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

A new free European on-line training course which addresses ways of improving tourism businesses and serving customers who have specific access requirements was recently announced by the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT).  The course is an “appetizer” for business owners and employees, providing a general introduction to the subject of accessible tourism. It includes short texts, ‘best practice’ videos with  case studies of actual businesses, reference documents and links.

By taking the course, professionals in the tourism industry will learn about the advantages of engaging with this fast-growing market and how to attract and serve new customers.  Students of tourism management and hospitality can also benefit from following the course and studying the additional references.  One of the advantages of the e-learning course is that participants can work at their own pace, fitting in their training when they have time. The on-line system keeps a record of their work and their test results.

Developed by a team of ENAT Members under the European Union’s programme for Lifelong Learning, the course integrates training materials from various European countries. The course language is English. It is available at:  http://www.accesstraining.eu.  It is currently being tested and will be amended as necessary on the basis of feedback from participants, who are invited to answer the User Survey after creating a user account and taking one or more modules of the course.  On completing the first four “basic” modules of the course, participants can receive the Accessible Tourism Training First-level Certificate (ETCAATS) issued by
ENAT.

The European Commission (Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry, Directorate F: Tourism, CSR, Consumer Goods and International Regulatory Agreements) is seeking tenders for a market research and public opinion poll on the economic impact and travel patterns of accessible tourism in Europe.

Travelling for pleasure (or for business) in Europe is equally relevant for persons with physical disabilities, but the barriers they have to face are far greater.  Tourism accessibility across Europe is still to some extent unchartered territory, with widespread misconceptions and lack of knowledge about the market of tourists with special access needs.  Visitors’ requirements are largely unknown, investment costs are often misunderstood or exaggerated and accessibility is generally perceived by business as a “burden”.  Travelling and having full access to tourist activities, services and facilities is a right enshrined in Article 9 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, signed by the European Union and its 27 Member States.  Furthermore, making tourism facilities more accessible to people with disabilities, is also a golden opportunity for businesses.

Very few studies have been carried out on the economic impact or patterns of demand and travel of visitors with disabilities.  The most recent has been a research project that in 2011 looked at the tourism, travel, and hospitlaity patterns and needs of people with hearing loss conducted for the new Zealand National Foundation for the Deaf, by the NZ Tourism Research Institute at AUT University, and Access Toruism NZ.   The overall purpose of this EU contract is to collect comprehensive and EU-wide data on the economic impact — both actual and potential — of travellers with special access needs on the EU tourism sector, and to study the demand, travel behaviour, and patterns of travellers with special access needs in Europe.  The final date for tender submissions is 28/06/2012.

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration (SM), and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) are holding a conference on the autonomy and inclusion of people with disabilities 7-8 June in Copenhagen.  This international conference will bring together disability experts from civil society including disabled people’s organisations, representatives from national human rights institutions, researchers, and policy makers at the EU, national and local level. The conference will allow participants to discuss the disability work of the FRA, DIHR and the Danish Ministry. The FRA’s latest disability reports, which will be presented during the event, will give an overview of the EU situation. There will also be concrete examples from Denmark and other Member States to illustrate the state of affairs nationally. Participants will be able to discuss practical suggestions and network with others working on disability rights.

Madrid has been working hard to make itself more accessible to visitors with disabilities.  Jesus Hernandez Galen writes that the hotel sector has made huge efforts to make improvements to their facilities (Accessible Tourism in Spain: Arona and Madrid. Chapter 21 in Best Practices in Accessible Tourism, 2012).  In the mid-1990′s the city’s General Plan to refurbish historic buildings emphasized accessibility, and access was also a priority in transport. The city includes development of accessible tourism in its Four-Year plan and in annual action plans. In response to increasing demand for information on accessible tourism by visitors and travel agents (especially form abroad), Madrid’s Tourism Board set up Madrid Accessible.  The political commitment to accessibility is shared by all department heads at the organizational level and is thus high-level.  There has been steady funding for new accessible tourism projects.  the Madrid Accessible project provides accessible tourism information, ensures accessible tourism infrastructure, designs accessible products and services, trains staff, and raises awareness in the tourism sector.

The European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) reports that at a recent meeting,  the Spanish “Business Innovation Groups in Tourism” (AEITs) convened by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, focused on accessibility, mobility, and sustainability for transforming the Spanish tourism sector.  Organised by the Spanish Tourism Technology and Innovation platform (SEGITTUR) and the Tourism Cluster in Madrid, the conference focused on the presentation of the results of projects that had received grants to support the tourism sector AEITs for 2011.  These included the Accessible Tourism Destination Project and DIGICARDEX technology for tracking of children with  disabilities at theme parks, camps etc.

