Torino. After three years of work, thanks to the interest of a tour operator operating in the incoming Italy, the first accessible travel package has been created: a range of proposals to visit and use the better Piedmont tourist offer with all services and the guarantee of welcome quality requested to satisfy the particular necessities of each tourist.
Today sees the launch of accessible.travel - a new on-line booking site for people with disabilities and others who need to know about the accessibility of venues and hotels before they travel. The site is run by Craig Grimes, a wheelchair user and determined traveller, adventurer and consultant to the tourism industry.
The publication, "International Best Practices in Universal Design: A Global Review" has been named as one of the world's 100 "Best Practices" for 2008 by United Nations - Habitat - Dubai International Award for Best Practices. The Global Alliance on Accessible Technologies and Environments (GAATES) has distributed the publication to over 5000 people worldwide. It compares accessibility codes and standards from around the world and is available in English, French, Arabic, Spanish, Serbian and the alternate DAISY format.
OAKLAND, California - Under a settlement announced on 26th January, Hotels.com and Expedia.com, two of the world's leading online travel companies, have agreed to add features to their online travel reservation systems so that millions of travelers with disabilities can use their online services to search for and reserve hotel rooms that have the accommodations they need.
South African tourism authorities are knuckling down to the issue of accessible tourism during a month-long visit of leading US disability expert Scott Rains. Dr Rains, a wheelchair-user for 37 years and an advocate for the rights of disabled travellers, will be meeting South Africa's largest disability organisations and tourism bodies during his month-long visit to the country. The aim of his trip is to evaluate the quality of the South African tourism product for disabled and older travellers – and ultimately to build awareness of the importance of good access to the country's tourism industry as a whole.
Within the framework of the EU-CHINA-INFSO project, seven high-level Chinese state officials visited the ENAT office in Athens yesterday on the first leg of a European Study Tour to Greece, Spain and the United Kingdom. The tour will give the Chinese visitors first-hand knowledge of European policies and experiences in the area of ”e-Inclusion” - overcoming the so-called ”Digital Divide”. Ensuring access to tourism for all citizens was highlighted as a key theme for public as well as private initiatives.
Profit through Access is a brand new online training course. Designed for tourism businesses, it will help you to attract a wider range of visitors and improve your profits.
THE ACADEMY WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE!
The Dreams Academy is an international social responsibility project where culture and art education is provided to disabled and socially disadvantaged youngsters free of charge. The project comprises workshops of vocal, rhythm, dance, film, photograph, DJ, instrument, painting and animation. The participants will acquire competency to get a job in their own branches when they complete their workshop trainings.
The 18-month CETA Project has been established by ENAT and its partners in the framework of the European Union's programme "...to support initiatives of public and private bodies, or their existing networks, to contribute to enhancing the sustainability and competitiveness of European Tourism especially for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, while allowing for wider economic, social and environmental benefits to be gained.” (European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry, Tourism Unit, 2008).
There are more than 700 million people with some kind of disability worldwide. Although handicapped they love travelling as much as anyone of us. Accessible tourism is not only about wide doors and greater signs – it is also about people. Come and learn about the trends in accessible tourism and about the ways how to deal with seniors and travellers with disabilities.
Standards Norway and the Delta Centre in the Norwegian Directorate for Health and Social Affairs are leading the development and deployment of a standard defining the requirements of a system for
labelling tourist destinations in terms of their accessibility for people with disabilities. This article presents the background and key aspects of the new Norwegian Standard, NS 11010, "Accessible tourist destinations – Requirements as a basis for a labelling system".
On 12 July 2005, a Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre Research workshop was held at the New South Wales Department of State and Regional Development, titled Setting a Research Agenda for Disability and Tourism. This report outlines the background to disability and tourism in both the
Australian and overseas settings, and details the process used for the workshop, which has led, in turn, to the prioritised research agenda that forms an integral part of this report.
