ETHICAL/ Accessible World of Travel

You may have taken a few trips with your disability, and now you’re up for taking a trip to Europe. How difficult will it be? Where can you find accessible hotels? Are the tourist attractions wheelchair accessible? Are the busses, trains, and taxis accessible? There are several issues to consider before taking your first disabled trip to Europe. Perhaps the most important is deciding on a destination. If you have a disability, your best options for a first trip to Europe are London or Ber...

Avila, a Spanish city known for its medieval walls, won the first-ever European award for improving access for people with disabilities. The European Commission awarded Avila in December the Access City Award 2011. The annual honour aims to award efforts to improve accessibility in the urban environment and to foster equal participation of people with disabilities. The Commission praised Avila’s plan, developed since 2002, to improve accessibility to public buildings and to give incenti...

Tourism New Zealand, which markets NZ to the world, continues to ignore the older market. At least, that is what it seems like on looking at the three videos being used in their latest marketing campaign (“100% Pure You”) in Australia. The videos feature three young women, a young couple, and a young father with his son. Not a silver hair in sight. This in spite of the fact that according to the research figures of Access Tourism New Zealand, almost 50% of visitors in and to New Zeal...

European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding told MEPs at the beginning of January that she will present a proposal for a 'European Accessibility Act' before the end of 2012. This new legislation is seen by the Commission as a key element of the European Disability Strategy, which was unveiled last year. The EU executive is getting ready to launch a major study that will identify and analyse the barriers which prevent people with disabilities from making full use of public buildings, trans...