Jill Paradis is busy setting up an inclusive tourism operation in northern Italy. She forwarded this report form the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE TURISMO PER TUTTI IN PIEDMONT. For the document in Word 2007 format Download file
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE TURISMO PER TUTTI IN PIEDMONT
Palace of Venaria Reale – 15 October 2007
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
OFFICIAL WELCOME
Paolo Osiride Ferrero, Chairman of Consulta per le Persone in Difficoltà, opened the conference, saying
Today is a special day. I would like to thank the Mr Pernice for this opportunity of holding the conference here today.
Addresses of guest speakers then followed, in the order below.
FRANCESCO PERNICE
Superintendent for the Artistic, Architectural, and Naturalistic Heritage of Piedmont
Today we find ourselves in the Restoration Centre, which is part of the greater complex that is the Palace of Venaria, whose reopening was recently inaugurated. This conference room was once the stables, as can be seen from the sloping floor, which was designed to help clear away the excrement of the horses. In restoring the stables, we decided to conserve the original sloping floor as it was, which shows how even the most extensive restoration project can still respect original historical features. The Palace of Venaria is the only building of its kind in Italy where barriers have been removed without disturbing the original architectural and historical features. In fact, we removed three steps from the entrance to the Church of Saint Hubertus so as to enable wheelchair access. Even the Sacra di San Michele has been made accessible thanks to its new lifts. In this way, what we saw was that with carefully studied action, barriers can be removed.
Today, tourism means visiting monuments and churches, which means they have to be adapted. Everybody has to be able to reach the destinations they desire without effort, also because the population is getting older and older. Today, I can guarantee that 70% of all our monumental buildings have been rendered accessible. Glaring errors can often be made though, such as building a lift then leaving steps at the entrance. This happens when things are first built, and then corrected afterwards in an effort to fix the faults. What is needed is a different approach and greater awareness. Yet even at our Faculty of Architecture, there is no specific course focused on architectural barriers.
GIULIO CAPOZZOLO
Welfare Councillor – Town Council of Venaria
I welcome you all on behalf of the Mayor. After last Friday’s inauguration of the Palace, here we are again for another important event for Venaria, as we are pleased to host the first-ever international conference on accessible tourism. We would like to thank the organisers of Turismabile for this honour. The twenty-five itineraries proposed demonstrate the commitment and effort that has been dedicated in recent years to tourism and mobility. Nevertheless, a long-term investment programme is needed; our hope is that all institutions, from local government upwards, will realize this.
ANNA MARIA PATISSO
Representative of the Provincial Secretary for Sport & Tourism, Patrizia Bugnano – Province of Turin
The Province is strongly committed to promoting accessible tourism initiatives, as can be seen in provincial projects such as “Walks without Barriers” in Ivrea, the “Playing with the Senses” initiative in Ceresole Reale, the project “A Mountain for Everybody,” and last but not least, the provincial government’s fully accessible website. Generally speaking, much has been done, but there is still much left to do.
TIZIANA NASI
President of the Piedmont Section of the Italian Paralympic Committee
I would like to thank the CPD and Regione Piemonte for all that they are doing. The great leaps forward that have been made in accessible tourism can be seen in the sheer number of disabled athletes that we have hosted and continue to host. Just a few days ago it was Paralympic Day, which was celebrated with the participation of some five thousand school pupils. It is always wonderful sight to see non-disabled children helping their disabled companions while playing sport together. Many other sporting events have also been scheduled for disabled athletes; shortly, in fact, we will be hosting the European Ice Sledge Hockey championships.
If I call a hotel in Turin today, they tell me that all their rooms are accessible. This Royal Palace, which is accessible to all people, is another example of all that Piedmont is doing and intends to keep on doing.
GIULIANA MANICA
Regional Secretary for Tourism – Regione Piemonte
I welcome you all here on behalf the Regional President Ms Bresso, the regional government and the regional assembly. The Olympics and Paralympics launched Turin onto the national and international tourist stage. While before we only had business tourism, tied to trade conferences and fairs, today we also have recreational tourism. Before, Piedmont was considered little more than an industrial region, with little appeal. Today, all this has changed thanks to the investment that has been made into the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy. The Region is also outlining a strategic plan for tourism, with the assistance of Professor Martin Brackenbury of the University of Cambridge.
