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Annagrazia Laura, ENAT President
As President of ENAT, share with us some of your history with this organisation I was elected in June 2013, during the Annual General Assembly which was held in Avila, within the IV International Congress Tourism for All, jointly organised by ENAT and ONCE Foundation. My election was sponsored by the representative of one of our founding members, the Austrian organization, IBFT, Ms. Angelika Laburda, and I am proud to say that, when she retired from her professional life, she has been asked to remain on the board of directors as an Honorary Member.
My term, as for any other member of the Board, is four years and my second one will come to an end in June 2021. The Statute doesn’ t put any limit to being re-elected. The decision is on me, on the strength I will have to guide the Network for another term as well as the need to give space to someone else, to be open to new ideas and new challenges.
When I was elected, I focused on two main objectives:“ Consolidation” and“ Development”. After 5 years since the creation of ENAT, we had acquired a wide recognition and our aims and strategies are well appraised at international level. We will have to work hard to maintain our position as a recognised reference point for tourism organisations, national, regional and local authorities and other networks with similar aims and strategies. Our opinion, advice and support has to be present in every situation when issues dealing with accessible tourism are brought up for important decisions on policies, promotion and product design.
We have recently decided to make greater efforts to engage with key organisations and decision centres, making our voice heard and representing our stakeholders at all levels. I am proud to say that our positioning now is following that roadmap and that ENAT is regarded as a primary organisation for Tourism for All by the UN World Tourism Organisation, many Tourist Authorities, public and private bodies, by tourism businesses and end users.
I am convinced, however, that these accomplishments shouldn’ t be credited to my presidency as such. In ENAT we are all used to seeing ourselves as a team, to cooperate and to count on each other, to make joint efforts to reach the goals we set and to share successful results.
Are all European nations represented at ENAT? We have full and associated members in the majority of EU member states and in