Nicolás Raffo Menoni
Montevideo's tourism strategy in terms of accessibility
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Nicolás Raffo Menoni
Montevideo's tourism strategy in terms of accessibility
It is not news that Montevideo is trying to be certified as a Smart Tourist Destination (STD), a strategy that implies ordering actions and planning in 5 main axes, where Accessibility is one of them together with Innovation, Technology, Sustainability and Governance as the head or brain of the whole operation.
Talking about accessibility in Montevideo implies highlighting that since the 90's the city has been implementing actions that seek to improve the inclusion of all people.
Thinking first in the citizenship, which undoubtedly has repercussions on the tourists who visit the city.
Accessible and inclusive tourism is always mentioned as an opportunity for those who can channel it and develop it correctly, and that implies working on it and looking ahead.
It is not possible to think of an STD if there are people who are left out of the actions to be implemented. In this sense, working on accessibility becomes fundamental for a city that has close to 300 thousand people with some kind of disability out of a total of 1,325,000 people estimated to live in Montevideo today.
Accessibility is also part of the social dimension of the sustainability axis, so we will not be able to develop this strategic axis if this reality is omitted.
Linking the issue with the other axes of the strategy, it is possible and essential to innovate today and to rely on the exponential advances that have been taking place in the technological field and in the development of the so-called Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is an opportunity that cannot be missed.
In this scenario, the governance axis also acquires special relevance, to lead, coordinate and implement all the actions that link the axes together.
We handle the so-called “5 Cs” (in Spanish) of Accessible Tourism, which imply:
Conviction to act.
Cooperation to generate winning synergies of work and to be able to coordinate actions with many essential actors of the accessibility chain.
Awareness to be able to add more people who want to generate and accompany the change we need as a society.
Training in the understanding that in order to be able to act we must know what we are talking about and what we need.
Communication of the actions in the necessary formats, media and channels.
Thus, Montevideo follows actions that are sustained at a national level and that imply the recognition of international agreements on the rights of persons with disabilities and with its own legislation and regulations that complement and support such actions.
We can mention by way of example Law 18.651 of 2010 that establishes the comprehensive protection of persons with disabilities and various regulations that apply at national and departmental level.
Already more recent in time we also have the 1st Accessibility Plan of Montevideo dating from 2017 and which is a diagnosis and radiography of disability at the departmental level and where guiding actions to be implemented are established.
Undoubtedly it is a slow road and in which there are always things to be done but neither can we ignore the progress that has been made.
Taking this strategy down to the level of tourism, an improvement in accessibility should mean an integral experience that encompasses the entire accessibility chain of the destination.
This implies being able to generate experiences that encompass all the sectors involved in the activity, such as transportation, lodging, gastronomy, leisure, security, marketing, communication, etc.
The chain concept implies that the strength of this chain will lie in its weakest link and that in any of the contacts or links with the destination where a person experiences a failure, we will no longer be able to speak of an integral experience and that person will experience it as a bad experience.
That is why it is essential and fundamental to generate synergies at the level of the entire chain and link efforts among all the actors to generate awareness first and establish joint actions that can materialize in a competitive advantage at the destination level.
Along these lines, Montevideo has been implementing actions with this goal in mind, summarized as follows:
Planning and implementation of concrete actions at the accessibility axis level.
Consultations with the city's Council for the participation of people with disabilities.
Improvements in the accessibility of the city's official website, which is www.descubrimontevideo.uy.
Generation of the first guide of accessible services and offers in the city.
Surveys of available accessible hotels.
Survey of hospitals in the city.
Survey of suppliers of accessible support products.
Generation of the first accessible circuit in the city that involves
Generation of the first accessible circuit in the city, which implies the summoning of the city's supply actors, training in knowledge and implementation of accessibility, purchase of support materials and intervention in specific areas of the city.
User testing of the proposed circuit.
Inclusive and accessible training courses for citizens and operators of the city with proposals that all address the issue of accessible tourism. There are currently 4 virtual and asynchronous courses that are periodically dictated on the platform of the Training and Studies Center of the Municipality of Montevideo and that address topics ranging from “Introduction to Tourism”, “Host and Tourism”, “Sustainability and Tourism” and “Accessible Tourism with a Human Rights perspective” in which thousands of citizens have participated.
Training of the staff of the Tourism Division of the Municipality of Montevideo.
Regulations that guarantee 100% of the replacement of the city's public transportation fleet going forward, with the mandatory incorporation of accessible units for all new units that join the capital's service.
Active participation in the National Accessible Tourism Board convened by the Ministry of Tourism of Uruguay.
Joint work with the Secretariat of Disability of the Municipality of Montevideo.
And many more actions planned and in the process of implementation.
Undoubtedly, all these actions involve the work of many people, putting the issue of accessibility and inclusion on the city's agenda and, above all, ensuring that the citizens themselves are the ones who can become aware and take part in the action of change that we want to generate, in the understanding that if this task is not achieved, we are convinced that it is not possible to change the situation in an optimal way.
There are many challenges ahead, such as being able to count on more resources, which are always scarce in material, economic and human terms, and which directly threaten more actions to be implemented.
A permanent review, feedback and evaluation of the actions becomes crucial to be able to see how we are doing, where we have to continue and what things need to be changed.
In closing, we would like to comment that our city intends to be a reference at local and regional level in terms of accessibility and for that it is necessary to work internally, cooperate and also be aware of what is happening in the environment in order to implement best practices that will benefit everyone.
The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts contained in this document and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of Tourism and Society Think Tank and do not commit the Organization, and should not be attributed to TSTT or its members.
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