Athena na cestách

The mountains of Šumava have welcomed the ATHENA project specialised in accessible tourism for all. At the workshop in Vimperk, whose major topics included accessible tourism and the role of non-profit organizations in tourism, the participants emphasized in particular the need to adapt tourism services to make them accessible for all. In Šumava, they have found several good examples of successful non-profit organizations focused on accessible tourism.The number of non-profit organizations starting their business in tourism is constantly rising. They especially target tourists with special needs. “The civil association Trianon - Čechy, uniting people with disabilities, is located near the Šumava National Park. That place has been predestined for tourism. And since we help disabled people, we have decided to connect these two scopes of activities. And that is how the idea of tourism for all in Šumava originated,” said Jiří Mánek, the manager of project Cestujeme bez bariér na Šumavě a v Bavorském lese (Accessible travelling in Šumava and Bavarian woods) from Trianon -  Čechy, a partner of the ATHENA project.

The project of Trianon - Čechy, however, is not the only campaign of accessible tourism in Šumava by far. Here, disabled people can take advantage of, for example, the project Dostupná Šumava (Accessible Šumava) backed by the Šumava National Park administration. “There is a constantly growing amount of people who have realised tourism should be accessible for all. Unfortunately, this is still not, which is why we have been trying to improve the situation. Our target group also includes seniors who account for a significant part of our society,” said Josef Lištvan from the civil association TRIANON Český Těšín pointing out the multitude of clients using accessible services.

The newly evolving Czech projects often draw inspiration from practices abroad. One of the successful non-profit organizations' projects has been the Witikohof Hotel in Austria established by the local charity ten years ago, based on the idea of creating a hotel accessible for all where disabled people might even find a job. “In 2006, ten other hotels joined Witikohof, forming thus an absolutely unique network employing, thanks to its technical equipment, more than 120 people with disabilities. And their success is immense. As early as November, they were already fully sold out for the whole year of 2010,” referred Josef Lištvan to such successful practices.

This example demonstrates that accessible tourism represents an opportunity for further development of non-profit organizations, i.e. they can provide services that would satisfy the visitors’ specific needs. They not only have all the necessary knowledge available, but also the equipment (aids). “People with disabilities choose their tourist facilities mainly on the basis of personal recommendation from friends and acquaintances. And that is the direction we need to focus our attention on. We have to create such an environment to make people satisfied so that they might then recommend the facility,” described Jiří Mánek how he sees the strategy of projects focused on accessible tourism.

The main objective of the project ATHENA that is financed from the European Social Fund by means of the Operational Programme Human Resources and Development, and from the state budget of the Czech Republic, is to support the development of human resources and employment in the sphere of accessible tourism in the Czech Republic applying the experience and inspiration from other EU-member countries. Its activities focus mainly on the increase of awareness and understanding of this issue by employers in the tourist industry, bodies of state administration, educational institutions as well as by the disabled persons, non-profit organizations associating with or employing such persons, and by the general public. The project which ends in May 2011 is being realized mainly in the Moravian-Silesian Region, Hradec Kralove Region, South Bohemian Region and the capital city Prague.

More Information:
Ing. Jarmila Šagátová                               
Project Manager                               
Phone: 558 335 479                                          
E-mail: kazuist@kazuist.cz