Tourist establishments in Ayamonte, Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António, the municipalities that make up the Eurocity of Guadiana, are receiving free advice on universal accessibility, in order to become more “friends” for people with reduced mobility.
In Spain, this action has already started this week and is in charge of PREDIF – Representative Platform of the State of People with Physical Disabilities. This is followed by Castro Marim and VRSA, with Accessible Portugal taking on the responsibility of «individually assessing and certifying the accessibility of each of the establishments or tourist resources of the Eurocity of Guadiana, such as restaurants, hotels, spaces and public buildings», according to Eurocity of the Guadiana.
This is another step taken by this entity «towards its consolidation as an accessible tourist destination. The entity comprising the municipalities of Ayamonte, Castro Marim and Vila Real de Santo António, intends to become not only a reference cross-border tourist destination, but also a territory where its attractions can also be enjoyed by people with disabilities ».
Of the more than seventy units in Ayamonte registered on the Tur4all Platform, «tourist establishments such as the Playa Canela and Playa Marina hotels, bars such as Vinos y Vinilos, Meraki or Hole in One and public buildings such as the Casa Grande Cultural Center or the Municipal market".
«In the coming days, a PREDIF specialized technician will continue to visit establishments that have shown interest in being part of this project, receiving, in addition to free assessment and advice, support in the dissemination of their services through the TUR4All platform, known as the “Tripadvisor of accessibility”, according to the Eurocity.
For Remedios Sánchez, Councilor for Education, Culture and Cross-border Cooperation of Ayamonte, «improving the accessibility of our buildings and tourist establishments is, in addition to a social responsibility, an important business opportunity».
«This project will allow us to advise, certify and promote Eurocity tourist services so that they can increase their sales. This support is being provided free of charge to establishments, which means a boost in a time as difficult as the present one”, he concluded.
The "meticulous" assessment work is both at an architectural level, "measuring the unevenness of the ramps, the width of the doors, the height of tables or chairs", and at the level of services, checking whether, for example, they have high chairs for babies or if your staff are fluent in sign language. It is intended that tourists with special needs have, before arriving at their destination, the real perception of what they will find to make their trip independently».
This action is part of the EuroGuadiana 2020 project, co-financed with ERDF funds from the European Union through the Interreg VA Spain-Portugal Program (POCTEP).
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