Have a tourism business in town that goes the extra step to accommodate diverse accessibility needs? The Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce will help you spread the word, thanks to an initiative now coming to the city.
Since 2018, the non-profit Spinal Cord Injury BC and Kootenay Rockies Tourism have collaborated to offer free accessibility assessments for tourism-related businesses across the Kootenays and help them boost their traffic.
Most recently, they've announced plans to expand the program to Revelstoke and put Destination BC (DBC)'s six-page Accessible Attributes guide to the test on local tourism businesses.
When the Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce caught word of this in early March, "I was jazzed," said Cachelle Nordby, visitor services manager. "They did mention they chose Revelstoke because we are one of the most accessible communities in the Kootenays."
Starting mid-April, Revelstoke's tourism-relevant businesses can request comprehensive accessibility, according to Nordby. They'll receive a visit from a Spinal Cord Injury BC representative, who follows the DBC guide while checking for wide entrances, elevators and parking spaces, automated doors, low counters, accessible washrooms and eating areas, and alternatives to stairs.
"They're going through their checklist right there, taking photos," Nordby described.
The assessor also considers any steps a business has taken to accommodate visual, audible, cognitive and sensory needs. The DBC checklist outlines all these components in detail, evening offering a full page on how businesses with overnight accommodations can bolster accessibility for guests.
Businesses that satisfy Spinal Cord Injury BC and pass the assessment get a standout designation as an accessible business on DBC's Hello BC tourism website, a key driver for visitor traffic.
Caroline Lachapelle, the Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce's executive director, emphasized this as a great opportunity uniquely available for tourism-industry businesses to benefit from.
"You have other professional service businesses that won't be able to get that type of recognition," she noted. "For an organization like Destination BC to streamline this process is really awesome."
Local accessibility advocate Chris Miller, after whom the Miller Time adaptive route at the Mount MacPherson ski trails is named, formerly worked at the Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce and carried out his own assessment of the Revelstoke Business and Visitor Information Centre and other businesses as a person with a mobility issue.
As Miller concluded, even the visitor centre had work to do to better accommodate diverse needs, prompting changes to accessibility components such as its front door.
Now for other tourism businesses in town, "this is going to be a really great tool," Lachapelle said.
The DBC checklist is available online at business.revelstokechamber.com/news.
