T-‐GuIDE Newsletter Issue 2 Summer 2014 Contact Us Mainstreaming Accessible Tourism T-‐GuiDE c/o ENAT Secretariat Jean Moreas 66 15231 Halandri, Greece Tel. (0030) 210 6148380 Email: info@t-‐guide.eu Welcome to the second Newsletter of the T-‐GuIDE project, an innovative project in professional tourist guide training developed by a partnership of nine organisations within the framework of the European Union’s Lifelong Learning Programme, ”Leonardo Da Vinci”. The significance of the project in delivering a specialist EU Training Model and Manual for Tourist Guides guiding people who have learning difficulties or other intellectual disabilities, is heightened in the light of the recent announcement of the EU Commission of its intention to mainstream accessibility across EU's future tourism policies. As declared by Mr Pedro Ortún, Director for Service Industries, DG Enterprise and Industry, speaking at the EU Tourism Stakeholders' Conference "Mind the Accessibility Gap", 6th June 2014 at Brussels: Website: www.t-‐guide.eu “The 'Key Enabling Themes' (KETS) for the future of European Tourism include accessibility, as a permanent element, tourism as a vehicle for creating jobs, for better quality, for new services, for innovation, sustainability, for responsibility." T-‐GuiDE Newsletter – Summer 2014 "Mainstreaming accessibility means that access for all citizens has to be integrated in all our tourism activities at every level" Mr. Ortún concluded. The conference presentations can be viewed and downloaded from the ENAT website: http://www.accessibletourism.org/?i=enat.en.presentations.1578 1 Promoting professional development and quality of service Founded in 1986 in Paris, the T-‐Guide partner Federation of European Tourist Guides Associations (FEG) represents today more than 60.000 qualified tourist guides across Europe, working to improve the quality of service offered to all visitors in Europe. ü It is best placed to speak for tourist guides on issues such as equivalence of professional qualifications, standards in tourist guiding and tourist guide training and to establish common criteria in all areas of tourist guiding. What is tourist guiding about? Tourist guides are a bunch of similar, yet so different professionals. Training and legislation on tourist guiding may differ from place to place, as we have an area-‐specific qualification. But we all have the same mission: All the time and by all means available, to share our knowledge of our towns, our regions and our countries, in which we are qualified to guide in, to provide a warm welcome to visitors and to interpret our cultural and natural heritage. § What is the role of FEG in Europe? FEG is the professional tourist guides’ voice in Europe. Currently there are 23 members representing national tourist guide federations or associations. ü It brings together tourist associations for mutual benefit. guide ü It provides expertise where needed to ensure that the Tourist Guide’s role, profession and training is understood and promoted. 2 ü It is able to help the industry and consumers to have a greater understanding of what they can expect of a professional tourist guide in each part of Europe and to support networking through its European meetings, seminars and website. § Is there a need for continuing professional development (CPD) for tourist guides? Tourist guiding is a profession for which CPD is absolutely essential, in order to keep our knowledge up-‐to-‐date and to continuously develop and improve our practical skills. According to the FEG Quality Charter, our professionalism is assured through established standards and best practice recommendations covering, among other fields, CPD, as we constantly seek to improve our professional performance by following further training courses and field trips and re-‐assessing our skills wherever possible. § Are there any standards in tourist guide training? FEG actively supports established standards, such as the European Norm EN15565:2008, which includes the necessary modules for the minimum training for tourist guides in Europe. This document provides the requirements and recommendations on subjects like: competencies, theoretical knowledge, presentation and communications techniques, group management, practical training and qualification of trainers, components of a tourist guide training scheme, as well as requirements for the minimum numbers of training units (hours). We are happy to see more and more countries in Europe adopting this CEN European Standard, which sets the guidelines for all training organisations – public or private -‐ offering courses for tourist guiding. § Why do you think the “T-‐GuIDE” project is important for accessible tourism? As a pillar of tourism, tourist guiding qualification and training must consider new needs and market expectations, setting-‐up special training programs combining core knowledge, communication skills, guiding techniques and business skills. People with disabilities are a growing consumer group of travel and leisure-‐oriented services. However, while the practice of accessible, inclusive tourism has gained a stronger place in some parts of the EU tourism landscape over the past few years, there is still a sizable “gap” between T-‐GuiDE Newsletter – Summer 2014 disabled visitors’ demands for full access and the ability of the tourism industry to provide these guests with suitable offers. Studies have shown that the potential market of tourists who need good access amounts to over 130 million people in Europe or 27% of the population. Yet tourism providers are largely unaware of this market and even less aware of how to provide for it. Where accessible infrastructure and services are provided, these tend to serve, predominantly, people with physical