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These companies are determined to make travel more inclusive and accessible.
Travel is inspiring, offering glimpses of new cultures, exciting adventures, and the ultimate in relaxation. As travelers, we are often asked to step outside of our comfort zone to enjoy those experiences. However, if you need accessible travel, it’s rarely easy.
It’s normal to arrive at a destination as a wheelchair user and find the accessible room given away or discover there’s a step to get into the restaurant. Tour providers might deny access based on ignorance and limit options out of fear of litigation. Even your wheelchair is at risk. In August of 2024, over 75,000 wheelchairs and scooters were damaged on flights.
There’s a need for accessible travel options that are clear and reliable. A 2022 study by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics found that over 18.6 million Americans over the age of five self-reported having disabilities that limited travel. Certainly, if more opportunities existed that safely offered inclusive travel, that number would shrink.
Here, we’ve listed a few companies that are determined to change the landscape of accessible travel.
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Joy Burns, Alliance Relationship Manager for Wheel the World, is busy bringing the company’s story to as many wheelchair users as possible. It’s personal to her, as she’s married to a Paralympic wheelchair user with a fierce love of exploration.
“We’ve enjoyed traveling our whole marriage, but it’s had a lot of challenges. Wheel the World has normalized travel for us,” she said.
Travel planning through Wheel the World’s website offers choices of hotels, activities, transportation, and rentals. The company has personally verified each option, whether that’s a bed height at a hotel, a turning radius in a room, or the setup in a shower.
Courtesy Wheel the World
“We believe that the accessibility information out there, in general, is inaccurate and often unreliable,” said Burns. “When we started Wheel the World, we decided to go in and get the information ourselves. We’ve gone to over 2,200 hotels all over the world where we are actually measuring.”
Wheel the World has two programs, one for consumers who need help planning travel and another that assists destinations in reviewing their inclusion practices. For example, Martin County, Florida, partnered with the company to visit and check out over 30 points of interest for accessibility, making sure those restaurants, hotels, and attractions offered clear and easy information for a disabled traveler.
Burns knows that the more information a traveler with mobility needs has access to, the better.
“At the end of the day, you want to make sure where you can lay your head is going to be a place where you can get into bed,” she said. “We collect over 200 data points on each hotel, and you really know what you’re getting. One size does not fit all with accessibility.”
Related: The Incredible Company Helping People With Disabilities Travel the World
Founder Kerri Johnson wanted to age fearlessly and never stop traveling. After meeting her biological father in 2017 and realizing he couldn’t travel alone, she combined her years of RN experience and an executive MBA to open GOMO Travel, a company that offers experienced companions to assist travelers who need a little extra help journeying.
“I wanted to own a company that could make a difference. I knew my father wasn’t the only one in that situation. We’ve been able to help countless individuals for various reasons, and it’s been really rewarding,” said Johnson.
With a global reach, there’s no limit on the places that GOMO can go, for any travel needs. There are currently 25 GOMO travel companions throughout the United States, and the business is expanding. They are located near large travel hubs, but if a client needs assistance in another area, they just pay a price based on cost and time to get a GOMO representative to them.
GOMO offers literal door-to-door companionship, mostly with registered nurses. Having a travel companion helps travelers with mobility needs take on unexpected issues during travel, like weather emergencies, flight delays, and traffic. These circumstances can disrupt even the most carefully planned trip.
“When I started this, I didn’t realize the enormity of it. Everybody wants to continue to travel, but many are fearful,” Johnson said. “Our goal is to normalize assisted travel across the globe. There’s no FOMO with GOMO.”
Experienced Trip Planning: Tapooz Travel
From the beginning, Tapooz was started to create accessible travel trips. The company began small in the Bay Area, but as soon as it offered trips catered to guests with mobility needs, clients began to contact them from all over the world. With such a demand, co-owners Laurent Roffé and Aicha Nystrom rapidly expanded the business. Now, they offer trip planning for 31 destinations in the U.S., Canada, and worldwide. In 2025, they plan to reduce that number, honing in on their trusted networks to make sure the customer experience is as perfect as possible.
“What we do is highly personalized to the individual traveler. That defines the way we work. We have a dialogue and we put together a trip that’s a reflection of the requirements and expectations, their particular priorities, and interests. It’s a very involved process,” said Roffé.
As experts in the accessible travel field, they offer services to other trip planners, using their experience to meet an individual’s accessibility requirements. For their own clients, those itineraries are crafted to be unique to each guest. Lately, Portugal, France, Italy, Scandinavia, India, and Morocco have been popular spots where the company has trusted resources. Whether they’re planning a three-week trip to India for a mother with her twins or offering adaptive surfing in Santa Cruz, each trip is tailored to the guest’s desires.
“That’s what we do,” Roffé said. “We find a way to build those experiences that are so unique to our guests.”
Planet Abled offers personalized, accessible trip planning and advocates for inclusivity in the travel industry. There are choices for solo travel or group trips to India, Asia, Europe, and more. The company offers wellness itineraries, beach trips, or adventure tours, all highly customized to the needs of a particular traveler. They can arrange for caregivers, medical supplies, accessible transportation, and accommodations.
Access for All Travelers: Journeyable
Journeyable is creating a community of travelers through a website that provides inclusive travel choices, trusted professionals and real anecdotal experience from other travelers. There are curated events, meetups, and conversations. After making a profile, you will find a robust network of accessible travel enthusiasts ready to interact.
Journeyable co-founder Fred Maahs, Jr. is proud of the community that Journeyable has created.
“We have brought together accessible travel writers, destinations, nonprofit organizations, governments, and companies from around the world to share all of their information about accessible and inclusive travel in our community,” Maahs said.
The site allows a user to search by destination and disability type and read real travel stories. The travel supplier and resources section allow them to take that information and use it for their next trip.
Accessible PortugalCourtesy of Easy Access Travel
In her own words, Debra Kerper is not the kind of person to sit around. When she learned to be a travel agent, it was natural for her, as an amputee, to focus on travel for people with disabilities.
“In the beginning, I did cruises because it’s an easy way for a person with mobility challenges to travel,” she said.
She now does trips all over the world, including her popular group trips to places like Ireland, Israel, and New Zealand. That collective of travelers helps her make a community that helps each other navigate their own personal needs.
Often, those trips sell out way in advance of their dates, so Kerper recommends getting on her email list. Her Baltic cruise with accessible shore excursions in every port sold out in two weeks.
“When I get a new trip, I announce it on an email blast,” Kerper said, “This is a labor of love for me. Having a wonderful experience is what’s important.”
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