People with disabilities and older people are considered as an important and growing number of clients for all kind of events and meetings (about 20 % of the population today). Accommodating and supporting their needs and providing accessible services is becoming more and more a success criterion for conferences and events.
The Manual on Accessible Tourism for All: Principles, Tools and Good Practices, is UNWTO's second handbook on accessibility and has been co-produced with the Spanish ONCE Foundation and ENAT. It features recommendations and guidelines drawn from experience, recent academic studies and international standards, as well as from technological and scientific advances that have been made in this field. This publication is currently available in Spanish only, in a digital accessible version.
Official version of the Declaration adopted by participants at the Destinations for All 2014 World Summit, held in Montreal Canada, 19 to 23 October 2014.
On 6 June 2014 the European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry, Tourism and Cultural Instruments Unit held a conference for tourism stakeholders where the results of three specially commissioned studies on Tourism Accessibility in Europe were presented and discussed by a distinguished panel of tourism practitioners and stakeholders. Speakers' presentations are available for download on this page in PDF format.
On 5 December 2014, 27 speakers from local regional authorities and others met at the EESC to discuss ways of improving inclusive social, political and physical infrastructures while promoting accessibility for all within the tourism industry.
Catalonia has been recognised at London’s World Travel Market for its work advocating accessible tourism and has garnered First Prize in Europe’s CHARTS awards for its work fostering cultural and sustainable tourism. “The Way of Saint James for All” initiative was chosen from amongst 27 candidates from all over Europe as a benchmark of excellence and good practices in the field of cultural and sustainable tourism.
“Jaén 2.0” is a vocational training program where a group of 14 young people with and without disabilities has been trained on accessible tourism for a year.
Tourism suppliers who have made the effort to cater for visitors with access needs may not always have tools at hand to publicise their accessible services. Now Pantou provides a free document template and guidance notes to help suppliers make a reliable, factual description of their accessible services and facilities.
(Madrid, Spain, 26 February 2014). The protection of children from all forms of exploitation, the fight against trafficking, anti-poaching and accessible tourism for all are among the work priorities defined by the newly formed World Committee on Tourism Ethics (WCTE). The Committee met at UNWTO headquarters to identify the major challenges facing responsible tourism and define its Action Plan for the coming four years.
The UNWTO Awards for Excellence and Innovation in Tourism honours tourism initiatives that contribute to advance tourism through knowledge and innovation, in line with the principles of the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
Metro - Wayfinding - Accessibility. What Metro For All does: Collect data about the infrastructure and layouts of metro stations; Analyze and visualize data related to metro usage, including geospatial data; Collect data about the infrastructure and layouts of metro stations; Research metro systems around the world and blog about them.
Polibienestar has created the platform SOCIALTOURISM, the first model of tourist universal accessibility, which allows to companies and Administrations a self-assessment online of its facilities and services on the basis of universal design criteria.