What is accessible tourism?
The World Tourism Organization defines accessible tourism as a form of tourism focused on making people with special access needs enjoy the environments, products and services provided independently, with equality and dignity.
Agencies and destinations committed to an accessibility model develop an infrastructure, a programme and a discourse that eliminates or reduces physical and psychological barriers in the tourist experience of people with distinctive mobility, vision, hearing and cognition requirements.
Why bet on accessible tourism?
In this way, not only does the agency contribute to the harmony of the tourism sector, but of the entire city. An accessible destination is a destination for everyone, more prosperous, more inclusive, more balanced. It is the human factor added to the necessary material conditions that shows the desire of people to make their space accessible to everyone.
The city is only accessible according to what each of its inhabitants does.
What does San Cristóbal do to promote accessible tourism?
The accessible tourism model incorporates a display of technological articles and furniture in accordance with international health and quality standards (electric motor seats, means of transport with handicap-friendly facilities, audio guides, texts in Braille, public spaces and accommodation that comply with the presence of ramps, doors that are easy to open and close, roads and streets that are safe for pedestrian traffic, etc.).
More than that, it is essential in accessible tourism to have highly-prepared professionals, capable of adequately communicating and connecting with visitors. Guides specialized in sign language, an empathic and natural treatment, a program design with inclusiveness in mind from arrival at the destination to departure, are the business of tourist service agents committed to developing proposals of this type within their guidelines.
San Cristóbal develops a programme that contemplates gradually expanding its accessibility services taking into account all of the above, and already has a tour of the Historic Centre known as the Leal's Accessibility Route, which includes a mobile application so that travellers can choose between four possible itineraries to get to know your surroundings in an agile and significant way.
