Agents were given advice from a partner at Travlaw on how to tackle accessibility issues covered by new regulations.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Package Travel Regulations (PTR) come into effect on May 25 and July 1 respectively.

Matt Gatenby said agents should be aware that GDPR is split into categories, with “health” covering accessible travel.

“Businesses need consent from customers to process data [in relation to determining whether clients have accessibility issues] before the contract is made, as making a booking in itself is not a viable way of confirming it,” he said. “You need to be pragmatic and practical. You may even need to have more formal and organised systems.”

He added easy steps could be taken to ensure travel firms comply with PTR, such as adequate pre-travel planning and regularly reviewing hotels’ accessible travel facilities.

“If you know your business is applying a reasonable amount of skill and care, then you are going in the right direction,” he said.

Ross Calladine, head of business support at VisitEngland, highlighted the value of the “purple pound” – the spending potential of disabled people – and how accessible travel practices could generate revenue from inbound travel. He said disabled clients tended to stay longer, spend more in-destination and were often more loyal.

“The value of the purple pound is £269 billion a year – if you can provide for people with a disability, you can really give yourself a competitive and commercial advantage,” he said.

“If you attract the spend of a disabled person, you attract the spend of the party that may be travelling with them.”