Inclusive Tourism and Customer Service

We are organizing an LGTBIQ+ sales workshop on October 7, 2024 in Helsinki, which is probably the 1st time in Finland. The target group is also very interesting from a business point of view, and inclusivity is one of the growing themes of tourism development globally at the moment. Reas more about the event here: https://www.toolboxtravel.fi/event/lgbtiq-travel-workshop-2024/. The goal of inclusive tourism is that travel experiences are equally accessible to everyone, regardless of age, sexual orientation, religion, culture and special needs.

Tourism for all is equal hospitality and a continuous effort to develop tourism services, destinations and products to serve all consumer groups, so that they can experience and achieve the most diverse travel experiences equally and independently. Tourism that does not discriminate against anyone and applies to everyone in its part guarantees the realization of an open, equal, inclusive and equal society and promotes the goals of sustainable development.

With long-term product development and quality improvement work, the tourism company achieves more satisfied customers, better profitability and a competitive service offering. In the increasingly competitive market situation, the tourism company’s most important success factors include, among other things, sustainable operating methods, utilizing the opportunities brought by digitalization, customer understanding based on information, and developing year-round offerings. This guide aims to contribute to the consideration of different target groups as part of improving the company’s profitability and competitiveness and achieving the goals of sustainable development.

Customer orientation and service orientation alone are not enough if the company or its staff do not have the skills to deal with different target groups or recognize their special needs.

I was writing as one of the authors of the Inclusive Tourism guide which was published in 2021 and which was primarily intended to support the work of tourism operators to promote the realization of equal tourism. The guide deals with different target groups as tourists, i.e. customers, and does not take a position on the target groups, for example, as a workforce. The purpose of the guide is to illustrate how the customer service, digital accessibility, physical space solutions and services of tourist destinations should or could take special target groups into account already in the planning phase. The guide also gives tourism companies different perspectives and concrete tools for meeting travelers on an equal footing and communicating to the target group.

Inclusive Tourism Training Programmes
We also organize trainings based on the topic and we are happy to speak on the topic at seminars. ToolBox Training Programme will demonstrate how the customer service, digital accessibility, physical spatial solutions and services of tourist destinations should or could take special target groups into account already in the planning phase. The Training Programme also gives tourism companies different perspectives and concrete tools for meeting travelers on an equal footing and communicating to the target group.

The trainings are from ½ day to a full day and can be done also remotely. We can issue a certificate of participation for participating in the training.