The Accessible Travel Info Point (Infopunt Toegankelijk Reizen) is a service of the Flemish Tourist Board Toerisme Vlaanderen.  It grew out of cooperation with various organisations and services by and for people with disabilities.  The mission of Info Point is to provide information about travelling for people withdisabilities.  To this end, The Tourism Board have just released their 2012 version of “All In: Accessible holiday accommodations in Flanders and Brussels” which covers all the holiday centres, hotels, youth accommodations and campgrounds that have received the accessibility label A (basic accessibility) or A+ (comfortable accessibility) following objective assessments.  Levels of access are described on a Label page.   Now 248 pages long, the brochure includes full page of descriptions of each accommodation about accessibility  in words and pictures.

The brochure is available in three forms: as a browsable document with zoom function, in PDF format (22 Mb), or as a paper version (request a free printed copy at  Accessible Travel Info Point).  Info Point aims to publish a new edition every year.

The tourism sector in Flanders can contact Info Point for background information about accessibility, subsidies available, and guidelines for alterations to improve accessibility. The Flemish Tourist Board’s accessibility policy is presented here.

Accessible and inclusive tourism has been little researched or developed in New Zealand (NZ).  One study published in 2007  showed that tourism operators do not understand this market, think it insignificant, and think their businesses accessible when they are mostly not.  Erroneous access information is often given to potential visitors with disabilities, buildings housing tourism information sites are often inaccessible, and tourism websites – including a government-run website – are often difficult or impossible to access.  In addition accessible tourism is not part of NZ’s tourism strategy.  This is in spite of the fact that comparatively rich Baby Boomers and seniors were- recently recognized by the Ministry of Tourism (MoT – now part of the Ministry of Economic Development) as NZ’s largest domestic market, and recognized by them as a market with members who may not travel because of health and disability concerns (Segmentation Report).

On the local level, while two or three councils have begun to include considerations of access in tourism information (albeit mostly through business self-assessment of access), most councils have no plans to develop accessible tourism (council survey).  Only about half of Regional Tourism Organizations (RTOs) know of the few accessible tourism businesses in their area, and few promote these businesses as accessible.  Only two of the  approximately 30 RTOs (and one of the approximately 80 councils) sent a representative to the first NZ accessible tourism conference in October 2010, showing that there is still little interest in this sector.

While no-one from the MoT –  or from its promotional agency Tourism NZ – attended that inaugural  conference, the central government – spurred on by holding the Rugby World Cup in 2011 – funded an NGO called Be Accessible to (amongst other things) create and administer access assessments of businesses.  In a major step forward, about 20 accommodation businesses, 70 activities and attraction), and 50 eateries and retail outlets have been assessed and listed on their website.  These are predominantly Auckland businesses, but the Auckland council tourism website does not carry or link to this information.   Be.Accessible has also posted access tips, a toolkit, and checklists.

The most recent NZ research – funded by the NZ National Foundation for the Deaf (NFD) and undertaken by the NZ Tourism Research Institute (NZTRI) and by AccessTourismNZ – examined the tourism, travel, and hospitality experiences and needs of local and international people with hearing loss.  The research shows that they travel for the same reasons as others, mostly travel with others, and would like to travel more but are prevented from doing so by cost and concern that their hearing needs will not be met.  Their most important access travel needs are good customer service, staff who have a “can-do” attitude, and reliable information about access for people with hearing loss, which they often find wrong or misleading.  The majority (90%) of NZ respondents and over half (55%) of international respondents feel that the level of service in the NZ tourism industry for visitors with hearing loss needs to be improved.

Apart from the work mentioned above, no other research on accessible tourism in New Zealand has been carried out.  In fact, there is more interest overseas in what NZ accessible tourism is like than there is in this country.  For example, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) sponsored AccessTourismNZ to talk about the NZ situation at an internationa conference in Japan in 2010, and ENAT and Fundacion ONCE did so for an international conference in Spain in 2011.  In NZ, there is little will to understand, discuss, attract, and accommodate this large and growing market.

An older, more extensive report on the state of accessible tourism in New Zealand is available here.

