday destination, followed closely by Spain and France.
Several venues from across the UK were praised for their ease of access and suitability for disabled visitors including National Trust properties and the Eden Project in Cornwall.
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