ENAT President's Message, 5th May 2024
Reduce speed to respect everyone!
Dear friends,
During an Easter trip around the place where I Iive, I saw a traffic sign which was warning drivers:
"ATTENZIONE RALLENTARE. In questo paese I bambini giocano ancora per strada".
English translation: “Attention. Reduce speed. In this village, children still play in the streets”.
It made me consider that the speed we put in all our activities might lead us to overlook some values which have to be always on the top of our thoughts. The main value is respect! owards everyone, our neighbours, our friends, our relatives, those who have different opinions, requirements and desires.
This is and has always been the core of our existence as an Association, with all the efforts we put into our activities to convince - and sometimes struggling to convince - the tourism sector, private and public bodies that the consideration of everybody, the respect for everybody could lead to a better and more understanding way to promote tourism in our countries.
The concept of Tourism for All is not something to talk about only in “ad hoc” meetings and events; it is not something to consider as a safety valve when local or world crises reduce the number of people buying tourism products.
We are now listening to messages about positive numbers in the increase of tourism flows… in places even higher than before the COVID lockdown. We see proud service providers who declare to be “sold out” for the coming months.
We do not hear or see so many plans to improve the quality of the offer, to widen the target market and include everyone… It is as if the “sold out” situation dissolves the urge to make any additional effort.
I must say that this is a situation that worries me a lot. We all know that customers with specific access requirements need to move in a comfortable and safe environment, which seems to be in contrast to the present evolution in tourism flows.
Yet, ENAT has been, and still is participating in a lot of initiatives, mainly for training, which all have the objectives to offer a qualifying opportunity to improve the skills of the human resources operating in the tourism field, as well as provide tools for managers to improve market competitiveness through accessibility and inclusion.
We look for and offer best practices for consideration, as a means to adapt facilities to a wider market and the diverse target groups who seek tourism offers.
ENAT is also pleased to be a partner in the new, AccessibleEU Resource Centre, an initiative of the European Commission that aims to raise awareness and promote the implementation of EU policies and regulations on accessibility for persons with disabilities. The resource centre’s experts from all EU Member States identify and share good practices and advisory documents, monitor national accessibility plans, develop training courses and create networks among decision-makers, practitioners and stakeholders including NGOs and advocacy groups across all sectors of society, including tourism and transportation.
As in the past and as we usually do, we will grasp any opportunity to let the tourism world consider our suggestions and instances to consistently enlarge their offer to a wider audience.
We will grasp opportunities offered by the coming events, like the international meeting in Italy on “ G7 Inclusion and Disability” and the Jubilee of the Holy Year in 2025, to make the responsible bodies consider Accessible Tourism as a priority and a basic need for many citizens and tourists.
We hope that our voice will be heard and those with like minds and intentions will join us in our endeavours!
Anna Grazia Laura, Rome.
5th May 2024
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