One of the main reasons for travelling to any destination is to enjoy the activities offered therein.
Many initiatives could be included in the category of activities. These range from outdoor activities, including natural areas, beaches, guided tours, zoos, amusement parks, and sports activities, to indoor sites such as museums, monuments, planetariums, sports stadiums, conference halls, concerts, religious sites, palaces and other cultural heritage sites.
Disability is not a barrier for feeling the sand under your feet, enjoying the peace and quiet of parks, and getting to know new cultures through exhibitions or monuments. That means any person’s participation in this kind of activities is solely dependent on its degree of accessibility.
When considering accessibility in this type of activities, a management methodology must be devised to make it possible for persons with disabilities to not only access sites, but also to interact and enjoy the content in a comfortable and dignified manner and under the same conditions as other people.
Best practices at beaches, museums, parks or any other tourism-related activity must include specific elements enabling access to the content of the activity itself, both for people with physical disabilities and for people with sensory and cognitive disabilities.
This has been the major challenge facing cultural institutions in recent years. Once the vision of architectural barriers has been overcome, activity management has to work on a way to overcome sensory, cognitive and attitudinal barriers.
There are currently different methods to achieve this goal and enable activities to be enjoyed by people in the most independent, self-sufficient way possible. All of them must include accessibility elements at all stages, including planning, promotion, user registration, and information about facilities, and personal customer service for users before, during and after the visit.
*From The Manual on Accessible Tourism for All