Pieter Ghijsels of the Accessibility Policy Group at the Tourism Administration Flanders-Brussels writes that the accessibility of tourism services in Flanders is a key part of the Flemish policy on tourism.  In “Accessible tourism in Flanders: policy support and incentive” (Chapter 3, Best Practices in Accessible Tourism, 2012), he notes that people with disabilities are an important target group for the tourism industry in Flanders.  Tourism Flanders put in place a tourism accessibility action plan in 2001 to improve accessibility, offer training, and gather reliable information about access in Flanders tourism.  The Accessible Travel Action Plan developed a number of subsidies for renovation and new constructions in the Flanders tourism industry.  Subsidies include those to the private sector (e.g., to hotels, campsites, tourism information offices) and to local authorities (for example, to improve beach access, public toilets etc).   In this way, Tourism Flanders invests between 3-3.5 million Euros per year.  The Accessible Travel Info Point (Infopunt Toegankelijk Reizen) provides reliable access information in four languages  for travellers in or to Belgium.  This is backed up by an extensive print travel library in Brussels. The Info Point also offers tourism operators tips on how to make their businesses more accessible.

The Flemish Minister of Tourism annually gives the Gulliver Awards for innovative access initiatives in tourism.  Accessible Flanders (Toegankelijk Vlaanderen) is an accessibility databank listing local government offices, sports facilities, swimming pools, cultural centres and museums, hotels, campsites, hostels and so on that have been professionally assessed for all types of access needs.  Tourism operations can have the assessment done free of charge.  In 2008, recognizing that the indiscriminate use of the universal symbol of access (the white wheelchair on a blue background) by business owners meant that the symbol had little meaning, Tourism Flanders introduced a new, 3-level label for accessible tourism.

The 13^th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs (ICCHP) will be held July 11-13 at the University of Linz, Linz, Austria.  One of the thematic sessions is “Accessible Tourism’, which will be chaired by Franz Puhretmair and Kerstin Matausch (Competance Network), and Dimitrios Buhalis (Bournemouth University). The session will provide a forum to discuss major issues, identify barriers, technologies, strategies and approaches to promote accessible tourism.  Papers will consider aspects of

•  eTourism and disability
• Accessible Tourism websites and accessible Tourism Information Systems (TIS)
• Accessibility information in modern TIS Accessible Travel and Leisure holidays
• Accessibility information / guidelines / audits for tourism products
• Usability and user-interface studies
• Economic evaluations of Accessible Tourism
• Technologies and applications supporting Accessible Tourism
• eAccessibility,
• Universal Design and usability
• eInclusion
• Case studies of eTourism applications for the disabled markets, as well as
• the usage of technology for facilitating disabled tourists before and during their visit

The European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) has welcomed the initiative of the European Commission for choosing “Accessible Tourism Destinations” as this year’s theme for the European Destinations of Excellence Awards. A Call for Proposals invites National Tourism Authorities in EU Member States and associated countries to organise competitions to select the best small, “non traditional” destinations that provide an outstanding offer for tourists regardless of their physical limitations, disabilities or age. “Non traditional” is defined as a destination where the visitor density rating is from “low” to “very low” in comparison with the national average.

The Commission proposes to reward those destinations which have developed a tourism offer based on an overall approach to accessibility for tourists regardless of their physical limitations, disabilities or age. The following aspects of accessibility could be considered (a non-exhaustive list):

• barrier-free destinations (infrastructure and facilities);
• transport (by air, land and sea, suitable for all users);
• high quality services (delivered by trained staff);
• activities, exhibits, attractions (allowing participation in tourism by everyone);
• marketing, booking systems, web sites & services (information accessible to all).

National tourism authorities can receive up to 75% co-funding to support their national competitions, to be held during 2012-13.  Winning destinations and 4 runners-up per country will be invited to join the EDEN Network Association which is made up of the winners and runners up from the 5 previous years’ contests. They can then be promoted through the EDEN Network’s Website.  The EDEN Network “brings together winning EDEN destinations to harness their combined energy and passion for sustainable tourism and promote the rich variety of Europe’s lesser-known holiday destinations. The network facilitates networking between winning
destinations and provides an open platform for discussion and the sharing of best practice and information around tourism and sustainability”.

Main source: ENAT

The European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) reports that the Polibienestar Research Institute at the University of Valencia has won a “Turismo Accesible’ (Accessible Tourism) prize.  The prize was awarded by the University of Antonio de Nebrija and Fundación ACS have awarded for research analyzing the impact of tourism on the functional health of seniors, and the potential use of social tourism as social policy for promoting active and healthy ageing. The research was carried out by Mireia Ferri, Stephanie Carretero and Jorge Garcés. The research supports the objectives the European Strategy 2020 which – through the “Innovation Partnership on Healthy and Active Ageing” and the “European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations (2012)” –  aims to improve people’s life while ageing, as well as sustain healthcare and social systems. The objectives also intend to raise people’s awareness about the challenges of ageing and the best ways to tackle these challenges.

