Madrid, Spain 7 March 2021. One in three destinations worldwide are now completely closed to international tourism due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, according to the latest data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Brussels, 1 March 2021. Over 60 European organisations call for tourism to be firmly anchored in EU national Recovery and Resilience plans. European Tourism Manifesto alliance presents list of reforms and investment ideas to support tourism and make EU economies more resilient. New #Tourism4Recovery campaign launched to support the call and showcase impact of investments in sustainable tourism.
3 December 2020, Hellenic Ministry of Culture press release. In the presence of the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni and the President of the Onassis Foundation Antonis S. Papadimitriou, today, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the elevator and the new footpaths were inaugurated.
3 December 2020. Press Release. Ensuring accessibility for tourists with specific access requirements can be a ‘game changer’ for destinations around the world as they look to bounce back from the impacts of the pandemic. A new set of Inclusive Recovery Guides from the World Tourism Organization, produced in partnership with the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT), the ONCE Foundation of Spain and Travability from Australia, makes clear the importance of placing inclusivity at the centre of recovery plans and provides key recommendations for achieving this.
Projects from sixteen countries on three continents are included in the PREDIF online webinars series on accessible tourism this November. Register now!
Madrid, 3 August 2020. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is calling on destinations to recognize the needs of travellers with disabilities or specific access requirements as they open up to visitors again. In partnership with the ONCE Foundation of Spain and the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT), the United Nations specialized agency has released new guideline to ensure accessibility and inclusivity as the responsible restart of tourism gets underway.
The partners of the ACCESS-IT project invite you to answer a survey on tourism in rural and natural areas, including the countryside, seaside, lakes, mountains, rivers, forests, etc. We would like to know your views and experiences, especially regarding accessibility for people with disabilities and/or other access requirements.
Virtual reality-based technologies, using 360-degree videos of tourism destinations viewed on a VR headset can substitute for real trips and help tourists dream or plan for the next vacation. A new survey indicates an opportunity for creating a parallel economy for tourist guides as 360-video content providers.
Just as the tourism sector is affected more than others by the current COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable groups within the sector are among the hardest hit. As laid down in the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics, the sector has a duty to promote the rights of the most vulnerable groups such as women, indigenous people and people with disabilities.
Madrid, Spain, 25 February 2021 - The shared values and close ties between tourism and culture stakeholders means both sectors can work together to ensure inclusive access to heritage, as countries around the world recover from the pandemic. In recognition of this mutually reinforcing relationship, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and UNESCO have collaborated to produce a set of new guidelines focusing on the responsible restart of cultural tourism.
UNWTO invited the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to contribute to the UNWTO Inclusive Recovery Guide, Issue 2: Cultural Tourism. This is the second set of guidelines relating to the socio-cultural impacts of COVID-19 issued by UNWTO and will continue to be revised, as the situation evolves.
Make cultural tourism relevant in the recovery
The publication draws on the insights and expertise of the two UN agencies to analyse the impact of the pandemic on their respective sectors. This includes how lost revenues are severely impacting communities, heritage sites, cultural events, spaces and institutions, while also weakening destinations’ competitiveness and market differentiation. The guidelines on cultural tourism also stress the need for support from policymakers to ensure the relevance of culture in the emergency and contingency planning within tourism destinations.
The project, funded by EU ERASMUS+, aims to address the scarcity of available VET training courses by offering a holistic, package solution to render Tourism workers and professionals competent, ready to offer diverse tailor-made services to tourists with special needs, and notably, to subsequently act as the true promoters of Accessible Tourism.
