What is this?
It is an interactive Platform that offers an opportunity for discussion, ideas and sharing of good practices on accessible tourism.
The platform is also an opportunity to open up the initial “Walk in our shoes” Hungarian-Polish-Czech project, supported by the International Visegrad Fund, to other future actors. It aims to develop barrier-free tourism and to raise social awareness on a broad scale beyond national borders.
The project has a lot of potential, finding new areas and new partners. This V4 partnership provides an opportunity for further reflection and innovation. We want to involve as many future partner cities as possible, where we can develop accessible tourism through joint thinking.
Why we need it?
Lack of accessibility currently makes life difficult for many social groups. There is hardly a topic where the target group is so broad: not only disabled people are affected, but also the elderly, families with small children, people with temporary disabilities and everyone who is more comfortable living without barriers.
Raising awareness of the need for accessibility can be frontal and forceful, but it doesn’t lead to much. We achieve much more through playful, experiential experiences. The Hungarian People First Association has developed a Best Practice for this and shared its experiences and results with its Czech and Polish partners. This is the Hidden City Tor-Tour.
Within accessibility, accessible tourism is a key area for development in the V4 countries. Tourism operators have not yet recognised that accessible tourism itself is an excellent business opportunity that they should exploit. Our aim is not to put pressure on tourism operators (neither tourists nor tourism service providers), but to show the need for and the benefits of accessibility.
.
Who we are?
We are three partners in a V4 cooperation to make the world a more barrier-free place. 🙂
The Hungarian People First Association is the coordinator of the project and the creator of the Best Practice on which the cooperation is based. Partners are the Sowelo Foundation in Poland and the European Youth Centre Břeclav in the Czech Republic.
Read more about us here.
What is our goal?
Society needs to be sensitised. People can only understand the problem if they can feel it. This means that we need to make people feel and understand that social inclusion is everyone’s business. Society is enriched with each active member.
Accessibility is at the core element of Independent Living. This means that a disabled/elderly person is able to participate actively in society.
We have noticed that people are willing and happy to help. However, there is an inconceivable lack of information in society about accessibility and the needs of disadvantaged groups.
Legislation and regulations on the need for accessibility are very important. But because they are mandatory and because there is no proper control over their implementation, they are not fully enforced. Much more effective is the kind of playful, fun, self-experience-based form of social sensitisation that our project offers as best practice.
As this is good practice in Hungary, we would like to spread the idea. We want to create a sustainable network.
Want to know more?
Click on these links to read a bit more about the “Walk in our shoes” Visegrad Fund project, which is the basis of the collaboration.
And learn about the Hungarian People First Association’s best practice, the Hidden City Tor-Tour.
“Walk in Our Shoes”, international V4 project – People First