The study shows a significant relationship between tourism and a better self-perceived health, better physical and mental health, ability carry out the “Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL)” independently,  and less use of social and health services. The implications of these positive connections could affect the social and health systems in the way that people who feel better would use both care services to a lesser extent. Consequently, governments could see reduced spending in these areas. Accessible Social Tourism could be used as social and health policy in order to provide a better quality of life for seniors and to reduce their associated costs for governments.

Tourism habits revealed during the study included: a preference for hotel accommodation, organizing through travel agents and leisure centres, high use of packaged tours, and high preference for travel in spring and autumn due to the weather.

The years of work by a number of bodies in improving access in London in the lead up to the London Olympics and Paralympics (27 July-9 September) is now very evident. The Olympics and Paralympics will bring an extra 11 million visitors to London. Here are just some of the developments.

Transport for All in the UK (TfA), an NGO that has been working for two decades to further the cause of accessible transport in London today launched its new accessible transport information pages.   The Getting to the Games page is aimed at people who want to know how to access each of London’s transport services during Games time, including accessible parking and travelling into London from other areas of the UK. The Avoiding the disruption page contains information for disabled and older Londoners who want to get around as usual during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Access and facilities at each train station can be found on the National Rail website (station tool), and the website also has an Accessible Rail Travel page.  There is a journey planner available on the London 2012 site, which includes estimated journey times, and a place to download a complete map of all London’s train and tube services, including accessible stations.

Inside all venues, there will be a Games Mobility Service. They will provide wheelchairs, powered wheelchairs and scooters. They can also assist visually impaired visitors to their seats.  Vehicles at all venues can be pre-booked until mid-April. After that, vehicles can be requested on arrival at a venue on the day, on a first come, first served basis.

Inclusive London  (The Greater London Authority and Direct Enquiries) also have produced and access guide to all of the Olympic venues with a key to the meaning of symbols used.  Direct Enquiries, The Nationwide Access Register, was developed in partnership with RADAR and the Employers’ Forum on Disability to provide people with information about disabled access in buildings and premises all across the UK. The register has expanded since its creation to include additional information for parents such as pushchair access.

Inclusive London also has on its website information about accessible hotels, restaurants, pubs, entertainment and attractions, healthcare, shopping, and public services. It also provides information about these facilities around Great Britain.  Another website with invaluable information about access in London and in the UK is Tourism For All.  Well worth a visit.

Carlo Fidanza, European People’s Party (EPP) Group member in the European Parliament recently proposed a project on accessible tourism which will soon become a pilot project of the European Commission.  The proposal came at a meeting in Brussels which looked at accessibility of destinations, accommodations, and information within the EU’s new tourism strategy.  It was proposed that these “become fully accessible to people with disabilities, so that they become tourists not only in name, but in their own right and increase their travel requests. This does not only represent the protection of a right but also the investment in a very strategic area of the economy”.   The EPP Group is by far the largest political group in the European Parliament with 271 Members. The meeting was chaired by Adam Kosa MEP and Rosa Estaras Ferragut MEP – with the participation of the Vice President of the European Commission Antonio Tajani.

“Tourism policy in relation to disability offers a great opportunity to develop employment in the tourism sector. Business strategies and policies should encourage the development and professionalization of accessible tourism. That’s one key to improving the sector’s competitiveness and the attractiveness of destinations” said Estaras Ferragut

For further information:
Carlo FIDANZA MEP, Tel: +32-2-2845168
Ádám KÓSA MEP, Tel: +32-2-2845208
Rosa ESTARÀS FERRAGUT MEP, Tel: +32-2-2845163

Elisabetta Montano, EPP Group Press and Communications Service, Tel: +32-478-933978

@EPPGroup

The II InTourMarket (International Accessible Tourism) Conference will be held in Moscow on 19 March, 2012. The Conference –  supported by the Russian Government and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) –  will be held in connection with the VII International Travel Fair “Intourmarket (ITM)” at the IEC Crocus Expo.  International experts, tour operators, insurance companies and airlines, charity funds and organizations are invited to participation and exchange experiences in the field of accessible tourism. The Conference aims to achieve realization of accessible tourism principles in Russia.  Invited speakers at this year’s event will include ENAT President Lilian Müller (Access Sweden) and Vice-President, Spyros Michailidis (EWORX S.A. Greece).  The conference is organized by ANTOR, Ministry of Sport, Tourism and Youth policy of the Russian Federation, Federal Agency for Tourism, “Intourmarket 2012″ Organizers office and Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) and Russian disability organisations (Intersectional Alliance of Handicapped People at State Duma of the Russian Federation, Russian Handicapped People society and others).  It is sponsered by the TV channel “Russian Travel Guide”.  Registration is on the INTOURMARKET website

The following is a guest article by Premiki, the first travel agency in Slovenia specializing in accessible tourism.  Premiki is a member of the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT).

