QU561 - Support for Accessible Tourism Hub in Birmingham - AWARD

The Council is seeking a suitably qualified and experienced organisation to support the development of accessible tourism in Birmingham. This will help businesses in Birmingham to become more inclusive to customers with accessibility needs. The organisation should have relevant expertise / knowledge in delivering training and high-quality materials.

The Council and its partners including the West Midlands Growth Company are committed to making the city a welcoming and inclusive leisure destination for visitors and residents. The opportunity of hosting the Commonwealth Games, which includes para sporting events, is seen as driver for positive change in the West Midlands Region. The Council's Adult Social Care directorate supports businesses through grant applications to make accessibility changes and works with Access Able to provide comprehensive accessibility information for its buildings and is keen to drive more organisations to follow suit.

This project will need to deliver the following objectives:

• a.To develop an engaging, high-quality accessible tourism training programme for Birmingham visitor economy businesses.
• b.To support tourism businesses in Birmingham to improve information, customer service and facilities for the benefit of both domestic and international visitors with accessibility requirements.
• c.To develop a user-friendly accessible tourism hub to act as a repository for online training webinars, training materials and information guides.
• d.To act as a test and learn project to inform a potential wider roll-out across the West Midlands.

The support for accessible tourism needs to include the following:

• a.Links to training webinars on improving accessibility.
• b.Case studies of businesses who are exemplars in addressing the accessibility of their customers. Local accessibility champions may prove more relatable to SMEs than national chains.
• c.Guidance on marketing a business' accessibility.
• d.Support businesses to follow best practice in the provision of accessibility information on their websites.
• e.Considerations for small businesses with little or no budget to make changes.
• f.Considerations for businesses who could be restricted from making changes such as listed building regulations in the heritage sector.
• g.Considerations of the impact of COVID-19 on providing accessibility for customers.
• h.Links to further training, sources of funding, award schemes, competitions and awareness days to leverage PR.

The training materials and the accessible tourism hub must be complete by 31 May 2022.

The Council will be using its free to use e-tendering system (in-tend) for the administration of this procurement process and potential suppliers must register with the system to be able to express an interest. If you wish to express an interest in this opportunity please click on the following link to access https://in-tendhost.co.uk/birminghamcc/ ...