Tourism & Events Access Starter Grant for Website Improvement
The Queensland Government has released grant funding to encourage the tourism and events sector to engage and improve their accessibility ahead of the Brisbane Olympics in 2032. This Access Starter grant is available for projects over $5,000 and can be used to update your website and digital media for better access across disabilities and impairments of all kinds.
Digital Accessibility: Bridging the Online Gap in Tourism and Events
Accessibility on the web is wide-ranging topic, as is the spectrum of impairments and disabilities experienced by 18% of our population. That's a significant number of people, who deserve to experience incredible tourism opportunities and attend fantastic events just as much as everyone else does, but they are under-served digitally which means they have more trouble navigating online research and planning for their trips.
Some common accessibility considerations to note are:
Visual disabilities
Limited vision, blindness, colour blindness
Mobility disabilities
Muscle control, arthritis, functional movement disorders
Auditory disabilities
Hearing loss, auditory processing disorder
Seizure risk
Those with photosensitive epilepsy
Cognitive and learning disabilities
Dyslexia, processing disorders, impaired memory
Accessible websites have a number of key guidelines:
Perceivable
Includes text alternatives, adaptable field inputs, distinguishable use of colour and audio controls, as well as text sizing and spacing
Operable
Includes keyboard accessibility and shortcuts, enough time to operate, physical reactions, navigable web pages, and clear headings and input modalities such as pointer gestures and target size
Understandable
Related to readability, consistent navigation, and input assistance options (such as error identification, and clear labels and instructions)
Robust
Ensuring interpretable content by a wide range of people, including those using assistive technologies (eg screen reader)
Some ways that we can modify your website for accessibility include:
Ability to scale (zoom) up to 200% without breaking the site
Hierarchy and flow of information makes pages navigable without using a mouse (eg keyboard, screen reader)
Sufficient contrast between foreground and background colours
Include additional media alternatives (such as subtitles and audio on videos, descriptive alt-text on images)
CloudActive is a Cairns-based web design agency with a lot of experience in tourism, and we would love to discuss a project with you!
Most websites don't perform well as far as accessibility, so let's put together a proposal and apply for this fantastic government initiative to bring your website up to date to provide equitable access for all!
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