Today, Piedmont has become not only glamorous, but also friendly to all. The promotion of the local territory and the message we send to Italian and international visitors has increasingly been targeted at all people without distinction, as regards both short breaks and longer events.
In the field of equal opportunities, Melting Box will be launched in forthcoming days, representing the most important event this year for Italy. Our goal here is for this conference and fair to become a regular event, held every two years.
When it comes to the topics and fields that I have mentioned, Piedmont can truly be considered an authentic laboratory and test bed for social innovation. What we also want to affirm though is the wealth of tourist opportunities that abounds in our region, a wealth that is open to everybody. Hence the task that lies ahead of us is not just a social one but also a question of marketing. Working towards fully accessible tourism is an investment of strategic value. Our goal is to raise the tourism sector in Piedmont from its current 2% of regional GDP to 4%.
SESSION I: FROM AN INSTITUTIONAL POINT OF VIEW
PAOLA CASAGRANDE
Director General – Sector for the Co-ordination & Promotion of Tourism – Regione Piemonte
The project Turismabile, involving many people and organisations, is an emblematic example of regional policy, aimed at boosting the quality and excellence of the tourism sector and innovation. Piedmont must open its doors up wide to all visitors, and become fully accessible to everybody.
From the point of view of innovation, the project is innovative because it opens up a whole new approach, promoting itineraries and hence the creation of tourist packages that can be worked on and sold. Potential travellers with special needs represent a potential boost for regional GDP, as considering that many elderly people are disabled, we are talking about a potential additional turnover of 165 billion euros, and an extra 260 million people on the move each year. With the Olympics we saw that Turin really was up to the task of accommodating everybody. Now, with these twenty-five itineraries, we have a new occasion and opportunity to show the world that Piedmont’s masterpieces really are open to all people. This is also one of the objectives identified by the strategic regional plan for tourism.
What we have seen today is a first step. The intention of the regional secretary, Ms Manica, is to establish a standing committee on accessible tourism. For this to become a reality though, ongoing financial backing is needed, along with legislative changes. New ideas are needed, and barriers have to be broken down. We also need to invest in raising awareness of the limits of physical efficiency, which is what often brings accessibility and usability to be neglected. We intend to educate and train engineers and architects in this way.
DANIELA BAS
Journalist and Expert in Fundamental Human Rights
I would first like to thank those who have spoken so far, because they did not speak too quickly, as Italians so often do. This greatly helped the interpreters here from ENS, which is battling to have sign language recognised as the second official national language.
Paola Casagrande and Giuliana Manica both expressed my own thoughts, and that is, that this project is not about social welfare but about tourism – and tourism is an industry.
Today’s event is innovative compared to many others I have taken part in.
Invalid, normal, disabled and handicapped are all terms of common currency, however the United Nations and the European Union are pushing to change the language we use, so as to stress first and foremost the “person”, and only then his/her being “disabled.”
Many are the people around us with disabilities – not only those in wheelchairs, as there are visible and invisible disabilities (such as for people who are heart patients or in need of dialysis). Reduced mobility may even be a temporary phenomenon, as if I break a leg whilst skiing, I have to be given the opportunity to continue my holiday if I so wish. Along with tourists whose mobility is permanently impaired though, we also have coeliacs, senior citizens, the obese, and allergy sufferers. The concept of accessible is very different to usable; I might very well be able to enter a museum, but I also have to be able to make use of what is in there. The twenty-five Turismabile itineraries are not just accessible, but also usable down to every last detail.
FRANCO VITALE
Director General – Ministry for Economic Development
We need to stop seeing people with disabilities as “a problem.” For years now in other countries, awareness of the disabled is taken for granted.
In the past once, I tried to have a fund established to address issues relating to accessible tourism, though without success. It would seem that the times were still not ripe back then.
In this field though, the availability of ready, easy-to-understand information is indispensable. It is also one of the fundamental principles of the “Tourists’ Charter of Rights,” which I also worked on.
The problem is not about making adaptations afterwards, but suitably designing to guarantee accessibility in the first place. This obviously does not count for buildings such as the Coliseum or the Palace of Venaria, which simply have to be adapted.
An accessible and usable building need not necessarily be ugly. Usability is about good living – and tourism is a part of life. What is most important is a change in approach; education then comes later. First we need to make architects change their mentality and start designing buildings that are accessible and usable right from the very start.
