Accessible Tourism

3rd World Summit on Accessible Tourism

Dario Patrizio Imperatore — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 10:09:24 +0000

3rd World Summit on Accessible Tourism Dario Patrizio Imperatore Fri, 08/29/2025 - 12:09

Themes

Accessible Tourism

The World Summit on Accessible Tourism is one of the leading international events in the field of accessible tourism.

Dates: 5 to 7 October 2025.

Venue: Lingotto International Conference Centre, Turin, Italy.

Torino, Italy, the 2025 European Capital of Smart Tourism, will host the third Summit, after the two successful editions in Montreal in 2014 and in Brussels in 2018.

The goal is to bring together experts and players from around the world to share knowledge and experiences, and promote best practices in accessible tourism.

Over 80 high-level speakers will address the conference on topics including:

Accessible Tourism Business
Education, training, skills development, and employment
New Technologies for Accessible Tourism - challenges and opportunities
Good practice examples of accessible tourism
Mobility, transport, and wayfinding

The Summit offers a unique and exceptional opportunity to meet, exchange, and create global partnerships.

Visit the Summit website for Draft Programme, Registration and information about Travel, Accommodation, and pre-conference side events (accessible guided tours and B2B Match&Meet).

https://www.destinationsforall2025.org

Supporting Institutions.

Publication of International Standard on Accessible Tourism for All

Ivor Ambrose — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 12:40:00 +0000

Publication of International Standard on Accessible Tourism for All Ivor Ambrose Mon, 07/19/2021 - 14:40

Themes

Accessible Tourism Destinations, Destination Management Education and Training Policy Social Inclusion Sustainability - SDGs Tour Operators Transportation Terminals Travel Agents UNESCO Heritage Sites Visitor Experience Web-based Information

ISO Standard 21902:2021. Tourism and related services – Accessible tourism for all – Requirements and recommendations

Press Release, 15 July 2021, Madrid. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published the world’s first standard on accessible tourism, ISO 21902 Tourism and related services – Accessible tourism for all – Requirements and recommendations. This is an international standard offering guidelines to ensure access and enjoyment of tourism for all on an equal basis.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Fundación ONCE and UNE (Asociación Española de Normalización) led the development of this pioneering, cross-cutting standard on an international level, focusing on accessible tourism throughout the whole value chain of the tourism sector.

The standard establishes requirements and guidelines with the aim of ensuring equal access and enjoyment of tourism for all.
As from today, this document is available in Spanish, having been translated and included in the Spanish national catalogue of UNE standards.
In the European Union alone, the sector represents a potential market of 80 million persons, or 130 million if companions are included.

Moreover, the market is growing considering the population pyramid in many European countries, and this is also the case for other parts of the world. On average, persons with disabilities spend 30% more (800 EUR per trip as opposed to 600 EUR), according to UNWTO.

As from today, this standard is available in Spanish as UNE-ISO 21902, having been translated and included in the UNE national catalogue of standards. It addresses service providers and tourism operators as well as public administrations and tourism destinations.

The UNE-ISO 21902 standard establishes requirements and recommendations for accessible tourism. For example, in order for a beach to be considered accessible, it must offer showers, toilets and a route that can be used by all. Also, accessible pedestrian routes in a natural environment must provide, amongst other requirements, a continuous, firm and stable floor and signalling and must offer details on the itinerary before the start of the route.

In general, in their written communications, tourism establishments must use clear and simple language following a logical sequence, with images and graphic symbols where appropriate, and with contrasting colours and easy-to-read fonts. It is hoped that the standard will become a key tool for enforcing the right of everyone to enjoy tourism and leisure.

In spite of advances over recent decades, in many countries there is still much to be done before the tourism sector takes into account the needs of the more than 1 billion persons with disabilities in the world. Because of the way in which environments, infrastructure and a wide range of tourism services have been conceived, tourists with disabilities often face challenges starting from the actual planning of their trip and including their experience in the destination. This standard aims to trigger change.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, UNWTO, Fundación ONCE and UNE, together with experts, will hold an awareness campaign addressing their members and associates to stress the harmonization of accessible tourism on a global scale by means of standards.

This worldwide standard was developed by the International Standardization Committee ISO/TC 228 on Tourism and related services, in which UNWTO coordinated working group WG14 bringing together 85 experts from more than 35 countries and five relevant organizations in this area who were responsible for the drafting. Fundación ONCE held the technical leadership and UNE provided the secretariat and coordinated with ISO.

