Toni Pérez underlines Benidorm's goal of being "an absolutely global destination" at the opening of the II Training Conference on Accessible Tourism

The Torrejó Municipal Center hosted today the first day of the II Training Action 'Municipal commitment to Accessible Tourism', which is taught by the State Representative Platform for People with Physical Disabilities (Predif) in the Valencian Community in collaboration with the Benidorm City Council.

The training action is aimed at professionals in the tourism sector in public administration and local companies, as well as tourism students. Among its objectives are to raise awareness, inform and train them to improve care for people with disabilities, publicize the economic and social advantages that Accessible Tourism offers the sector and value the needs that must be covered to achieve full integration of people with disabilities in the use and enjoyment of tourist infrastructures and services.

Likewise, the course aims to develop knowledge, attitudes and skills that facilitate the reception of people with disabilities in the destination, guide on the behavioural guidelines that professionals must follow when offering their services to a tourist with disabilities and make known the accessibility management systems that exist in the market, applicable to establishments and destinations.
The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, has inaugurated the Conference and in his speech has highlighted that its development and its contents "say a lot about the vocation of Benidorm destination to deepen, make reality and materialize the regulations to become a destination absolutely global”.
In this sense, the mayor recalled when Benidorm began the path to obtain the DTI certification and they found that, of all the assessable main points, the city obtained the worst score in terms of accessibility. "It's not that we were worse off than our competitors, but that the demand was very high." “And it must be like this” Pérez continued, “because only from that demand do we come out better as a destination, as a city and as a society. It was at that moment that we began to promote accessibility actions hand in hand with Predif”.

The mayor thanked those present for their participation because, in his opinion, "beyond the personal vocation and the decision of your company, being here represents an implication of everything that lies behind each one."

Lastly, Pérez stressed that the main objective is "that the destination is as accessible as possible in all areas, also reaching the sensory and cognitive aspects".

The course, which is taught by Predif professionals with more than ten years of experience in the field of accessibility and accessible tourism, consists of nine hours of training divided into two days.

Today's conference addressed issues such as universal accessibility and mandatory regulations, the concept and strategy of accessible tourism and the accessible tourism platform 'TUR4All'. The day ended with a table on the experience of users with accessibility needs.

In the morning session, disability and Customer Service with accessibility needs will be analyzed and a practical workshop will be held based on a 'role play' with the activity 'put yourself in my place.