ROBERT LANGELA
Director General – Belgian Ministry for Tourism
I am a founding member of an association that since 1983 has been committed to promoting accessible tourism in German-speaking communities in Belgium, which number some 70,000 people. At a certain point, we decided – together with the Flemish community – to develop a rating system for accessible tourism, to be used for hotels and other tourist facilities. In this way we wanted to provide precise and pertinent information, as well as a tool to help promote the sector.
And so we began by drawing up a road map. In 2001 national and international debate got underway to discuss and develop the rating system. The principles identified were that the rating system had to be recognisable throughout Belgium and abroad; and that the rating system had to give immediate primary information, indicating how a person could move about, with and without assistance. Any additional information desired could then be found in a database – talking about databases, between 2003 and 2004, seven different databases existed, though we have since unified them all. Before approving the final rating system, we decided to compare it to the system in use in Switzerland, where accessibility is rated over three levels. In this way, we arrived at the following rating system:
1) Grade A+ = usable without the need for assistance
2) Grade A = usable only with assistance
3) Grade I = not usable, book elsewhere
A fundamental criterion for every hotel is that there is direct access to the building via a ramp. Furthermore, the reception counter should not be too high. For all this to be possible though, it is indispensable that there is general acceptance of a barrier-free environment. In Belgium this began back at the beginning of the eighties. For us, a barrier-free environment is considered just as important as having an efficient fire alarm system. Of course, this does not mean that when you are staying in a hotel you want to feel like you are in a hospital.
Turning our sights from Belgium to Europe, at the time the Maastricht Treaty was signed, there was little interest in promoting accessible tourism. Later though, the advisory committee that I belong to was created. It was the European Commission that decided to create a working group on sustainable tourism, made up of 24 members, though it should be added that the group is not a centralised one, as the initiative did not come from Brussels but from the Committee of the Regions.
The first initiative of the Group was the Eden Project, which identifies tourist destinations of excellence to be promoted and published on the project’s web site. Localities wishing to be featured on the web site have to have met accessibility standards for at least two years. I do not know if Turin is already a part of this European circuit, though from today onwards it certainly will be.
Accessible tourism means opening the doors to everybody without distinction – something which will be important for our children, and our children’s children.
CARMEN DUARTE
Vice-president EASPD – European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disability
The EASPD provides services for people with disabilities, so as to ensure that assistance is distributed equally. Our mission is to provide information and build a network at the European level, though also to conduct research and studies into related issues. The organisation consists of four standing committees – on employment, education, enlargement, and policy impact.
Our objective is to achieve high-quality service levels and the suitable integration of people with disabilities into society.
Of the standing committees I mentioned before, the policy impact group is of particular importance as it seeks to give a greater political voice to people with disabilities at the European level (especially within the Council of Europe).
We also work to promote legislative change in favour of people with disabilities, by building direct, profitable relationships with European institutions, such as the Social Affairs Committee and all the committee bureaux of the European Union.
As regards communication campaigns, we regularly inform the public of the EASPD’s work by e-mail, Internet and through workshops. The latest development in the organisation has been the creation of a “Mental Health and Disability” committee. In addition to this, we have begun working with Handicap International to involve the Balkan nations in our projects.
We also organise many conferences, with the next event scheduled for 7th December, 2007, to mark and celebrate the EASPD’s seventh anniversary.
The EASPD has been busy in this European Year of Equal Opportunities for All, also because the United Nations and the European Union have approved important new documents concerning the rights of disabled people and their full inclusion in society.
As service providers we want to see the right to tourism and recreation extended to all people. This aspect of life was once largely neglected, and only work and education were spoken of.
In the past, only people of means could afford to travel; then this right was slowly extended to people who were less well-off, and finally today, also to people with special needs.
This conference today is a good practice to be followed, and a sign that the seeds that have been sown have begun to bear their fruit.
SESSION II – CONCRETE EXAMPLES OF ACCESSIBLE TOURISM & TURISMO PER TUTTI
ANGELO D’ALBANO
UIC – Unione Italiana Ciechi e Ipovedenti Onlus
When we speak of accessible tourism, we need to keep in mind sensorial and perceptive barriers, and not just architectural impediments.