IMPACTOUR Newsletter no.3, June 2021

Ivor Ambrose — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 14:34:00 +0000

IMPACTOUR Newsletter no.3, June 2021 Ivor Ambrose Wed, 06/30/2021 - 16:34

Themes

Accessible Tourism Destinations, Destination Management Heritage Tourism IMPACTOUR Pilots Policy Smart Destinations Social Inclusion UNESCO Heritage Sites

IMPACTOUR Newsletter no. 3, June 2021

We have reached Month 18 of the IMPACTOUR project.

Download and read our third Newsletter with updates about our recent Webinars, the project's Pilot Destinations and two of the IMPACTOUR partners, ENAT and Estonian Tourist Board.

Please pass on the newsletter to colleagues and others who may be interested.

Estonian Tourist Board team on steps of their building

Download the Newsletter in PDF format, 18 pages, in English.

Files

Impactour-Newsletter 3 (English)1.38 MB

Declaration from IMPACTOUR ReDiscover Europe Workshop, 9 May 2021

Ivor Ambrose — Thu, 13 May 2021 17:30:00 +0000

Declaration from IMPACTOUR ReDiscover Europe Workshop, 9 May 2021 Ivor Ambrose Thu, 05/13/2021 - 19:30

Themes

Accessible Tourism Coronavirus Cultural Assets Data Modelling, Statistical Analysis Databases, Tourism and Leisure Destinations, Destination Management Digitalization of Cultural Assets Festivals and Events Tourism Horizon 2020 Legal Framework, Legislation

IMPACTOUR ReDiscover Europe Workshop, 9 May 2021

Speaker Gallery at the Online Workshop

Consensus: Concluding Declaration

Tourism, and in particular Cultural Tourism, was a growing sector, with 15% of annual growth and employing one out of ten people all around the world, until COVID-19 suddenly struck every sector in the global ecosystem. However, this was not the first time the tourism sector had been adversely affected. One can recall the 9/11 attacks, the SARS pandemic or the 2009 global economic crisis where tourism sector always managed to come back stronger and healthier. It always managed to recover by being resilient, optimistic, daring and innovative.

Suddenly, the whole world went from an ‘over tourism’ condition to a ‘no tourism’ state... Now is the time to evolve towards a sustainable tourism situation. It is the time to promote a circular economy in touristic destinations, moving away from “take-make-disposal” models towards waste reducing and recycling models, locally reinvesting tourism revenues. The challenge of recovery is an opportunity to reset our defaults: we (all together) must rethink and adopt a communities-centric approach built on visitors-locals relationships and responsible infrastructure. In the future paradigm relationships between visitors and locals will be far more important, and those relations start long before the actual visit...and hopefully will endure in time...

During the crisis, 90% of countries fully or partially closed down their UNESCO World Heritage properties, cutting off a major source of their income and revenue. Mechtild Rössler, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre said in her keynote address, ‘The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on cultural tourism in Europe has been unprecedented. New models and approaches are required for a resilient and sustainable tourism recovery that supports communities, creates jobs, promotes culture, and protects heritage and its transmission.’

Culture has been known to be, at the same time, a driver and an enabler for sustainable development. For its cultural richness, this is particularly true in Europe, whether one considers global or local ecosystems. This most treasured resource is of utmost importance for the sustainable development of education, economy and tourism. Cultural Tourism emerges as the key driver to merge development, growth and protection of Cultural Heritage, whilst bringing a new local communities-centric approach. Every sustainable action should ensure good conservation practices, trustworthy heritage benefits and local economic support.

Cultural tourism sites are undergoing many existential threats, such as increased risk of looting and vandalism, busines closure, lack of confidence, travel restrictions, economic recession and huge uncertainty about the future. In order to become resilient and sustainable, the Cultural Tourism sector must put its efforts into environmental conservation and development, reconstruction of degraded sites, responsible traveling and local communities’ engagement.

As local communities are the primary beneficiaries of sustainable Cultural Tourism, it is of utmost important to developed their sense of natural and cultural pride, being themselves, not copying others.

