As part of the two year ENAT work programme 2006 – 2007, a study of services and facilities for accessible tourism in Europe was conducted by Toegankelijkheidsbureau (Belgium). This report presents definitions of accessible tourism, the target public and their specific needs, leading to an overview of services and facilities that tourism providers can adopt to improve accessibility.
Prepared by the Irish National Disability Authority, this draft code of practice explains the obligations of public bodies to ensure that, as far as practicable, the whole or part of a heritage site in its ownership, management or control and to which the public has access, is accessible to people with disabilities and can be visited by them with ease and dignity.
Published by the Irish National Disability Authority, this guidance document is aimed at ensuring the speedy and safe evacuation of public buildings by people with a disability, particularly in the event of an emergency.
List of European Union National Enforcement Bodies for Air Passenger Regulations (and Complaints Handling). Gives names and contact details of enforcement bodies for each EU Member State.
Air Passengers' Complaints Form provided by the European Commission, for use in relation to flights from and to EU airports. The form should be filled in by the passenger and sent to the National Enforcement Body of the EU member state which the plane flew to or from.
In Working Like Dogs: The Service Dog Guidebook, two fans of service dogs explain what they are and what it's like to have a dog that's trained to help a disabled person.
Why should venue owners consider accessible tourism? This website provides links to a range of resources that tourist venue owners can use to gain insight and develop their services for disabled and elderly tourists. The information was compiled as part of the EU funded 'Happy Tourist' project.
The project seeks to promote disabled friendly tourist facilities in the cross-border area of Slovenia-Austria due to disabled people being deprived from using tourist facilities, as well as the rejection of disabled guests by the tourist organisations. The project is co-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund) within the framework of the Initiative Programme of INTERREG Community IIIA Slovenia-Austria 2000-2006. The initiator of the project is ŠENT – National Association for Mental Health.
The Municipality of Arona, Tenerife Sur, has taken up the challenge to make its tourist offers available to everyone, including people with disabilities, through the Arona Integral Accessibility Plan. An access guide to Tenerif Sur, produced in 2007, covers information bureaux, facilities, transport and accommodations in three languages, Spanish, English, German. The Guide has 170 pages and is richly illustrated.
Australian regional airline Rex is seeking to ban intellectually disabled passengers from flying unaccompanied unless they can demonstrate an ability to understand safety procedures.
From more than 800 published case studies, the on-line accessibility information service for tourists at www.EuropeforAll.com has been chosen by the ePractice portal as this week's Editor's Choice.
