For people with physical disabilities one of the aspects that can turn a traveling experience into a more or less pleasant activity is the accessibility of the places, whether they are beaches or cultural destinations all over the world. ENAT member, Associação Salvadorhas created the online guide, www.portugalacessivel.com to facilitate the search for these accessible venues in Portugal.
With thousands of blogs appearing on the Web every minute, it takes something special to make any single one of them stand out from the crowd. For those interested in research on accessible tourism, Dr. Simon Darcy's new blog on Accessible Tourism Research holds significant promise of making research findings more accessible to everyone. Also, it can help to shape the international agenda of research and development in this growing and diverse field of study.
The 2nd ENAT International Congress takes place in Vienna on 30th September to 1st October 2009. Book before 30th June, to secure your place, and save 20% on the normal fee. Reduced rates for ENAT Members.
The INTERREG IVc programme on innovation and environment targets the transnational exchange of experience and good practice between public sector organisations working at municipal, provincial and regional levels in the EU Member States. With the 2nd Call for proposals now open, ENAT is keen to support public authorities in their bids to design and implement transnational projects where accessible tourism is in focus.
At a congress held last week by the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT), over 200 representatives from international disability organisations, tourist boards and private enterprise came to the overwhelming conclusion that accessible tourism is the fastest-growing business opportunity in the tourism industry.
This week the Marina d'Or beachside holiday resort in the Region of Valencia, Spain welcomes some 200 delegates at the ENAT International Congress on Tourism for All, organised by Fundación ONCE and supported by the European Commission. Guest speakers from North and South America, as well as Australia will complement European presenters from all sectors of the tourism industry, public authorities, NGOs and centres of research and education.
The eAccess+ network aims to bridge the widening gap between the potential of ICT/AT and eAccessibility for people with disabilities and the ageing population on the one hand and the actual implementation of eAccesibility on the other hand. eAccess+ is driven by 25 core members, coming from all over Europe. It is their task to involve all stakeholder groups at national level and to expand the network by developing a group of so called “Associated Partners”.
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.
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 Real Patronato sobre Discapacidad (Royal Board on Disability) with the collaboration of Polibea Turismo has organized Accessible Tourism Training Courses given at Spanish Tourism Colleges.
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.
