1. Unlocking the potential of Accessible Tourism
Vicenza, 22 March 2012 MITA – Gitando.All
Antonella Correra
EUROPEAN COMMISSION DG Enterprise and Industry

2. Accessible Tourism Fostering innovation Off-setting seasonality
Competitive edge
Attracting more tourists
Better tourism offer

3. Accessible Tourism: Why it matters?
Untapped potential for SMEs=> 20% customer base lost
Loyal, frequent travellers, travelling off season and for longer periods
Accessibility matters also to ageing population => 60 is the new 40!
Multiplication factor
Elderly/disabled : Higher travel propensity Untapped potential: 20% of their customer basis
The over 50s buy 40 per cent more holidays than the under 30s, averaging five or six breaks per year. (analisi italiana italian 4 viaggi rispetto ai 3 , 13 giorni rispetto a 11 ). EUROSTA : + 65 expenditue in tourism has incresed 30% since 2006.
Multiplication factor: 2-2,8

4. Accessibility is… …good for everybody!
80 mio people disabled europe - entro il 2020 si stima che questa cifra possa essere intorno ai 100 milioni, 143 milioni nel 2050 ( quasi il 30% della popolazione in Europa)
Market volume untapped milioni visitatori 90 miliardi euro e questo sono stime conservative…this is overall the cost of non-acessibility
Benefits to domestc economy and rising life standards in community – cio' che e' accessibile ( necessario) per lacuni alla fine diventa piu comodo, piu utile e fruibile per tutti
Innivazione/Competitive edge.
…good for everybody!

5. Preparatory Action Tourism for ALL 2012-2014
Budget from EP in 2012: € 1 million
Objectives:
- To raise awareness
- To disseminate and reward best practices
- To improve skills
- To foster innovative solutions
- To promote more accessible services and facilities
- To incentivise and reward accessibility efforts

6. PA - Actions 2012 A clearer picture! 1. Demand 2. Supply 3. Skills
-Demographics
-Behavioural
-Economic impact
A clearer picture!
2. Supply
-Accessible services
-Performance
-Barriers
La disibilita – sedia a rotelle sono solo una parte il 47% delle disabilita' in Europa sono non visibil sono allergie, intolleranzze alimentarie) , le disabilita' motirie sono il 37% e il 17% sono disabilita' nella sfera sensoriale e mentale)
48% of disabled tourists in Germany would travel more often if services were more accessible
£2 billion is the contribution of disabled travellers to the domestic visitor economy in UK (2009)
€ 4 billion : the cost of "non-accessibility" of tourism
60% would be willing to pay more for accessible tourism services
17% holidays outside Europe because of more accessible services
Knowledge on the definition of disability and types of disabilities, barriers to
accessibility, principles of effective customer services, proper etiquette for interacting
with people with disabilities, how to recognize and respond appropriately to people
using personal supports, service animals and assistive technology should be covered as
a minimum.
The outcome will be an EU-wide transferable model curriculum to integrate
'accessibility-related content' in the different tourism services trainings. It will be
presented as an overview matrix mapping the desired skills per occupation, responding
to the different categories of disability
Provide an overview of existing training material and modules/programmes covering
accessibility related content
3. Skills
-Mapping skills
-Mapping training
-Barriers to training

7. PA-Actions 2013 Networks Dynamic approach Pragmatic analysis
Communication
Raising awareness
Networks
Dynamic approach
Pragmatic analysis
Tourism experience
Accessible tourism "environments"
Involve more key actors
Existing practices
Innovation
Service culture
Information
Alcune dei percorsi principali della nostra azione – non exhaustive …
Dislodging misperceptions, raising awareness, accessibility not the legal issue but a golden opportunity, fear of getting wrong or complaceny on the reasonable adjustment,
Il mateiriale deve essere semplice, pratico concreto. Basrsi su consigli pratici Evitare la dispersione d informazione, il materiale e' spesso diffiicle da trovareCoinvolgere anche altri attori, non solo il canale pubblico far passare l'informazione anche dai principali interlocutori delle impresi: il contabile, la banca, le associazioni di categoria, le camere di comemrcio
Karen Drake, paralympic cyclist: I have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, so do not tell me I cannot make up the stairs, just give me the info and I will decide" etc…

8. Eurobarometer 2012 – Flash EB 370/2013
Europeans are most likely to be satisfied with the natural features (95%) and the
quality of the accommodation (92%) …. Satisfaction was lowest for the availability of accessible facilities for
people with special needs……

10. Thank you for your attention!