Interactive map for green tourism for people with disabilities

GreenTour project was motivated by the need to promote the social inclusion and better access of the people with disabilities to existing green tourism possibilities and foster environmental susta...

The main goal was to promote sustainability in the tourism sector by facilitating access to natural and cultural resources for people with disabilities. The aim was to motivate people with disabilities to lead active lives by engaging in green tourism, while also encouraging tourism service providers to create inclusive tourism offerings, thereby increasing their range of services. Furthermore, our objectives were: to promote social inclusion, to enable people with disabilities to plan and enjoy green touristic travels within a sustainable and environmentally friendly context, to encourage active participation related with a more active engagement within the green tourism context, to raise environmental awareness among tourists, to support and encourage tourism providers in terms of providing more green and accessible options while helping them to understand the importance and their benefit of doing that, to provide Educational Resources that can support stakeholders and VET providers.

The achievements of the project respected the initial objectives and activities: • the partnership has agreed on a strategy to approach the development of the digital platform – interactive map for green tourism for people with disabilities (IO1) - and have conducted research in their geographical areas and have identified heritage/ cultural landmarks and natural landmarks which may be representative for green tourism in those areas and which fulfill certain accessibility conditions for people with disabilities (IO1); • the partners have conducted 2 field researches in each partner country, by elaborating and applying a survey on a minimum 30 subjects/ country from each of the project’s target groups - namely people with disabilities and tourism providers (at least 60 people / country, at least 300 people in total) in order to identify barriers that people with disabilities face or perceive when undertaking tourism activities (IO2) and to identify the needs, obstacles and tendencies of tourism providers regarding the implementation of green policies and increasing accessibility measures (IO3); country reports and a summative report for each target group were elaborated; • on the basis of the summative reports, partners have elaborated the content of the Green Travel Manual for people with disabilities (IO2), of the Green Tourism Handbook for Tourist Providers (IO3), of the Manual for Mentors (IO4) and of the Green Tourism Booklet (IO5); • all the project results were piloted with either people with disabilities, tourism providers, coaches for tourism providers and experts on working with people with disabilities (depending on the target group they were destined to) and also video materials were created that were embedded in the digital platform, presenting samples of good practices of implementation of green policies and accessibility measures for people with disabilities. • the project activities and topic have gained a good visibility among the local and regional communities, but also at national and international levels, through the promotion and dissemination activities carried out by all partner organizations, both through the online (project's website/ platform and Facebook page, partner organizations' websites and social media accounts, online events) and face to face channels (workshops, conferences, round tables).

1 interactive map in English and each native language of Greek, Bulgarian, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian with green and accessible tourism destinations containing cultural and natural resources in Europe (specifically in Romania, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Cyprus) 1 travel manual in English and one for each native language of the Greek, Bulgarian, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian partners for people with disabilities containing advice on how to behave while traveling and make more sustainable and environmentally friendly choices 1 Manual in English and one for each native language of the Greek, Bulgarian, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian partners for tourism service providers with advice on making their tourism offer greener and more accessible 1 manual in English and one for each native language of the Greek, Bulgarian, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian partners for coaches and tutors to guide tourism service providers and their staff in working and approaching people with disabilities and clarifying how to use the results of the Green Tour project, especially the interactive map 1 booklet promoting green tourism in English and in each partner language: Greek, Italian, Spanish, Bulgarian, Romanian. 6 promotional leaflets of green tourism in all partner's languages, which explain its benefits through good practices and examples of use in a European context of the results of the Green tour project, also containing suggestions on how to offer accessible, green tourist experiences 5 Multiplier events held in each partner's countries. Over 25 dissemination events of the project in all partner countries. Search for 50 natural resources and 50 cultural resources for the interactive map, with photos, descriptions, coordinates, and required information in all partner countries. 12 videos with subtitles regarding cultural resources 12 video interviews to promote cultural resources 6 good practices for implementing green tourism 6 national report containing the results of the preparatory survey for the implementation of the PR3 Green Touristic Handbook for Tourism Providers.