Topic 5.8: Market Segmentation and Targeting » Accessibility and Sustainability in Targeting Market Segments

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

What accessibility means in tourism and why it matters for targeting
How sustainability shapes which market segments businesses choose to target
The accessible tourism market who it includes and how big it is
How tourism businesses adapt products and services for accessible segments
What sustainable tourism targeting looks like in practice
Real case studies: Hilton Hotels, National Trust and more
How accessibility and sustainability link to exam questions on segmentation

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♿ Accessibility in Tourism What Does It Mean?

When we talk about accessibility in tourism, we mean making sure that travel, destinations and tourism products can be used and enjoyed by everyone including people who might face barriers that others don't. This is not just about wheelchair ramps. It covers a huge range of needs and situations.

Key Definitions:

Accessible Tourism: Tourism that is designed to be usable by people with physical, sensory, cognitive, or other disabilities, as well as older travellers and families with young children.
Market Segment: A group of customers who share similar characteristics and needs.
Targeting: Choosing which segment(s) a business will focus its products and marketing on.
Barrier to Travel: Anything that makes it harder for a person to take part in tourism physical, financial, informational, or attitudinal.

Accessibility is not just a moral issue it is a business opportunity. The accessible tourism market is enormous and often underserved, meaning businesses that get it right can gain a real competitive advantage.

📊 The Scale of the Accessible Tourism Market

In the UK alone, there are approximately 14.1 million disabled people, representing around 22% of the population. Globally, the World Health Organisation estimates that over 1.3 billion people live with some form of disability. When you add older travellers and families with pushchairs, the accessible segment becomes one of the largest in tourism. In the UK, the spending power of disabled people and their travel companions is estimated at over £17 billion per year this is sometimes called the "Purple Pound."

♿ Who Is in the Accessible Tourism Segment?

The accessible tourism segment is not one single group it is made up of several overlapping sub-segments, each with different needs.

♿ Physical Disabilities

Travellers who use wheelchairs, walking aids, or have limited mobility. They need step-free access, accessible rooms, adapted transport and clear information about facilities.

👁 Visual Impairments

Travellers who are blind or partially sighted. They benefit from audio guides, Braille materials, tactile maps and staff trained to assist them.

🔇 Hearing Impairments

Travellers who are deaf or hard of hearing. They benefit from visual information displays, sign language interpreters, induction loops and subtitled videos.

🧠 Cognitive and Neurodivergent Travellers

Travellers with autism, dementia, learning disabilities, or anxiety disorders. They benefit from quiet spaces, predictable routines, clear signage and sensory-friendly environments.

🛴 Older Travellers

Many older travellers have mobility or health needs even if they don't identify as "disabled." This segment overlaps heavily with the accessible tourism market and is one of the fastest-growing groups in tourism.

👶 Families with Young Children

Pushchairs, baby equipment and the needs of toddlers create accessibility challenges similar to those faced by wheelchair users. Step-free access, baby-changing facilities and family rooms all matter here.

💡 Why Businesses Target the Accessible Segment

Some businesses ignore accessibility because they assume it is expensive or complicated. However, smart businesses recognise several strong reasons to target this segment:

💰 Commercial Opportunity

The Purple Pound represents billions in spending. Accessible travellers are often highly loyal customers who return repeatedly when they find somewhere that works for them.

⚖ Legal Requirements

In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 requires businesses to make "reasonable adjustments" for disabled customers. Ignoring accessibility can lead to legal action.

🌟 Reputation and Brand

Businesses known for being accessible attract positive publicity and word-of-mouth recommendations especially important in the age of social media reviews.

📚 Case Study: Hilton Hotels and Accessible Targeting

Hilton Hotels has made accessibility a core part of its targeting strategy. Its accessible rooms include roll-in showers, lowered beds, visual fire alarms and TTY phones for deaf guests. Hilton's website allows guests to filter specifically for accessible rooms and provides detailed information about each property's facilities. The company trains all staff in disability awareness. By doing this, Hilton targets not just disabled travellers but also their families and companions who often make the booking decision. This is a clear example of a business using accessibility to expand its target market rather than narrow it.

