Accessibility in tourism in a social right that concerns all citizens in Europe. In Europe it is estimated that 10% of the population have some type of disability, this means around 50 million people. And this number will continue to grow due to the inevitable process of demographic change as half of them are over 65. It can be deduced that accessibility is essential for 10% of the population, necessary for 40% and convenient for 100% of the population. In recent years the rights of disabled people to travel and to participate in tourism, leisure, sport and other activities away from home have been strengthened in a number of areas by legislation and regulations at international, European and national levels. This report presents an overview of the key legislation and the way in which the rights of people with disabilities are being extended and safeguarded. The report shows many examples of how the front-runners in sections of the tourism industry are beginning to respond to the increasing demand for accessible tourism products and services.
As part of the two year ENAT work programme 2006 – 2007, a study of services and facilities for accessible tourism in Europe was conducted by Toegankelijkheidsbureau (Belgium). This report presents definitions of accessible tourism, the target public and their specific needs, leading to an overview of services and facilities that tourism providers can adopt to improve accessibility.
National French tourism guide devoted to disabled people handicapped (motor, auditive, visual and mental), which is also useful for people with temporary mobility impairments, like the parents of young children... In the first part, the guide gives information and general advice (associations and tourist actors concerned, concepts of rights, insurances, labels...), while the second part, divided into areas lists the good addresses regarding tourism (transport, places of interest accessible, hotels and restaurants, sports activities of leisures...).
VisitBritain National Accessible Scheme Self-Survey for Serviced, Self-Catering, Hostel and Campus Accommodation. This detailed accessibility checklist is used to assess the suitability of premises for participation in the UK National Accessible Scheme which is managed by VisitBritain.
This report presents an Inventory of accessibility schemes and data sets within the EU-tourism sector. The purpose of this report is to give an overview of 1). the different accessibility schemes within the EU and the influence of national policies on these schemes, and 2). the existing European tourism databases, including their basic characteristics and features.
An access guide to Tenerife Sur, produced in 2007, covers information bureaux, facilities, transport and accommodations in three languages, Spanish, English, German. 169 pages. It is published by the Municipality of Arona. Arona has taken up the challenge to make its tourist offers available to everyone, including people with disabilities, through the Arona Integral Accessibility Plan.
Why should venue owners consider accessible tourism? This website provides links to a range of resources that tourist venue owners can use to gain insight and develop their services for disabled and elderly tourists. The information was compiled as part of the EU funded 'Happy Tourist' project.
The project seeks to promote disabled friendly tourist facilities in the cross-border area of Slovenia-Austria due to disabled people being deprived from using tourist facilities, as well as the rejection of disabled guests by the tourist organisations. The project is co-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund) within the framework of the Initiative Programme of INTERREG Community IIIA Slovenia-Austria 2000-2006. The initiator of the project is ŠENT – National Association for Mental Health.
The ASK-IT integrated project aims to establish Ambient Intelligence (AmI) in semantic web enabled services, to support and promote the mobility of Mobility Impaired people, enabling the provision of personalised, self-configurable, intuitive and context-related applications and services and facilitating knowledge and content organisation and processing.
The Municipality of Arona, Tenerife Sur, has taken up the challenge to make its tourist offers available to everyone, including people with disabilities, through the Arona Integral Accessibility Plan. An access guide to Tenerif Sur, produced in 2007, covers information bureaux, facilities, transport and accommodations in three languages, Spanish, English, German. The Guide has 170 pages and is richly illustrated.
From more than 800 published case studies, the on-line accessibility information service for tourists at www.EuropeforAll.com has been chosen by the ePractice portal as this week's Editor's Choice.
A new working group has been set up in Milan to provide guidelines on how to make an accessible transportation system usable and attractive for a larger number of customers.
