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brought to their attention in order to build medium and long term plans and define strategies to create an accessible destination management.
ENAT is cooperating to define tourism improvement strategies and references to help national and regional tourist boards include accessible tourism in their long-term goals. At an international level, the long-lasting cooperation with UNWTO and the European Commission has brought many important results. Our collaboration with UNWTO Ethics Unit has enabled us to offer the Tourism Industry valuable manuals on Recommendations on Accessible Tourism and on Accessible Information in tourism, among other guidelines. Some best practices in accessible tourism were outlined in the brochure that the UNWTO launched in Bangkok, to celebrate the World Tourism Day 2016, where the main topic was Accessible Tourism.
What has been the biggest obstacle that ENAT has been faced? At the beginning we were just another organization dealing with Tourism for All. In any country, when some opinion leaders or stakeholders acknowledge that Tourism for All is an economic as well as ethical issue, they form an association which tries to be credited as“ the one” at national and mainly at an international level. Recognition of the goals of the Network as compared to many other similar organisations has been one of the biggest obstacles, even if, our concept since the beginning was, and still is now, that we do not need or want competition but cooperation, integration, working together. Through cooperation and the signature of Memoranda of Understanding at national and international level was one of the methods to overcome the initial challenges. Now we are working with a lot of public and private organisations, NGOs and associations for the rights of people with disabilities. This is the action line we are still following and it represents one of our top priorities in our strategic plan 2020- 2024.
If there was one thing ENAT could change globally, what would it be and why? To reach a global understanding of the real meaning of Tourism for All, increase general and personal awareness of diversity as wealth, and make every one of us understand that barriers and disabilities are just a state of mind.
In Conclusion When we started, we were confident that our ideas and concepts will lead to a different understanding of Tourism for All, of the customers and the environment. A lot was at stake: we struggled, we negotiated, we kept our confidence on a future being more inclusive for disability issues and, I am convinced, we won our bet … but we will not let our guard down. The final result has not yet been fully achieved.
email: enat @ accessibletourism. org website: www. accessibletourism. org