French Masters student in Disability Research, Eloïse Auffret-Novice, has taken up a 4-month ERASMUS+ traineeship at the ENAT Secretariat in Athens. She will make a study of accessibility and access information for visitors at five of the most notable museums in Greece. Here she introduces the theme of her chosen subject.
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.
Anna Grazia Laura, President of the European network ENAT (European Network for Accessibile Tourism) and Maurizio Davolio, President of EARTH (European Alliance For Responsible Tourism and Hospitality) signed an MoU in Rome on the 16th of July 2014.
“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.
Although historical heritage buildings undoubtedly are an important part of many touristic routes, provision of accessibility to them often is a technically complex process. This is a real challenge - the desire to preserve the visual appearance of historic buildings and hence their value, but at the same time making them accessible to everyone. This European Lifelong Learning "Grundtvig" adult learning project addressed these issues.
The project "Cosy for You", supported by a web site and a mobile application (C4Y mobile app.) consists in the dissemination of "knowledge" of places, travel goods and services accessible at 360° in the Campania Region, in the South of Italy, starting with five different destinations: Napoli, Pozzuoli and "Campi Flegrei", Sorrento and the Sorrentine peninsula, Vesuvius area and Benevento, including 14 itineraries. It is proposed as best practice to other public and private institutions active in tourism in Italy and worldwide.
The overall objective of the project is the implementation, promotion and marketing of universal accessibility to the Route “VIA REGIA – Cultural Route of the Council of Europe” between Frankfurt/Main and Leipzig combining 8 destinations.
The Mobility Unesco Sustainable Tourism (MUST) is configured as a specific action aimed at reducing the restrictions still existing between disabled and non-travellers, and at increasing awareness among tourism operators, for them to develop a methodology that could support the creation and promotion of accessible routes in other destinations.
The Declaration which resulted from the 1st UNWTO Conference on Accessible Tourism in Europe, held on 19-20 November 2014 in the Republic of San Marino, can be read and downloaded here in English, French and Spanish.
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.