REMO EDER
Vice-chairman of Federalberghi
Federalberghi is strongly committed to seeing accessible tourism develop to its full potential throughout the nation. Hence it was with great enthusiasm that we accepted the invitation to speak at this conference today. Usability cannot be achieved through one-off initiatives, but only through ongoing commitment. As a citizen, I would like to see greater space given to the participation of all people; as a hotelier, I see myself as a representative of a hospitality culture, and as such would like to see hotels open their doors to all people, so that everyone can feel at ease wherever they are. Much has been done in recent years, though we are still striving to improve and offer increasingly diversified services for different customer segments. The preparedness of hoteliers has also improved considerably.
The hospitality industry has a long tradition here in Italy. It may not be not easy to render old hotels in city centres accessible and usable, but it has to be done, in accordance with traditional Italian hospitality. New hotels are all compliant with standards; it is only a specific segment of our hotels which represent a problem.
That said, the financial and bureaucratic burden tied to breaking down architectural barriers also needs to be lightened. Some buildings cannot be touched because they are subject to heritage restrictions, but even in these cases, alternative solutions need to be found. Removing barriers is a sign of civilisation, and Italy, as a civilised nation, certainly cannot exclude itself from this.
Nevertheless, breaking down architectural barriers in itself is not enough; we also need to break down social and cultural barriers and promote a hospitality culture, as hospitality also means solidarity.
CARLO BORTOTT
FIAVET Chairman for Piedmont and the Aosta Valley – Federazione Italiana Associazioni Imprese di Viaggi e Turismo
I welcome you all on behalf of Fiavet. I would like to go straight to the heart of the problem and say that to make tourism truly accessible to all people, we need to raise the quality of the industry. The problem is that handicapped travellers are seen as too specific a sector. The same error can often be seen in tourism for the elderly – guides and assistants have not been trained for customers with special, age-related needs.
When it comes to transport the problem becomes even more serious, especially on transport means that are designed to move huge numbers of tourists. This sort of “natural selection” then ends up conditioning tour operators, who do not know how to cater for their disabled customers. Institutions higher up the ladder need to promote better education, while tour operators will have to get used to the idea of selling tourist packages designed for all people.
I too agree in saying that usability is of great importance – I have seen situations in which people could enter a museum, but then had to wait in the foyer until the others had finished their tours. The Internet is a powerful instrument, though at the same time it overloads us with information. This is why tour operators exist – to act as intermediaries and guarantee the quality of tourist packages.
Turin has a lot to offer, but it needs to learn to communicate and promote itself better. Though it must be said that good results were achieved with the Olympics.
ROBERTO VITALI
Chairman of Si Può Viaggiare
Si Può Viaggiare is a non-profit organisation which decided to work in the tourist sector because the tourist sector is renowned for being much more attentive to what the customer wants. The tourist industry was also the first sector to recognise disabled people as customers.
So what is the tourist market all about? Shopping and sight-seeing, though now the gourmet tourism sector has also become an important niche market.
In reality, there is no difference between people with special needs and people without – even tourists with special needs appreciate fine food, museums, natural wonders, and enjoy shopping.
Disabled people do not travel around looking for hotels with ramps. What they seek is cordiality and a willingness to help meet needs. A ramp is just a tool.
Exactly 80.9% of disabled tourists are in wheelchairs. Though if we look a little closer, a person in a wheelchair really has the same needs as a family with young children in strollers. Hence we need to learn to focus more on individual needs, as only in this way can we create an environment to accommodate all people, and open up the potential of a much wider market. For all this to happen though, a much more efficient education programme is needed.
Of the words disability, accessibility, and tourism, the most important is tourism. We need to take a Toyota–style “total quality” approach, where overall customer satisfaction is more important than the exact measurements of the bathroom. A bathroom for the disabled is not the answer to everything. In fact often the approach is much too hospital-like – just look at the toilet bowl; why does it have to be so big?
It is much better not to turn to consultants interested only in respecting the law to the letter and little else, and who ignore the importance of hospitality. We also need to stop talking about accessible tourism and instead talk about quality tourism, which expertly meets the needs of everyone. Our goal must go beyond attaining the National Health Service’s stamp of approval, and aim to build a new world which is truly open to all people. From today onwards, whenever somebody tells me that it is impossible, I will reply “Go and visit the Sacra di San Michele,” which positively struck me on yesterday’s tour.
Another thing is that we need to stop asking for funding for the removal of architectural barriers. When ordinary maintenance work needs to be done (such as repairs to the pavement), it should automatically be seen as an opportunity to remove the step that was previously there.
Disabled people are to all effects and purposes customers with rights and responsibilities. The best thing about the project Turismabile is that it is backed by a whole system, made up of the local territory, institutions, partner associations, and usable venues and facilities.