🌿 Sustainability in Tourism A Quick Recap and Deeper Look

Sustainability in tourism means meeting the needs of today's tourists without damaging the environment, local communities, or economies for future generations. But for market segmentation, sustainability is important in two ways:

As a product feature: Some businesses make their products more sustainable to attract eco-conscious segments.
As a targeting decision: Businesses choose to focus on segments whose behaviour causes less harm or who actively seek sustainable options.

Key Definitions:

Sustainable Tourism: Tourism that minimises negative environmental and social impacts while supporting local economies.
Eco-Tourism: A niche form of sustainable tourism focused on natural environments and conservation.
Overtourism: When too many tourists visit a destination, causing damage to the environment, local culture and quality of life.
Green Segment: A market segment made up of travellers who prioritise environmental responsibility in their travel choices.

🌎 The Sustainable Traveller Segment Who Are They?

The sustainable traveller is a growing and increasingly valuable segment. Research by Booking.com found that 83% of global travellers say sustainable travel is important to them and 61% say the pandemic made them want to travel more sustainably. However, there is often a gap between what people say and what they actually do so businesses must understand this carefully.

🌿 Committed Green Travellers

A smaller group who actively seek out certified eco-lodges, carbon offset schemes and wildlife-friendly tours. They will pay a premium and research carefully before booking.

💡 Aspirational Sustainables

The largest group people who want to be sustainable but need it to be easy and affordable. They respond well to clear eco-labels, green certifications and simple sustainable choices built into products.

💵 Price-First Travellers

Sustainability is not a priority price is. However, they may still choose a sustainable option if it costs the same or less. Businesses can still reach this group through sustainable practices that don't increase prices.

📚 Case Study: The National Trust Targeting Sustainably-Minded Visitors

The National Trust is one of the UK's most visited organisations, managing over 500 historic houses, gardens and nature reserves. Its targeting strategy is built around attracting visitors who value conservation, heritage and the natural environment. The Trust actively promotes sustainable travel to its sites encouraging visitors to arrive by public transport or bicycle and offering discounts to those who do. Its membership model creates a loyal segment of repeat visitors who feel personally invested in conservation. The Trust also targets families with educational programmes, linking sustainability to values-based segmentation. This is a brilliant example of sustainability and targeting working together the segment the Trust wants is the same segment that supports its mission.

🔗 How Accessibility and Sustainability Connect to Segmentation Strategy

Both accessibility and sustainability are not just "nice to have" features they are genuine segmentation and targeting decisions. A business that commits to accessibility is choosing to target a specific set of segments. A business that commits to sustainability is both attracting a segment and making an ethical choice about which segments it wants to serve.

📊 Targeting Strategies and Their Link to Accessibility and Sustainability

Recall the three main targeting strategies from earlier in this topic. Here is how they connect to accessibility and sustainability:

🌐 Undifferentiated Targeting

A business targets everyone with one product. To be truly undifferentiated, the product must be accessible to all so accessibility becomes essential, not optional.

📈 Differentiated Targeting

A business creates different products for different segments. It might offer a specific accessible product alongside standard products and a separate eco-tourism product for the green segment.

🔎 Concentrated (Niche) Targeting

A business focuses entirely on one segment for example, an accessible travel specialist like Enabled Holidays, or an eco-lodge that only accepts guests committed to conservation.

📚 Case Study: Enabled Holidays Concentrated Accessible Targeting

Enabled Holidays is a UK-based travel company that specialises entirely in holidays for disabled travellers and their families. Rather than adding accessibility as an afterthought, it is the core of their entire business model. They research every property personally, checking step counts, door widths, shower types and local transport. Their target segment is tightly defined disabled travellers who have been let down by mainstream providers. This concentrated targeting strategy means they face less competition, charge premium prices and build extremely loyal customers. It is a textbook example of niche targeting built around an underserved accessible segment.

🌍 Responsible Targeting Avoiding Overtourism

One of the most important sustainability issues in tourism today is overtourism. Places like Venice, Barcelona and Machu Picchu have been overwhelmed by too many visitors, damaging the environment and reducing quality of life for locals. Smart targeting can be part of the solution.