and sensory impairments. Thus, visitors with intellectual disabilities or learning difficulties are being doubly excluded with respect to both the recognition of their needs and lack of actual service provisions in many destinations, venues and attractions. At the same time, the range of skills required for professional guiding of visitors with learning difficulties is not widely known, and is even less evident in practice. So this is a new challenge for us towards a recognised supplementary qualification for tourist guides, which will create more employability and expertise in the field for the qualified tourist guides. Visit FEG at http://www.feg-‐touristguides.com/ 3 T-‐GuIDE Survey Results In accordance with the “T-‐GuIDE” project’s aim to produce a training package for tourist guides in guiding people with learning difficulties or/and intellectual disabilities, the partnership has examined the current state of the art in this field and has engaged with stakeholders to identify the most critical issues and training needs to be addressed. The results of three online surveys have thus fed into the production of a Competence Manual and a Training Manual which will be piloted and evaluated by professional qualified tourist guides from various EU countries in two phases in summer 2014. The perspective of Tourism Providers The majority of the respondents already provided tourist services to customers with disabilities, including guided tours to people with learning difficulties or/ and intellectual disabilities (78%). Reports on perceived barriers showed varied levels of awareness of cross-‐ disability accessibility standards, from little knowledge to some understanding of access requirements such as providing information in alternative formats or assisting visitors when finding their way through a venue or attraction. All of the respondents (100%) reported that they already employ/ contract, or would like to employ tourist guides who are already trained in this field. Another important finding is that 4 providers tend to view such services as part of their mainstream service provision, which goes hand in hand with mainstreaming accessible tourism provision and increasing social inclusion. The perspective of Visitors Most of the participants in this survey included people working in disability support organizations as well as travel companions or family/friends who support people with learning difficulties or/and intellectual disabilities when traveling. This group clearly expressed (100%) that the ability to travel and participate in leisure and culture activities is of great significance, heightening the need for increased service provision in these respects. The respondents identified a range of barriers in their experience of guided tours, which related to the accessibility of venues, but also importantly to the way a tour was delivered, in terms of pace of speech, terminology and explanations used, room for questions and interaction allowed, all of which influenced visitors’ satisfaction with a tour. That group of respondents was quite naturally in the position to suggest useful ideas that would make a tour more friendly and accessible to people with learning disabilities, such as a respectful and warm attitude towards visitors, use of easy to understand language, interactive presentations and awareness of access barriers. All respondents (100%) said that they would be more likely to choose a tour if they knew that the tourist guide had been trained to lead a group including people with intellectual disabilities or learning difficulties. The perspective of Tourist Guides The great majority of the 152 respondents were certified tourist guides, actively working in the field and interested in career development opportunities. Half of them had some experience in guiding groups of people with learning difficulties or intellectual disabilities, however only 30% of them currently offered such service. Issues reported based on their experience of guiding people with learning difficulties or/and intellectual disabilities had to do with the preparation of such a tour, such as checking the accessibility of a venue in advance, the management of the group and catering for different needs and preferences, but also importantly their own attitudes and reflection that it may be hard to change conventional practice to accommodate differentiated needs. Finally, most tourist guides believed that special training should be offered in this area, and expressed their interest to follow such a course, so as to gain relevant competences and skills, hands-‐on techniques and awareness of barriers, while there was a view that these should be offered in a high-‐standard certification T-‐GuiDE Newsletter – Summer 2014 framework. The T-‐GuIDE project very much aims to meet this expectation. In T-‐GuIDE Newsletter no. 3 we will profile another T-‐GuIDE partner organisation. To subscribe to this Newsletter and our e-‐ Bulletins, please use the sign-‐up form here: http://eepurl.com/INQ2L Photos FEG & ENAT 5 T-‐GuIDE Partners Austria Belgium France Italy Poland Spain Społeczna Akademia Nauk w Łodzi www.swspiz.pl Fundación Pública Andaluza El Legado Andalusí www.legadoandalusi.es Spain United Kingdom ASIS - Consorzio Cooperative Sociali www.consorzioasis.eu The Latvian Umbrella Body for Disability Organisations www.sustento.lv European Network for Accessible Tourism asbl. www.accessibletourism.org European Federation of Tourist Guide Associations www.feg-touristguides.org Latvia LEBENSHILFE-GUV www.lebenshilfe-guv.at Instituto de Formación Integral, S.L.U. www.ifi.com.es Minster Development Centre Ltd. www.minsterdevelopmentcentre.co.uk T-‐GuiDE Newsletter – Summer 2014 6
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