Manual on Accessible Tourism for All: Principles, Tools and Best Practices: Module V: Best Practices in Accessible Tourism

Abstract

The Manual on Accessible Tourism for All: Principles, Tools and Good Practices, co-produced with the ONCE Foundation for Cooperation and Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT), is intended to provide stakeholders with a useful tool to understand the needs of the tourism sector in terms of accessibility, the competitive advantages of tourism for all, and the methods for its implementation. Module I establishes some theoretical foundations and discusses the barriers to accessibility that can be found in tourism-related activities. It describes the wide range of beneficiaries of accessible tourism, highlighting the emergence of “senior tourists”, whose tourism activity is similar or even greater than that of other population segments, and whose needs and demands require accessibility measures. This first module also provides a breakdown of the economic impact of accessibility on tourism and a set of statistical data backing up the fact that accessibility, in addition to being a right, is also a highly significant business opportunity in quantitative terms.