With the UN’s International Day of Disabled Persons on Thursday 3 December,
Scandic is continuing its commitment to disabled guests, not least through a new
service on the website where all the chain’s hotels report exactly what aids and
facilities they offer guests with a disability. During 2010, Scandic is also building
150 new rooms for disabled guests.
New figures released by VisitEngland from the UK Tourism Survey show that overnight trips made by, or accompanied by, someone with a health condition or impairment contributed almost £1bn to the English domestic visitor economy in the first 6 months of the year, accounting for 5.7 million trips in total.
Argonautical Park, the first modern sailing centre in the Region of Magnesia, Greece offers accessible accommodation, restaurant, training and education camps for Greek and International visitors of all ages and abilities. The management is now searching for a business partner to continue the development of this unique facility.
Scandic Hotels is a hotel chain which emphasises good access for all its guests in every hotel. This televised report by AXESS TV, Sweden was broadcast by CNN on 10 October 2009.
Over 30 of the presentations and speeches given at the 2nd ENAT International Congress in Vienna are now available for downloading. They include keynote addresses, workshop reports and case studies from many countries on a variety of subjects.
Scandic has become the first hotel chain to gather all its information for guests with special needs in one place. Every hotel’s homepage now provides answers to the 80 most common questions.
The latest issue of Tourism-Review.com highlights the fact that seniors and disabled travellers represent a growing market. Australia mostly offers quality services but there is still space for improvement.
The Spanish government would like to make it as easy as possible for seniors from other EU countries to enjoy their free time, which is why it is proposing active holidays during the winter in Spain, by organizing a full trip for which it will pay a portion of the expense. This project aims to present good value for visitors, strengthen European citizenship and help the tourism industry through the difficult economic period.
The ETCAATS project has two main aims: 1). to develop an online training course in accessible tourism from existing innovative content selected from previous Swedish work and supplemented with other international training materials; and 2). to develop a ‘Road map’ for an EU certification system for the area of accessible tourism vocational training, in line with the European Qualifications Framework. The target groups for the course include employers and personnel in the tourism industry.
The project aims to create new learning packages for on-line delivery, promote ’The Accessible City’ concept and improve the skills, knowledge and awareness of companies and employees associated with the tourism sector.
The 'Respecting Disabilities and Differences' online training session looks at some of the ways you could make your business more accessible to attract a wider range of visitors. It looks at how accessibility affects everyone today in general, then offers suggestions to help you make the best changes for your business.
The Study on the Competitiveness of the EU tourism industry - with specific focus on the accommodation and tour operator & travel agent industries - was commissioned by the Commission and run by Ecorys. Disclaimer : The views and propositions expressed in the study are those of the experts and do not necessarily represent any official view of the European Commission or any other organisations mentioned in the Report.
