This project is already advancing towards the creation of accessible tourism products based on greenways.

With the knowledge of the real offer of accessible tourism in the two pilot territories on which this project is focused – Vía Verde de la Sierra. Cadiz-Seville and Ecopista do Dao Viseu Dao Lafoes region. Portugal –, after the initial few months the project is already in the creation phase of an accessible tourist product based on greenways.

 

Some data. For the Vía Verde de la Sierra greenway, 134 resources were analysed by telephone, 69 of them being eligible for auditing in terms of accessibility by complying with the minimum criteria. Once all of them were analysed, 43 of them were found to be accessible or usable.

This means that 31% of the resources and tourist companies of the municipalities which this greenway passes through are potential candidates for accessible greenway-based products. See the accessible offer in Vía Verde de la Sierra>>

In the case of the Ecopista do Dao greenway (Portugal), 29 resources and companies were found to be accessible or usable (25%). See accessible offer in Ecopista do Dao>>

 

• Visiting the companies and the accessible tourist resources

The 3 SMEs taking part in this project, Accessible Madrid, Turismo Vivencial and AstroAndalus, together with the partners in the territories, visited the companies and the accessible tourist resources of the pilot territories during March 2017.

 

• Trainning Course

Along with this action, a specific course on “Dealing with customers with disabilities and diverse needs” was held in Olvera (Cádiz), given by PREDIF on March 9, 2017, in collaboration with Fundación Vía Verde de la Sierra and Fundación de los Ferrocarriles Españoles (FFE). See more>>. Another course of similar characteristics took place in Viseu, Portugal on April 5, 2017, delivered by Accessible Portugal in collaboration with CIM Dao Lafoes and FFE. See more>> 

In addition to raising awareness of the importance of accessible tourism on greenways, the aim of these training actions is to help staff working in physically accessible establishments to improve the service they give to customers with special needs. As a complement to this action, a survey of training needs in the area of accessible tourism for both territories was carried out. View survey>> 

 

• Creation and marketing of a tourism product

The project partners are already working on the design and creation of tourist products and including in their tourist packages all the details of the specific offers selected by these travel agencies and tour operators. This work phase is scheduled to be completed in June and a total of 7 products are expected to be created in the two territories.

Once the tourist packages are ready, they will be integrated into the tourist marketing channels of these 3 travel agencies, and uploaded onto specialized portals and platforms such as www.viasverdesaccesibles.es, www.spain.info, www.viasverdes.com, www.greenways4all.org, Tur4ALL app for Spain and Portugal, www.pantou.org and on the websites of the territory´s partners.