Online accessible travel start-up awarded £50k grant

An online travel start-up for disabled people has been awarded £50,000 towards its launch.

An online travel start-up for disabled people has been awarded £50,000 towards its launch.

Limitless Travel has been founded by chief executive Angus Drummond, who was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy in 2012.

As his mobility started to decline, he quit his job in investment banking to explore the world and created the website to enable people with disabilities to travel the world like never before.

The company won a grant of £50,000 from the Nominet Trust’s Social Tech Seed Programme earlier this month after beating applications from hundreds of other organisations.

The website allows hotels and attractions to detail their access features for disabled guests, and for visitors to rate the facilities they provide.

It enables people with disabilities, mobility issues, the elderly, and their friends, families and carers to search for destinations across the world based on their specific access requirements.

The site initially features an in-depth guide to London with a number of blogs, articles and guides.

This will be expanded to cover hotels and attractions across the UK, into Europe and then the rest of the world. Limitless Travel is also connecting with tour operators who can offer trips to far-flung destinations for those with different access requirements.

Drummond is joined in the business by John Mizutani, an operations specialist with more than eight years’ industry experience, and software developer Jonathan Fortune.

Drummond said: “When you go holiday, what would you do if you couldn’t climb the stairs or get in the shower? What would you do if you couldn’t read the menu? These are just some of the issues facing those with disabilities when travelling the world and one that Limitless Travel is solving.

“While I was travelling, I often found that places marked as disabled friendly are quite inaccessible, which was extremely frustrating.

“The Limitless Travel team’s aim is to promote equality and fairness for all who travel; raising awareness and understanding within the travel industry.

“Through our website we believe the future is limitless – disabled travel doesn’t have to be a nerve-wracking experience; we are making it an exciting opportunity to discover new parts of the world.”