Accessible tourism, also called “tourism for everybody”, is an integrated system of offer, structures and services that allows clients with disabilities to choose a holiday destination and to enjoy it without barriers or difficulties, but with comfort conditions, freedom and safety.
The market is very wide, as it includes different types of needs, counting people with motor, sensorial and cognitive disabilities, people with allergies or food and/or environmental intolerances, and tourists with long walking difficulties due to their age or to temporary diseases and last but not least families with children and/or pregnant women. Everybody can benefit from a better accessibility, from visitors to residents of touristic destinations.
As defined by the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with disabilities, approved by the Italian Parliament with law n. 18 of March 3, 2009, accessibility is a prerequisite of the right of persons with disabilities to live, move and take part in an independent and complete way to all aspects of life.
Article n. 30 of the Agreement commits the States members to ensure accessibility to the places that host tourist activities and to the services provided. Accessibility is therefore no longer the simple breach of a rule, but the decision to give priority to the person and to the quality of the offer and of the hosting territories, to fully aknowledge the human right of the autonomy of the individual.
Italy is the “hospitable country” thanks to the absence of architectural, cultural and sensorial barriers, an essential condition to enjoy Italian touristic Heritage. Opentourism project links 13 Italian regions to promote territories and resources, and give information on accessibility of structures and touristic services.
