Europe-wide Study Seeks Accessible Tourism Training Courses, Projects and Initiatives
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The European Commission has asked ENAT and its research partners to identify the skills gaps and training requirements for accessible tourism. We invite training providers to tell us about their courses through an online survey.
The European Commission has asked ENAT and its research partners to identify the skills gaps and training requirements for accessible tourism.
We are now inviting training providers to tell us about their courses through an online survey.
About the survey
We would like your help to learn about any past, present or planned training courses, initiatives or materials that focus on accessible tourism - that is, training which addresses tourism services for people with disabilities or others who have specific access requirements when travelling or in destinations, accommodation, attractions, restaurants or any other facilities.
If you are involved in the training of tourism students or professionals, or if you develop training materials for the tourism sector we invite you to answer our Online Survey,
It will take about 5 minutes to register a training course or training initiative.
It will take about 10-15 minutes to answer the full questionnaire, with a description of a specific training course.
If you are not aware of any accessible tourism training course or initiative, you might send this web page to any colleagues in your country or region who you think may be able to answer the survey questionnaire.
Training organisations from outside the European Union are also welcome to answer the survey. We are, of course, very interested and open to learning from the experiences of tourism training providers from other regions of the world.
The survey has two purposes:
- Creating an inventory of accessible tourism training courses and initiatives (e.g. projects), past and present, in all EU Member States;
- Providing details of the target groups, trainees, training institutions, course curricula and course outcomes, where available.
We will also use the survey responses to identify examples of training courses and initiatives that can be developed as case studies for dissemination purposes.
Please note: You may register more than one course or initiative by simply filling in the survey again. After you have saved your first answers, close and re-open the browser window to find a new empty survey form.
The survey remains open until the end of July, 2013.
Results of the study will be presented at a European stakeholder workshop in Brussels in early 2014 and via the Internet.
At the EU event the conclusions and recommendations from the study will be discussed with sector actors. The European Commission will present its proposals for policy actions and initiatives at European level, following on from the study.
If you have any questions about this study or the survey, please contact us at either of the email addresses shown below.
We thank you in advance for your contribution to this important work.
Background
In Europe, many travel operators, tourism destinations and businesses are working to make their products accessible for all visitors – ensuring that they can cater for guests who may be disabled, older or have specific access requirements when travelling.
Due to the rapidly ageing population, this market is growing fast. Being able to serve these customers gives businesses a clear competitive advantage over their rivals.
One of the main ways to improve the accessibility of tourism services is to train managers and staff in disability awareness and appropriate ways to serve customers with specific access requirements.
As part of its 3-year ‘Preparatory Action on Accessible Tourism’, the European Commission (Directorate General Tourism and Industry, Tourism and Cultural Instruments Unit) has commissioned ENAT and partners to carry out a study of accessible tourism training in the member countries and regions of the European Union.
The study will examine training courses in accessibility and safety across the tourism sector and analyse the availability of appropriate training. It will explore current knowledge and practices as well as gaps and challenges in the delivery of accessible tourism training.
From these investigations, a collection of good practices will be selected and presented in detailed case studies.
Policy recommendations and a model EU curriculum are also planned in support of accessible tourism training in the Member States.
Download the EU Skills Study short presentation in PDF format from the right-hand column.
Contact the Study Team:
Ivor Ambrose, ENAT
Pierre Hausemer, VVA
Sonja Lengauer, 3S Research Laboratory
ENAT Secretariat
Email: enat@accessibletourism.org
VVA – Survey helpdesk
Email: k.ito@vva.it
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 75548699