IMPULSA IGUALDAD and accessible tourism
- It is a right for all citizens to access, use and enjoy tourism environments, goods, products and services.
- It is a factor for social integration.
- Accessibility is a basic element of the quality of the tourist offer.
- It does not entail a large economic investment.
- It is a business opportunity: it increases market share to 4 million potential customers in Spain and 500 million worldwide.
- People with disabilities are “multi-customers”.
- It favors the deseasonalization of the tourism sector.
- Improves the image of the companies and the destination by positioning themselves as socially responsible.
Accessible tourism is the solution to make this right a reality. From IMPULSA IGUALDAD, we understand that it implies the incorporation of measures that enable the access, use and enjoyment of infrastructures, products, environments and tourist services in a normalized, autonomous and safe way. In other words, it is not only that a person with a disability has adequate transportation and a hotel, he/she will also want to eat, visit museums, walk through parks and nature trails or participate in recreational activities.
Lack of accessibility in tourism resources is an indirect but subtle form of discrimination. Therefore, by introducing the concept of accessible tourism in destinations, we are contributing to equal opportunities for all people.
Accessible tourism is an example in which social action and economic promotion go hand in hand. There is extensive legislation at international, national and regional level that requires the tourism sector to respond to this challenge. At IMPULSA IGUALDAD we work to promote accessible, inclusive and socially responsible tourism, so that it progressively ceases to be an isolated solution and becomes an everyday reality.
IMPULSA IGUALDAD is today a benchmark in accessible tourism, chairs the Inclusive Tourism and Leisure Commission of the CERMI, and its protocols and criteria in the field of accessibility are those agreed upon by the entire disability sector.
Inclusive Tourism Program
Representation of people with disabilities in working groups and commissions of the tourism sector.
We work with other professionals in the tourism and culture sector in different commissions and working groups to raise awareness of the needs of customers with disabilities and accessibility needs in general. All this with the aim that the technical standards, publications or projects developed by these groups and their entities include universal accessibility criteria. Among the entities with which we collaborate in this area are: AENOR, SEGITTUR, ICTE, AECA, ENAT, THINKTUR, others.
Since 2004, IMPULSA IGUALDAD has had a protocol for checking accessibility, specifically for tourist establishments and itineraries. This protocol was designed in collaboration with CEAPAT (State Reference Center for Personal Autonomy and Technical Aids) and the national social entities representing people with disabilities in Spain ONCE (Spanish National Organization of the Blind), PLENA INCLUSIÓN (Organization representing people with intellectual or developmental disabilities in Spain), FIAPAS (Spanish Confederation of Families of Deaf People) and CNSE (Spanish Confederation of Deaf People). In addition, various professionals from the tourism sector participated. The protocol is periodically updated and validated by the aforementioned entities.
Using this protocol, IMPULSA IGUALDAD technicians have analyzed in situ more than 4,000 tourist establishments and resources throughout Spain. Those with the best accessibility conditions have been published in more than 20 thematic guides on inclusive tourism: accommodations, restaurants, museums and cultural spaces, natural spaces, leisure spaces, accessible greenways, accessible wine routes and, finally, the Camino de Santiago Accessible for all persons.
To facilitate access to all this information through new technologies, IMPULSA IGUALDAD has developed the TUR4all platform, “Accessible Tourism for All”, which includes all the resources published in the guides and is continually updated.
Tourist establishments and resources analyzed by IMPULSA IGUALDAD technicians and published on the TUR4all platform are awarded the TUR4all Accessible Tourism badge.
Technical advice to public and private entities in the tourism sector on accessibility and attention to the public with disabilities and other diverse needs.
The advisory and consulting actions that IMPULSA IGUALDAD carries out are:
- Awareness-raising: on the need for accessible tourist destinations and services, aimed at professionals in the sector through conferences, participation in fairs and congresses and campaigns.
- Studies and strategic plans: studies and strategic plans are carried out for the development of inclusive tourism in the destination or territory.
- Advisory: we collaborate with public administrations and private companies for the development of specific projects related to accessible tourism.