Destinations and businesses can use segmentation to deliberately target lower-impact visitors those who stay longer, spend more, travel in the off-season, or visit less-crowded areas. This is sometimes called "quality over quantity" targeting.

📅 Seasonal Targeting

By targeting segments who are flexible about timing such as retired travellers or remote workers destinations can spread visitor numbers across the year, reducing peak-season pressure on the environment and local infrastructure.

📍 Geographic Dispersal

Targeting visitors to less-visited regions rather than honeypot sites reduces damage to fragile environments. VisitScotland's "Scotland is Now" campaign actively promoted rural and island destinations to spread tourism more evenly.

📚 Case Study: New Zealand's Tiaki Promise

New Zealand launched the Tiaki Promise a commitment tourists are asked to make to care for the country's environment, culture and people. Rather than targeting the highest volume of visitors, New Zealand deliberately targets high-value, low-impact travellers those who spend more, stay longer and respect the natural environment. This is a national-level example of sustainable targeting: choosing segments based not just on spending power but on the type of impact they will have. Tourism New Zealand uses psychographic and values-based segmentation to identify and attract these visitors through campaigns emphasising responsibility and connection with nature.

📋 Barriers to Accessible and Sustainable Targeting

Despite the clear benefits, many businesses still fail to properly target accessible or sustainable segments. Understanding why helps you write stronger exam answers.

❌ Common Barriers

Cost: Adapting facilities for accessibility or switching to sustainable suppliers can involve upfront costs that smaller businesses struggle to afford.
Lack of information: Businesses may not know enough about what accessible or sustainable travellers actually need.
Greenwashing risk: Some businesses claim to be sustainable without making real changes this can backfire badly when customers discover the truth.
Attitude and awareness: Some managers simply don't prioritise these segments, seeing them as niche or complicated.
Infrastructure limitations: A historic building may be genuinely difficult to make fully accessible without damaging its heritage value a real tension in tourism.

💡 Exam Tip: Greenwashing

Greenwashing is when a business falsely claims to be environmentally friendly to attract the green segment without making genuine changes. For example, a hotel that puts up a sign about "saving water" but makes no real investment in sustainability. Examiners love this concept it shows you understand that sustainable targeting must be backed by real action, not just marketing. If a business is caught greenwashing, it can cause serious reputational damage and lose the very segment it was trying to attract.

🌟 Exam Tips: What the Examiner Wants to See

✅ Do This in the Exam

Link accessibility and sustainability directly to segmentation and targeting don't just describe them in isolation.
Use specific examples and case studies Enabled Holidays, National Trust, Hilton, New Zealand.
Explain why a business targets a segment, not just which segment it targets.
Mention the Purple Pound or specific statistics to show the commercial value of accessible targeting.
Use the word "greenwashing" if relevant it shows higher-level understanding.
Discuss tensions e.g. accessibility vs heritage conservation, or sustainability vs affordability.

❌ Avoid These Mistakes

Don't treat accessibility as only about wheelchair users it covers a wide range of needs.
Don't confuse eco-tourism with all sustainable tourism eco-tourism is a niche within the broader sustainable travel market.
Don't say businesses "should" be accessible or sustainable without explaining the business case.
Don't forget that sustainability can be a targeting decision as well as a product feature.
Don't ignore the barriers showing you understand why businesses struggle shows real depth.

📋 Summary: Accessibility and Sustainability in Targeting at a Glance

♿ Accessible tourism targets travellers with physical, sensory, cognitive, or age-related needs a huge and underserved market worth billions.
💰 The Purple Pound represents the spending power of disabled travellers and their companions a major commercial opportunity.
🌿 Sustainable targeting means choosing segments whose behaviour aligns with environmental and social responsibility goals.
🔎 Businesses can use concentrated, differentiated, or undifferentiated strategies when targeting accessible or sustainable segments.
🌍 Overtourism can be tackled through smart targeting focusing on quality over quantity, seasonal spread and geographic dispersal.
❌ Greenwashing is a real risk sustainable targeting must be backed by genuine action.
📚 Real examples include Hilton Hotels, Enabled Holidays, the National Trust and New Zealand's Tiaki Promise.

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