The TRBusiness Diversity & Inclusion in Travel Retail webinar took place on Wednesday 29 June, with an inspirational panel of experts sharing their views on ways to make the travel retail experience more accessible and inclusive for disabled people.

The 90-minute, free-to-attend webinar, highlighted important considerations for brands, airports and retailers in the channel when it comes to educating the workforce and improving the travel experience.

“The goal of this webinar is to break down barriers to discrimination and galvanise conversation around this important topic today,” said TRBusiness Managing Editor Luke Barras-Hill, who co-moderated the event alongside the company’s Head of CSR and Events, Michael Barrett.

Here are some soundbites from the session:

“Brands have to step in and step up to create more campaigns and projects that include more people from different backgrounds, whatever their circumstance.” – Cat Agostinho, Co-Founder, Imagen Insights

“Work with disabled people directly. Observe them while experiencing your service or product – it’s the key.” – Hilal Kahraman, Passenger Experience Design Chief, IGA Istanbul Airport

“1 in 2 people will experience a disability in their lifetime – and skills and disability are compatible” – Fabienne Raynaud, Founder, Goods To Know

“Having culturally and socially aware staff who might see someone [with a disability] and ask if there’s anything they can help them to reach is so subtle and so powerful.” – Stephenie Rodriguez, Founder, JOZU for Women Inc. – Wandersafe, winner of ‘Best travel accessory’ in the TRBusiness Travel retail Awards 2019.

The webinar, part of the TRBusiness-curated Sustainability Forum, was hosted in association with Kounter, a BlueDog Group company, which is the exclusive production and streaming partner for the event.

The session was kindly sponsored by Beam Suntory, Diageo and JTI (Japan Tobacco International).

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