Access Tourism NZ TOURISM FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, SENIORS, AND AGEING BOOMERS IN NEW ZEALAND AND WORLDWIDE

The Algarve Tourist Board (ERTA) has appealed to regional Town Halls to collaborate in helping broaden the scope of what can be offered to disabled tourists in order to elevate the region as a point of reference within that particular market.  To achieve this goal the ERTA has appealed to regional Town Halls to “co-finance a study that will analyse the destination in terms of being an ‘Accessible Destination’, therefore allowing, “by the end of the year, for the ‘Accessible’ brand to be implemented” throughout the region, under the slogan “One Algarve For All”.   Almeida Pires, Vice President of ERTA told the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT), “We want an inclusive Algarve where accessibility is a key concern. Therefore, we have launched a challenge to the public sector to become an example to the private sector, by taking stock of what is on offer in each area in terms of accessible tourism and creating across the board attractions within all tourist products.  The study will culminate in the preparation of interventions to be applied on the ground, for the benefit of people who have special needs”.

This will include the creation of special access paths that allow wheelchairs to be used on beaches; the availability of specially-adapted wheelchairs that move on sand and by the water’s edge, as well as re-organising car parks and adapting toilets.  “But these measures can only be implemented after existing problems have been detected and solutions found, to adapt tourist products and services so they have the appropriate conditions for universal access”, Pires stressed, highlighting that there is  “urgency in moving forward with this technical study, as part of the Strategic Plan for Promoting Accessibility in the Algarve”.