Indian Non-Governmental Organisation, Svayam, requests experts and stakeholders to give their comments on a Draft Research Study on Problems and Prospects of Accessible Tourism in India. This is the first study of its kind commissioned by the Indian Government.
Margaret Hodge, Member of Parliament and Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Sport launched today a leaflet setting out the advantages for businesses of preparing themselves to welcome both domestic and foreign visitors with access needs at the forthcoming London Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Package Travel Directive (PTD), which came into effect in 1990, is aimed at protecting consumers in the area of package travel. Some of the most important rules concern the liability of package organisers and retailers, who must accept responsibility for the performance of the services offered. The Commission is now inviting comments from consumers and businesses as part of its review of the PTD.
United Kingdom. A number of high-profile accidents involving mobility scooters have raised concern that drivers cannot be prosecuted and caused some to float the idea of testing users. BBC Magazine examines the legal and practical problems of scooters on pavements.
American lifestyle magazine, New Mobility, has named Dr. Scott Rains "Person of the Year, 2009". This special recognition goes to Dr. Rains "...for all he does to ensure that people with disabilities can boldly go where everyone else has gone before - and beyond..."! Congratulations, Scott, from the ENAT Members!
This report discusses different ways of making cultural heritage accessible to everyone - not only the obvious priorities of physical accessibility but also accessibility in the form of understanding and experience.
No sensible person in business makes life more difficult for their customers. The most successful businesses make life easier. The information in this leaflet will make both your life easier and your business more successful.
Following the European Commission's Mandate/M371 this Final Report provides an overview of current and future European service standardization activities, bringing together the results of all 11 projects into an overall comprehensive analysis. The report: Summarizes the methodology and activities undertaken; Outlines the overall findings from the research and seminars, highlighting: details of standardization work already started at the CEN level; details of standardization work to start following the feasibility work and needs for future service standardization activities; Provides recommendations and conclusions, Outlines the next steps.
EDF considers that the developments of terminology and classification standards are necessary in these areas as a pre-requisite for any future initiative on access to transport and tourism services. Clarifying the definition of disability on one hand, and of accessibility to transport and tourism services on the other, is crucial. EDF underlines the importance of basing all standardisation initiatives on the social model of disability and on a human rights approach.
ANEC considers that a European horizontal legislative framework should be established to cover the safety and quality of all tourism and transport services. Such a framework should apply also to more vulnerable consumers, such as children or older persons. This framework should be underpinned by formal standards. Moreover, ANEC stresses the need for CEN to put in place an effective strategy to ensure the balanced involvement of all relevant stakeholder groups in the development of any standards in this field, and in particular to ensure the involvement of organisations representing disabled or older persons.
More than half a billion persons in the world are disabled as a result of mental, physical or sensory impairment. The right of disabled persons to participate fully in the social life and development of their societies and to enjoy living conditions equal to those of other citizens, as well as to share equally in the improvements in living conditions resulting from social and economic development has been largely recognized by international and european union resolutions. This right is closely related to the accessibility of the disabled to transport and tourist destinations.
In this paper we focus on the initiatives undertaken by the European Union and the United Nations on accessible tourism. These initiatives are based on two elements: The first is to make real improvements at tourist destinations by implementing improved standards in tourist and travelling infrastructure and the second is to make information about the accessibility of tourist destinations widely available to the tourist industry and its customers. Both elements imply the involvement of tourist authorities, travel agencies, hotels, voluntary organizations and others involved in organizing recreational activities or travel opportunities, who should offer their services to all, taking into account the special needs of persons with disabilities.
This report is based on the 2006 Travel Activities and Motivations Survey (TAMS), which
examines the recreational activities and travel habits of Canadians and Americans over a
two-year period (2004 and 2005), relating to travel of one or more nights. The survey provides detailed information on travellers’ activities, travel motivators, places visited, type of accommodation used, their impressions of Canada, demographics and media consumption patterns.
