Brussels, 27 July 2010 – The European Commission announces the launch of “Access●City Award”, the first European Award for Accessible Cities. This annual award aims to highlight the European cities that are taking the most effective and innovative action to improve their accessibility for disabled citizens.
A new European Award for Accessible Cities has been launched by the European Commission, aiming to promote accessibility for people with disabilities in four areas: the built environment and public spaces, transport and related infrastructures, information and communication, including Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and public facilities and services.
Vodafone España has been awarded the Universal Accessibility Management System Certificate for 35 of its stores. The certificate has been granted against Standard UNE 170001-2:2007 by the Spanish Association for Standardisation and Certification (AENOR).
There are million-dollar strategies to turn B.C. into an accessible tourism destination. Then there is Hugh Tollett, who does it for free. Before Vancouver and Whistler, B.C. won the right to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Tollett believed the mountain resort town needed to find a way to be more accommodating of people with disabilities. But now he's concerned that without a bump from the Paralympics, the strong business case for putting resources into accessible tourism collapses and puts his work at risk.
Brian Seaman of Tourism for All UK reports: On Friday the 12th March, ITB Berlin, the largest tourism trade exhibition of its kind, hosted a two hour workshop on accessible tourism. Panellists discussed how Europe is meeting the needs of disabled visitors, followed by in-depth Questions and Answers.
ENAT joins the world's biggest travel trade show this week at ITB Berlin, where ENAT President Lilian Müller will meet delegates and speak on the subject of Accessible Tourism for All. She is joined by Mr. Mohammed Al-Taranweh, Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and other distinguished speakers.
Belgian, Bert van Driel became a wheelchair user in 2007. However, he wanted to remain active. Bert realised that active wheelchair users need to carefully plan any activity. During this process, he noticed that most on-line information is not accurate and outdated. Bert started the non-profit organisation "Access on Wheels" in 2009 as an independent forum by and for wheelchair users.
EC Communication (COM2010/352final). Keeping Europe the world's top tourist destination is the objective of a Communication tabled by the European Commission on 30.06.2010. With 370 million international arrivals in 2008, Europe has more than 40% of the global figure - a position which needs to be retained. However the fast changing worldwide economy impacts on the tourism sector with some important changes concerning tourist behaviour and markets of origin.
For long Vuokatti is known worldwide for its superb sports and leisure facilities. It has been a regular host for all levels of athletes and individuals who enjoy practicing a physical activity in a purely natural and friendly setting. The Elma project is focussed on developing a sustainable, Universally Accessible destination for all.
We are working in a national project (“Puedo Viajar”) funded by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade (Plan Avanza 2009), which aims to provide information and several services on Accessible Tourism through the internet.
The objective of the project is to develop nature tourism services for a wider scale of customers. Another aim is to support organisations providing nature tourism services in their development of accessible environments and services. In addition, an objective is to launch strategic and persistent development for evaluating, instructing, and classifying accessible nature tourism.
