The serious episode of Genoa, with a group of 27 disabled children and their companions forced to return to Milan by bus because the tourists had occupied the carriage of the regional train reserved for them, has rekindled attention to the difficulties to which people with disabilities they are exposed in their movements. Even when they travel in their free time. To improve the reception system, the Ministry of Tourism and that of Disabilities have presented an inter-ministerial decree with the modalities of access and use to the fund provided for by the Budget Law, and intended for the implementation of interventions for accessibility to the tourist offer of people with disabilities. The budget is six million euros for each of the years 2022, 2023 and 2024. The resources will be used to finance the interventions to obtain the certifications of accessible tourism for all.
Garavaglia: an added value for the tourism system
“Genoa was a bad episode – said the Minister of Tourism Massimo Garavaglia -, here we return in my opinion on the subject of education and respect which alas is a bit lacking. We have to start again from the family ». For the minister, the measure, “in supporting all business structures that decide to invest in adapting their structures in favor of tourists with special needs, will also produce a significant added value to the national tourism system, favoring diversification, penetration capacity and therefore the opportunity to tap into a significantly larger potential pool. It is therefore a measure that will favor an increase in the gross domestic product both for the investments that will be implemented by the operators in the sector and for the related effects in terms of increasing the level of tourist demand that they will be able to produce already in the immediate”.
Stefani: a portal of accessible structures
“With this provision – underlines the Minister for Disabilities Erika Stefani – we have set up a system to ensure that there is a portal where accessible structures are also traceable, to draw the overview of a country that creates a real tourist offer, because it provides services for everyone. On the one hand, therefore, we identify the criteria for evaluating which structures are accessible and which are not, on the other we also create a well-defined tourist offer ».
The recipients
The hotels, non-hotel establishments, spas and bathing establishments and «structures aimed at carrying out sporting activities of greater interest for tourist use, public or private, open to the daily public – will be able to access the resources.
Resources
Bathing establishments and spas will be able to obtain up to 20% of the resources necessary for the interventions, hotel structures up to 35%. For the other beneficiaries there are no limitations.