A last point that I would like to make, which is of no lesser importance, is that places that can host disabled people also have the facilities to employ disabled people.
MICHELE D’INNELLA
Editorial Director of Touring Club Italiano
I recently was the editor for our new guide to “Tourism without Barriers.” I second everything that was said by Roberto Vitali, and would add that there also exist other types of special needs, such as when travelling with pets.
Every guidebook ought to include a section on accessibility, so as to truly make publications “for all people.”
Even Ventaglio, Italy’s leading tour operator in the organisation of travel packages for all people, has published a special catalogue for its disabled customers.
The guidebook on accessible tourism is on sale alongside every other guidebook we publish, which is a way of saying that it was not an act of charity, but rather that we see it as a fully-fledged market on par with all the others.
I have seen remarkable improvements made in the tourist industry, even though many problems still remain unresolved. It would be nice to think that in the future, information on accessibility might be given on every individual sight and monument. The problem today is that the tourist industry still does not consider customers with special needs as real customers.
AVRIL ACCOLLA
Vice-president of European Institute for Design and Disability
George Bernard Shaw once said that “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” To this I would add that “Good design enables, bad design disables.”
The design process can produce results which are creative and functional, if a multidisciplinary, synergetic approach is taken which consults the user every step of the way.
Every person has his/her specificity and this must be respected. By accommodating for the highest number of people possible, not only are you doing a good thing, but you also obtain more money and more votes.
It must be remembered though that accessibility must already be taken into account in the design brief, that is to say, from the very start of the project. When Giugiaro was asked why he designed a non-accessible underground for Milan, he replied “Because nobody asked me to.”
Even an aid can be attractive. Laws governing accessibility requirements can also be a good help. By the year 2000 all of London’s taxis had to be accessible; the same will apply for taxis throughout the entire United Kingdom by 2012. Looking at a photo of such a taxi though, you will notice that London’s accessible taxis are exactly the same as all their other taxis!
There is another problem though, which I call “functionally accessible discrimination.” I have come across cinemas, for example, which were accessible but which placed disabled people on special “platforms” away from the rest of the audience. In this way, disabled people in the cinema were forced to remain separated from their friends and “ghettoized.” A cinema of this kind was without a doubt designed by an architect who considered disabled people a “problem,” “a pain in the neck.” The platforms were therefore a convenient solution to satisfy regulations and obtain a license to open. This way of thinking needs to be progressively phased out. People with special needs must no longer be considered an inconvenience, but rather an opportunity for creative new solutions to be found.
When Copenhagen’s underground was designed, a survey was then conducted asking people if they liked the new trains. The majority of passengers replied that they did, though a problem was highlighted with the central turning points of the carriages – as the floors were all grey, when the train turned and the central turning point moved, passengers risked falling over because they did not realise the floor was moving. To draw attention to the turning points, Giugiaro had a darker-coloured cross painted on the floors.
The underlying concept is that you always need to “respond” to whatever need is expressed. An example of this principle is again provided by Copenhagen’s underground. Windows were inserted into the ceilings of the carriages, so that when the train passed under open-air shafts, natural light would flood in from street level. This helped people who suffer from claustrophobia, who otherwise would not take the underground.
Making a city accessible means making it more attractive. In Barcelona, after a city redevelopment plan was implemented to remove its numerous architectural barriers, and a “Bars and Restaurants for All” guide was released, the number of visitors to the city rose by 22%.
After the address of Avril Accolla, Daniela Bas and Paolo Osiride Ferrero added the following comments.
Daniela Bas – Ms Accolla has shown us how tourist numbers inevitably grow when accessible facilities and transport are available, as there is greater usability for all people.
Paolo Osiride Ferrero - Turin’s accessible underground railway is very similar to Copenhagen’s, though there is still the problem that the button panels are too high. As concerns cinemas, here in Turin I have seen seating reserved for the disabled right up underneath the screen, though the situation is beginning to change.
SESSION III – PRESENTATION OF TURISMO PER TUTTI ITINERARIES IN PIEDMONT
DANIELA BAS
Journalist and Expert in Fundamental Human Rights
The 25 Turismabile itineraries in Piedmont constitute a complete tourism project. Each itinerary focuses on different sensations; what we are hoping to do is hold workshops in the future on the different itineraries together with tour operators.