The International Monetary Fund expects a 6% recovery following the pandemic, after the economy experienced a 3% downturn. This recovery is already occurring locally. It should be noticed that, even before COVID-19 pandemic, domestic tourism was six times larger than international tourism. The Cultural Tourism ecosystem must be prepared to catch up with the economic recovery, supported by three fundamental pillars, as addressed on the IMPACTOUR Re-Discover Europe Workshop: data, people and technology.

Data and the use of data is fundamental to improving information quality and exchange between sectors and between stakeholders inside the Cultural Tourism ecosystem. The information that can be extracted from so-called ‘smart’ data is of fundamental importance when evolving towards a collaborative economy framework. Multisector and multidisciplinary approaches involving local communities (Cultural Tourism providers), users (tourists) and connection intermediaries (digital platforms) are vital, enabling every decision to be supported by recorded evidence and analysis of good practices.

Local communities, in particular local SMEs, cooperatives or CCIs (Cultural and Creative Industries), can act as incubator sites of people-centric innovation and Cultural Tourism entrepreneurship. Acting locally and thinking globally they will engage all in society – children and young people, women, senior community members and minorities – in order to reach out to new markets and tourists, creating new emotional bonds strongly founded on local cultural roots. This brand-new generation of entrepreneurs, based on resilient lifelong learning strategies, should be strongly supported by time-deep knowledge and cutting-edge technologies. Deep respect and engagement of local communities is of upmost importance because they can act as unique incubators of accessible people-centric innovation within Cultural Tourism, moving forward towards social inclusion and cohesion, thus promoting shared identity and unity.

The pandemic has increased, to levels never conceived before, the use of digital tools. Multidisciplinary approaches are needed in order to make digital Cultural Tourism an attractive and sustainable activity, providing tourists with new experiences, urging them to visit the sites and providing benefits by engaging positively with local communities and stakeholders. Cross-sectoral decision-making platforms, such as the envisaged IMPACTOUR Tool, will play a fundamental role in future business models.

Digital transformation is the basis for a new diversity paradigm, where new offers and markets will come into place. Cultural Tourism new markets and new tourist profiles will undoubtedly consider new indicators where quality outperforms quantity. Often forgotten, accessibility issues will provide huge benefits for the Cultural Tourism ecosystem.

The three themes of the 2021 Europe Day workshop concluded:

Data: the world is emerging smarter from COVID – no longer growth at any price; tourists are more informed before travelling; tourism should no longer be consumption but considerate;
People: tourists are more holistic in their awareness of communities and climate impact; expectations of accessibility in all stages of tourism experiences are more holistic and inclusive; domestic tourism will feature more strongly in the road to recovery and future patterns of life;
Technology: the legacy of COVID will be hybrid visits – digital complementing reality; dynamic management of capacity (quantitative) will enhance experiences (qualitative) for visitors and host communities.

This is no time for nuances. The IMPACTOUR partners and workshop participants have expressed a commitment to be optimistic, daring and innovative, to Rediscover Europe and to rethink Cultural Tourism, working towards a more resilient and sustainable future.

For the RECOVERY of Europe, cooperation of all of us is needed because we are #StrongerTogether and #UnitedInDiversity.

Download the Consensus Declaration in PDF format, below.

Watch the workshop again on YouTube (Starts at 18min:45. Duration 6h 05min).

Files

ReDiscover Europe Consensus Declaration - Final196.94 KB

Athens Acropolis becomes more accessible to all

lc — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 08:20:00 +0000

Athens Acropolis becomes more accessible to all lc Fri, 12/11/2020 - 09:20

Themes

Accessible Tourism

Athens Acropolis becomes more accessible to all

Video by Onassis Foundation, benefactor of the new lift and pathways.

Read the Hellenic Ministry of Culture Press release, 3rd December 2020 at the ENAT news page.

Accessible Tourism

3rd World Summit on Accessible Tourism

Publication of International Standard on Accessible Tourism for All

ISO Standard 21902:2021. Tourism and related services – Accessible tourism for all – Requirements and recommendations

Related links

Files

IMPACTOUR Newsletter no.3, June 2021

IMPACTOUR Newsletter no. 3, June 2021

Files

Declaration from IMPACTOUR ReDiscover Europe Workshop, 9 May 2021

IMPACTOUR ReDiscover Europe Workshop, 9 May 2021

Consensus: Concluding Declaration

Files

Athens Acropolis becomes more accessible to all

Athens Acropolis becomes more accessible to all