The ONCE Foundation for cooperation and inclusion of people with disabilities, invites you to participate in the IV International Congress of Tourism for All, which will be held in Ávila, Spain, on 26, 27 and 28 June 2013.

The World Tourism Organization (WTO), the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT), the European Institute of Design for All (EIDD) and the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade are collaborating in this event.

The Congress is aimed at administrations, companies and users of products and services linked to tourism, as well as at all those people and institutions interested in knowing the current and future state of Tourism for All.

This IV International Congress on Tourism for All will have as its central focus the Cultural and Historical Heritage. It is intended for all professionals of culture, with the aim of enhancing their participation in the tourism sector and the objective of establishing the Accessibility and Design for All, thus promoting the inclusion of people with special needs.

Objectives

• To make the tourism sector aware on the need to establish strong guidelines for Design for All and Universal Accessibility.
• To know and disseminate examples of good practices of Tourism for All.
• To show the profitability of the proposals of Accessible Tourism to the sector.
• To unify criteria of accessibility in Tourism for All.
• To enhance the role of culture as a source of tourist resources.
• To consider the elaboration of realistic and rigorous technical projects that facilitate the conversion of cultural potential into tourism products tailored to everyone´s needs.
• To show the employment opportunities for people with disabilities within the growing development of cultural tourism.
• To raise awareness of the need to achieve full accessibility of culture for the progress and development of our society, where a greater visibility and an active participation of people with disabilities will be a reality.
• To achieve a greater participation of cultural actors in the tourism industry for all.

Foundation
The historical Heritage of a place is configured by the elements produced by the societies throughout its history which are the characteristics of that area or place. They are not only the monuments or archaeological objects, but also the popular demonstrations, customs and traditions.

Tourism is a key factor for the enrichment and use of historical heritage. The design and development of a sustainable tourism is now essential, therefore, the use of existing resources, achieving an economic profitability is a goal to achieve. Heritage becomes one of the key axes of the challenges that tourism has at present, both in the generation of new products as well as in the preservation of elements that are already on the market, or the reactivation of societies in decline.

The new tourists go beyond a mere visit, seeking enriching experiences. And that is achieved by promoting access to the historical and cultural heritage of the different places. The tourist offer has to be varied to attract all types of customers or even for the same customer, which according to what time, will prefer a different type of offer.

One of the objectives of the ONCE Foundation is the full inclusion of people with disabilities in all areas. The access of persons with disabilities to the historical and cultural heritage gives them the option of contacting with the culture of that place, and on the other hand the establishment of Design for All in the new cultural tourism offerings makes more people aware of the importance of Design for All and Universal Accessibility.

The historical and cultural heritage can be revalued in the framework of a sustainable development of the tourist activity. This requires the formulation of tourism products that include the historical and cultural heritage as one more dimension of its development and not just an element.

Places, converted today into tourist destination spaces, must be based on the revaluation, refunctionalization and creation of new heritages to strengthen their identity. Complying with universal design, these existing resources have to be fully utilized to make them accessible to all people.

Participants

• Professionals in cultural management and tourism technicians
• Schools of tourism and hotel management
• Social workers, who have to respond to the demands of access to culture and leisure in an inclusive way
• Professionals of Universal Accessibility and Design for All
• Professionals of tourism and hotel management (hoteliers, restaurateurs, enologists, etc.),  who have to consider that  to use the criteria of Universal Accessibility and Design for All is a business opportunity and those who already use them have to show their experience to the rest
• Professionals in the elaboration of typical products of gastronomy (wine, oils, etc.) that use the criteria of Design for All and Universal Accessibility, incorporating them to the specific needs of people with disabilities
• Companies dedicated  to the Services and Care for people with special needs
• Sponsors
• Organizations representing  people with disabilities, elderly people and others
• User organizations.

Participation is open to everyone as:

• An attendee
• A speaker
• An exhibitor of leisure and culture items related to tourism
• A provider of workshops
• Presenting good practices
• Presenting works and projects of research, completed or not, to exchange experiences

Agenda
The agenda of the Congress is open to all proposals that might be interesting to Tourism for All and the tourism sector in general, and in particular all those experiences, projects or proposals that have to do with cultural tourism for all (current situation of the tourist market and the different models, new trends, market opportunities, products and services, innovations, new technologies, hotel & catering industry, studies, environment, transport, destinations, etc.) and specifically with the historical and cultural heritage.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Presentations of Communications and Workshops
These should include: title, topic, author, institution, text and keywords. Font = Arial, font size = 12. Text format. The maximum length shall be of two pages, including bibliography. The document must be written in the two official languages of the Congress, Spanish and English.

Presentation of Round Tables
They should include: title, topic, author, institution, text and keywords. Font = Arial, font size = 12. Text format. The maximum length shall be of four pages, including bibliography. The document must be written in the two official languages of the Congress, Spanish and English.

All papers and documents shall be sent by e-mail to:
[email protected]

The Organizing Committee will evaluate and select the topics that best suit this Congress.

Relevant Dates

• Presentation of papers: from February 1st to March 15th, 2013
• Notification to the authors: April 2013
• Spanish
• English

Official languages of the Congress
There will be sign language interpreters in Spanish and subtitling of papers in Spanish and English.

Conclusions
The presentations of the speakers will be available at the web page of the ONCE Foundation, as well as the conclusions of the Congress.

Source: ENAT

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