A new study now suggests that travel companies are failing to cater to the needs of disabled travelers. This study carried out by Tourism for All is a British-based charity group that specializes in travel for the disabled. They found that 85 percent of respondents did not believe that travel agents understand the needs of disabled travelers. Another 78 percent did not feel that they were catered for by high street agents. The survey even found that 35 percent of people that took part in the study showed that they would not consider booking with a mainstream travel agent.

Right now there are about 10 million adults and 750,000 children in the UK who suffer from some kind of disability. It is estimated that a quarter of these people travel abroad. Brian Seaman, the head of consultancy at Tourism for All said that the travel industry needs to do more to understand the needs of disabled travelers.

Brian went on to say that they have conducted independent research in the past by sending disabled travelers to the high street to find a disabled friendly holiday to Majorca. In just about every case, not one travel agent was able to offer a product that might have resulted in a booking. The agents themselves had great difficulty in finding suitable accommodations, and when it came to visiting the accommodation on the island that they were able to find, they turned out not to be as accessible for disabled people as the agent suggested.

Recently, Expedia has launched a new search tool that is designed to help disabled travelers find accessible accommodations. The move follows a court case in the United States last year that resulted in Expedia being instructed to add content and search features to its website that would allow for people to find rooms suitable for the disabled.