In this conference today, we have talked about living life to the full, not about health assistance. We hope that marketable tourist packages can be built from the itineraries. Another idea is to launch a Turismo per Tutti trade fair within two years.
After the presentation of the itineraries, various tour operators and representatives of European associations spoke to tell about their experiences in the sector.
WOLFGANG GRABOWSKI
Grabo Tours Reisen - Germany
In 1978 we organised our first trip to Italy for the disabled, to San Felice Circeo. Back then, there was still little awareness of the issue, and Italy was rightly considered a “country of stairs.” We nevertheless managed to cope.
Right from the very start for us, people with disabilities were not seen as such, but rather as customers like everybody else, with the right to make certain demands for the money they spent.
On this occasion, I feel it is necessary to stress to travel agencies and their staff that the disabled are customers!
Grabo Tours Reisen has forty-eight travel packages designed specially for tourists with disabilities. This year we even organised a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. It really is a profitable market.
Turismabile is an important project. In the past, due to all the stairs, wheelchairs had to take the back entrance or otherwise be carried by hand. Luckily today there are ramps and specially adapted rooms.
We try to satisfy all the requests made of us. Next year, for example, one of our customers will be turning 85 and wants to go to Tibet! We then hope to organise many more trips to China after the Paralympics in 2008.
I have been coming to Italy for thirty years now, but this is my first trip to Turin. I will definitely be coming back to Piedmont with a group next year.
TONY BOVE
APF (Association Paralysées France) - France
APF is the second-largest association in Europe, after the Red Cross. We have been working in the sector since 1937, organising trips for all people, and giving many disabled people the chance to have fun and enjoy themselves, whereas once they were shut up in institutions and treated like sick people. Our target goes from the age of six to sixty. We organise trips from June to September to sixty different destinations. For every tour, we have three levels of speed and difficulty, to accommodate for all travellers.
We also offer “integration stays,” where one or two disabled people are placed in groups with non-disabled people, on language or sporting stays.
We at the APF were the first in France to introduce medical vacations for people with serious handicaps, where people are accompanied by nurses and doctors. We also introduced special trips for people with mental health problems.
Today, some 1500 people in France and a further 400 people abroad turn to us for help in organising their holidays. Furthermore, APF is a decentralised organisation, thanks to which we are present in every department throughout France. We also take care of our tour operators by arranging special winter trips for them.
As a more open mentality to accessible tourism has progressively spread, we came to realise that an increasing number of people with slight handicaps can easily travel on their own. For this reason, for some time now, we have chosen to dedicate our services to people with more serious forms of disabilities. We use a 1x1 formula for all out trips, which means one helper to every patient.
In 2007 we visited Venice and northern Italy’s lakes. In 2008 we plan to take tourist groups to Sardinia and probably to Piedmont. All we ask is suitable solutions for air travel, double rooms to accommodate helpers, and skilled guides.
Tours are open to a maximum of sixteen people per trip, while the trip itself lasts between 8 and 15 days.
DENISE HITCHEN
Heroes Project – United Kingdom
My organisation provides services which are renowned not only in Great Britain. Inclusion means satisfying the needs of people with physical and learning difficulties. I would very much like to bring “family groups” to Turin, by charter plane. The idea would be to bring three or four families, so twenty people in all, with children with special needs.
AMAR LATIF
Traveleyes – United Kingdom
People often ask me what it is like to be blind. I always respond that being blind is better than being bald or Asian.
Jokes aside, in 2005 we crossed the Central American jungle with a group of eleven people, including people without arms or legs, deaf people, blind people and people in wheelchairs. We were accompanied by a television crew who filmed the trip, which was then shown in Britain on BBC 2 and Discovery Channel.
This year we visited Florence, but soon we will be back here in Turin, because the city is fantastic.
We normally travel with mixed groups of visually-impaired and non-visually-impaired people, so the non-visually-impaired can explain to the others what they see. The problem is the language though. Our groups only speak English, but we would like to have speakers of other languages with us as well.
Paolo Osiride Ferrero closed the conference saying:
I would like to thank you all. We have heard some very good speakers today. It has been a long haul, though I truly hope that this conference will give a fresh impulse to the “accessible” in all fields, and in particular to accessible tourism. We need to stop thinking of the disabled as a weight to be borne. It has been shown, in fact, that disabled people working in the NHS are twice as productive... but let’s stop talking about the disabled and start talk about tourism instead.