The social enterprise Premiki is an institute for accessible travel which includes a travel agency for accessible tourism in Slovenia.  It is a result of a number of projects led by ŠENT - the Slovenian Association for Mental Health.  ŠENT was awarded a Ulysses Prize by the UN World Tourism Organization in 2011.

The travel agency operates under the concept of ‘accessible tourism’, which aims to provide tourist destinations, products, services and information accessible to all people without regard to their physical limit, disability or age. Our aim is to contribute to the development of tourism for people with special needs by combining supply and demand for disabled-friendly tourists and creating a network of disabled-friendly tourist suppliers (hotels, attractions, services).

In this context we launched a “disabled friendly” certificate aimed at tourist organizations and  tourism providers. With this brand we want to create an environment where people with disabilities will no longer be deprived of the exploitation of tourism services.  We are a social enterprise that supports sustainable tourism in every way.

Our programs include holidays, short breaks and tailor made round trips,   sightseeings, thematic trips (Slovenian cuisine, wellness, adventure, wine cellar tourism, jeep safaries, festivals, local events and carnivals, ethnology, cultural experiences), and  other services (bus, rent-a-car, guided tours…….). We also provide training in accessible tourism in the tourism sector.

ITB berlin (7-11 March) will have a keynote speaker and a panel discussion on accessible tourism for people with disabilities on 8 March.   The panel will include Carsten Cossmann, Head of Special Travel, TUI AG, Petra Hedorfer, CEO, German National Tourist Office DZT, Ulrich Homburg, Member of the Board – Passenger Transport, Deutsche Bahn AG, Dr. Rüdiger Leidner, Board Member, National Coordination Board Tourism For All (NatKo), and Lilian Müller, President, European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT). The session willl be moderated by Minou Amir-Sehhi, TV Host and Journalist, Minou TV.  ITB Berlin is the world’s largest travel show, with 170,000 visitors and over 10,000 exhibitors fro over 180 countries.

At the 9th February at a European Parliament Hearing on Accessible  Tourism, Mr. Costas Andropoulos, Head of the European Commission’s Unit:  “Support to Tourism Industry, CSR, Mutuals and Cooperatives“  announced that 1 million Euros will be allocated to stimulate “Tourism for  All” initiatives in 2012.

Areas in which actions will be taken include:

• Mapping the demand: What are the travel patterns  and exact needs of people with disabilities?
• Mapping supply: An EU-wide performance check  on major tourism facilities, services, accommodation, websites,…
• Improving skills: Understanding people’s needs – identify gaps in the current level of skills to cater for people with access  needs & dissimination of best practice in disability training
• Fostering awareness of the importance and the  potential of tourism for all, with a stakeholder conference in 2012, and EU  awards:
  • European Destinations of
    Excellence Network (EDEN) awards
  • Access City Award
  • A new access award for tourism operators.

Mr. Andropoulos closed his short presentation by indicating that the  Commission is interested in receiving more ideas for improving tourism  accessibility in Europe.

Further information

Accessible Tourism webpage  at the European Commission, DG Enterprise

Blog report about the event by JlagEurope

See also:  Presentation at the European  Parliament Hearing by ENAT Executive Secretary, Mieke Broeders (PDF document).

The Paz y Bien Association has recently been set up in Andalusia and Portugal to support the development of accessible tourism in Andalusia through the creation of an Iberian Network for Accessible Tourism. Among the members in Andalusia and Portugal that have already confirmed their commitment to the Network are travel agencies, groups of people with disabilities, municipal and provincial government institutions, consulting firms, university research groups and others showing a strong track record for promoting tourism for all people. This is the first platform of its kind to be launched in Spain and one of only a few that exist at an international level. Others include the European Network of Accessible Tourism (ENAT) and the International Organization of Social Tourism (IOST). The new Network will work with these and others to learn about experiences in this field and enhance their contributions to the Andalusian and Portuguese companies and entities.

