Author: Pataki Veronika

We are very proud and we think it is a great opportunity for hundreds of people flying from all over the world to read about the accessibility of tourism in the Visegrad countries!

Universal Air’s Winter 2024-2025 in-flight magazine features the Hidden City Tor-Tour in the three cities of the project. Universal Air’s beautiful in-flight magazine will inform readers that in Pécs, Poznan and Vrchlabi accessible tourism facilities are available for people with disabilities, elderly people, families with young children and anyone else who is more comfortable.

Our advertisement in the magazine aims to promote the Hidden City Tor tour as a best practice and a unique opportunity for accessible tourism. As part of our “Walk in Our Shoes” project, supported by the Visegrad Fund, the Hungarian People First Association promoted the Hidden City Tor-Tour to its Polish and Czech partners through training and study tours. Currently, the tour is being implemented not only in Pécs, but also in Poznan and Vrchlabi, and we have also raised awareness of the tour among the flying public.

The monitoring phase of our project supported by the Visegrad Fund is now underway. This means that what the Hungarian People First Association was able to pass on from the “Hidden City” sensitisation walk has been passed on to the Polish and Czech partners. Now it is the turn of Sowelo and EYCB to use in their own cities what they have learned and seen. Develop and pilot their own Hidden City tours, organise a network of partners, build relationships, make contracts, in other words, think further about how the project could work well in their city and country.

Sowelo is planning another Hidden City sensitisation walk in Poznan/Poland at the end of November 2024. The concept is similar, but an informal group of young people will be involved in the organisation. They will also be the target group of the current walk.

EYCB in the Czech Republic wants to include the Advent period in a new Hidden City walk. In early December, a special walk for primary school children aged 10-14 will be organised at the Advent Fair. The Hidden City will therefore be more playful this time, with quizzes and sensory education.

We are excited to announce the next Hidden City Walks, so if you can, join us! We also welcome photo/video reports.

The Czech partner will inform a Turkish partner team about the project and the interactive opportunities offered by the Platform.

Dear participants, 

thank you very much for attending more than 40 people from many countries at the final conference of our “Walk in our shoes inclusive city adventure” project on 27. September 2024. We hope it was useful and interesting for you. And we hope even more that you will join the project here on this Platform and together we will further develop accessible tourism.
Most of the Platform menus are accessible without logging in. However, to interact you must register to access the Forum and the Training Material sections. If you have any questions about registration, please contact us here: info@peoplefist.hu

Please read a brief summary of the final conference.
We uploaded it in several ways to make it available to everyone (jpg, pdf, docx)

PPTs presented at the conference can be found in the Training Material menu.

PDF: Conference summary

Doc: Conference summary

The Hungarian People First Association has an ongoing good relationship with the local university. We have already held several Hidden City sensitisation walks for students, or for delegations visiting the university, which are always a great success with them.

Students are always enthusiastic, ask questions, try out the wheelchair, tap the white cane, fooling, having fun…..while they don’t even realise how much they are learning. That’s why the Hidden City Tor-Tour is in Pécs!

This time we held a tour for students of the Marketing and Tourism Institute of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Pécs on 26. September 2024. The day before, we gave a presentation about our  Barrier-free Pécs database  at the course on Accessible Tourism. The next day, we were taken on a Hidden City Tor-Tour through the city centre.

We are always happy to welcome students, we love to work with them! 🙂

We will hold an exciting online conference on 27. September from 10.00-12.00 on the results so far. 

You can find out what is accessible tourism, why is it so important for the near future.
Of course, we will talk about our unique social-sensitizing city walk, which is a novelty in tourism and a business opportunity.
You can hear from disabled travelers about their own experiences.
And you will also hear about how you can get involved in this segment of tourism with us.
Of course you can ask questions, comment, we will answer everything. 

Our conference is free, but registration is required. Please register using this simple form: https://forms.gle/HqiaqwkNgEij9rza9

Invite your acquaintances too, because we are presenting a really unique topic and project. We are looking forward to the participation of tourism professionals, local government workers, representatives of disabled people’s organizations and anyone else who is interested in the topic. 

Let us show you the Conference Program, we are sure you will like it:

CONFERENCE PROGRAM.docx

The Hidden City Tor Tour project, supported by the International Visegrad Fund, has reached an important stage.

Let’s see what’s happened so far.
The city sensitisation walk developed by the Hungarian People First Association will be shared in this project as a best practice with the Polish and Czech partners. First of all, the Hungarian partner developed online training material and prepared the partners to develop their own Hidden City walk methodology. On this basis, the Czech EYCB and the Polish Fundacija Sowelo have organised study tours to show how they imagine their own Hidden City sensitisation project in their city.

After the presentation in Pécs in mid-May 2024, we visited Poznan in Poland on 15-17 July and Vrchlabi in the Czech Republic on 19-21 August to see together how the partners have developed their variations.

The most interesting thing to note about this project is that the Hidden City is taking place in three three completely different cities. The different opportunities, the different approaches result in slightly different Hidden City projects. And that’s fine, that was the goal. To pass on something that already works well and is popular in Hungary, so that we can learn from each other and take each other further along this path.
Our main goal is to develop accessible tourism in a specific way in all three countries. Not just talk about the importance of accessible tourism, but show it, try it!

Pécs is a very old city, a typical Mediterranean tourist town in the south of Hungary. Built on a hillside with narrow streets, so it is difficult to make it barrier-free, but we still find a way. The Hidden City Tour is therefore called the Tor-Tour here, and it’s important for us to show a positive, fun attitude.

Poznań is a much bigger city than Pécs, it would be difficult to do a circle walk of the city centre with a Hidden City Tor Tour, you have to choose your route carefully. However, that is why it is worth offering several route options here. There are accessibility challenges in this beautiful and touristically very popular city, so it is worth involving the city administration and working together on these in the near future.

Vrchlabi is a small mountain town in a unique geological setting, which is definitely worth incorporating into a Hidden City project. You could even organise a special variation of accessible tours, as the local national park management seems to be interested. The small town offers a new experience with new features, and there is plenty more to bring to the attention of decision-makers and the public.

The next important step in our joint V4 project “Walk in our shoes” will be a final conference in the near future, where we will talk about the importance of accessible tourism, present the results of the project and broaden the partnership, which we welcome all those who wish to join through our interactive Platform.
If you would like to participate in the online small conference to close the project and you speak English, you can already let us know, we look forward to welcoming you! Find the three partners in Hungary, Poland or the Czech Republic. You can also apply here: info@peoplefirst.hu

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