The initiative is part of the project Euroempleo in Paz y Bien that is developed through the co-financing of the Andalusian Employment Service and the European Social Fund. It is called ‘Accessible Tourism: a new source of employment’. A network had been created that will act as a transnational working group to analyze and propose accessible tourism projects to be implemented within the member territories. The founding partners are: the City Council of Lousã, Accessible Portugal, Elo Social Association, Salvador, Cercibeja, Ancora and Essentia Association; the Provincial Tourism Office of Huelva, La Gaviota Association of Puerto Santa Maria (Cadiz), the Accessible Rural Hotel Sierra Luz, the Provincial Federation of Associations of People with Disability of Jaen, Huelva Employers Federation, Semer Tourism Company, GECA, the Local Development Institute at the University of Huelva and the Paz y Bien Association on the part of Andalusia, as well as the Iberian Association of Cultural Managers and ProAsolutions entity.

After its first meeting, members decided to work on the development of statutes, the creating of an identity that represents the network concept, work on projects about accessible tourism, and the profit of this net to each of its components and the tourism industry in general. Other ideas put forward were the possibility of joint projects, the opportunity of accessible tourism to overcome the current economic crisis facing traditional tourism models, the creation of quality jobs, and enlarging the network.

The Iberian Network for Accessible Tourism has already had an impact, and new entities in Spain and Portugal have shown an interest in participating.

Guest blog by Alberto Borgato.  Alberto heads the Quality and Environment Management and Jesolo4All units for the Jesolo municipality (Gestione Qualità e Ambiente, Comune di Jesolo).  He has a degree in economics. 

The City of Jesolo (about 30 km from Venice) is an important holiday location with about 5 million visitors every year. With a 15 km beach of golden sand, our main customers are family and children. By this, our attention is focused on their needs.  All the tourist structures such as hotel, rent apartments, beach concessions, restaurants, etc. are tourist oriented and in the last 10-15 years several of them have been upgraded and now are able to accommodate people with disabilities or families with baby buggy.

Our role, as administrators of the city, is to gather all information about easy accessibility, to validate access  with a team of experts (some of whom are people with disabilities) who ascertain on site all the necessary measures and data,  and to publish this information in order to let visitors with disabilities know what to expect from their holiday in Jesolo.

At the moment we have gathered informations about:

· 15 hotels

· 13 restaurants

· 2 beach concessions (this number will rise as soon as our holiday season start)

· 2 disco club

· 1 water fun park

· Aquarium, reptilarium and shark expo

· the gaming hall Venice casino

· 1 campground

· Pala Arrex (a multi purpose building for big events)

· All the seafront promenade

· The City Hall

· The main street (a promenade street which becomes an open air shopping center in summer), and the main squares of the town

More will follow.  All of this information is detailed reports that everyone can find on our tourism site on the Jesolo for All page.  By searching for “disabilities” you can find all the hotels that have published detailed information about their own accessibility by the use of records with data, descriptions and pictures.  Some of them are already in English but for the remainders the reports are only in Italian for the moment.

Another interesting project of the Municipality of Jesolo is about the accessibility of playgrounds for children. “How to make playground without barriers“, focused on the planning of a playground using concepts such as “Universal Design”.

Congratulations to Salzburg, winners of the European Commission 2012 Access City Award for excellent infrastructure for disabled citizens. The Award recognizes European cities with over 50,000 inhabitants which take exemplary initiatives to improve accessibility in the urban environment.  In the context of a steadily ageing population living in European cities and its correlation with disabilities, accessibility has important social and economic benefits.  This initiative is organized in partnership with the European Disability Forum and Age Platform Europe assists in selecting the winner.

The award is given to the city that:

• has demonstrably improved accessibility in fundamental aspects of city living:
  • the built environment and public spaces;
  • transport and related infrastructure;
  • information and communication, including Information and Communication Technologies (ICT);
  • public facilities and services.
• is committed to continued improvements in accessibility in a sustainable way;
• can act as a role model and encourage the adoption of best practices in all other European cities.

Three finalist “runners-up” were Kraków (Poland), Marburg (Germany), and Santander (Spain). The European Jury also decided to attribute special mentions in each of the four key areas of accessibility. These went to:

• Terrassa (Spain) for the built environment and public spaces Ljubljana (Slovenia) for transport and related infrastructures
• Olomouc (Czech Republic) for information and communication, including new technologies
• Grenoble (France) for public facilities and services