Name: Accessible Travel and Tourism International Summit
Start: 2024-01-11 00:00:00 UTC
End: 2024-01-12 00:00:00 UTC
Location: JW Marriott Marquis Hotel

Held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group.

Within the framework of the UAE’s wise leadership’s vision to make the country and Dubai a preferred friendly destination for tourists and visitors with disabilities, Dubai is hosting the 2nd edition of Dubai Accessible Tourism International Summit.

The Summit aims to highlight the legislations, policies and requirements of tourists with disabilities, in addition to the challenges they face while travelling in relation to available infrastructures, transportation and communications means, education, medical tourism, banking services and qualified human resources capable of dealing with them, among other equally important related issues.

The Summit, which enjoys the participation of organisations, officials and international government officials and experts, aims also to strengthen the UAE’s efforts to make the country a preferred tourist destination for people with disabilities from all over the world, and for decision makers in the UAE to have the opportunity to be acquainted with best international practices in the field of tourism and services dedicated to people with disabilities. This will eventually serve the UAE national economy by attracting a new segment of tourists and visitors of more than 700 million people, 50 million of whom live in the Middle East.

Why Dubai Accessible Tourism International Summit (DATIS) 2022?

Hosting the DATIS for the second time in Dubai makes sense given its amazing credentials in accessibility domain. The Emirate is steaming ahead to make itself a fully accessible destination by removing barriers and obstacles. It is modifying over a 1,000 existing buildings and hotels and over 100 kilometres of streets and road networks. Work is underway to achieve the goal of making Dubai – A City of Everyone.

This is being achieved as the UAE hosts the World Expo in Dubai from October 2021 for the first time in the MENASA, bringing millions of visitors during its six month’s run. Accessibility for the tourism industry is a golden opportunity to drive increased revenues. A combination of social imperative and economic opportunity.

DATIS will debate on Policy and Planning, Capacity Building, Information and Customer Service and Infrastructure and Facilities. Medical Tourism, Prejudices in Media, Use of Social Media and Lack of Information and the Future of Accessible Tourism will also be debated. Spread over several sessions and workshops, DATIS aims to become a sensible voice to better the tourism industry’s prospects.

Why you should not miss Dubai Accessible Tourism International Summit

Tourism for People of Determination is largely untapped despite vast technological advancements and innovations in the way they can explore the world

Assuming 15% of the world’s total 1.2 billion tourists faced with disabilities, it is huge potential market as they spend three times more than the normal tourists.

A platform with multi-dimensional benefits for your company/organisation to express/display strong association with People of Determination.

A wonderful opportunity to enhance your company/organisation’s share through reaching out to People with Disabilities.

Be seen as a company/organisation seen that strongly supports the governmental efforts to make life better for this segment of our society.

Meet government ministers, decision-makers, social influencers and other crucial market players for networking and professional benefits.

The summit takes forward the mission of enabling People with Disabilities enjoy the world of tourism, with the governments, tourism bodies, travel industry players, urban planners and others working in tandem.

The summit is a step towards moving further in determining what the people with disabilities requires.

Help the tourism industry to get the right strategies and programmes in place.

An ideal platform to know how technology and innovation are getting better to make the life easy and more accessible.

A timely platform to network and share strategies and experiences and understand the market needs and expectations.

Special Offer

Register for your complimentary delegate pass. Due to limited seating, delegate places will be reserved on a first come basis. Delegates will have access to all conference sessions, including workshops, conference materials, certification and delegate lunch and networking breaks.

Learning Outcomes

Making tourism destinations accessible to all

Over a billion people in the world, including 50 million in the Middle East region, are experiencing various disabilities. The first global study of People with Disabilities identified barriers for them in tourist destinations which includes inaccessible facilities like airports, hotels, parks and beaches. With one in ten people worldwide living with a disability, travellers with disabilities now make up one of the fastest-growing tourism markets. Few countries, according to the first-ever World Report on Disability, have adequate mechanisms in place to respond to the needs of People with Disabilities.

Tapping the accessible tourism market is a key agenda for destinations, but it remained vastly unexplored. About 54 per cent of people with access requirements avoid going to new places if not accessible to them. The biggest challenge is finding accessible destinations that meet their special needs and heighten their travel experience. Over three million tourism businesses in Europe are not prepared to cater adequately to the accessibility market. By 2020, an additional 1.2 million enterprises in Europe alone needs to provide accessible services. The UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have the largest population of people with access needs- above 10 million. In 2012, people with access needs took approximately 783 million trips (visits) within the EU. Demand is anticipated to grow to about 862 million trips (visits) per year by 2020.

For most people, tourism looks quite accessible and they tend to take for granted the ability to embark on a vacation anytime. However, it is a world of challenges for People with Disabilities to explore destinations and experience their sights and sounds. People with access needs have many of the same travel desires and behavioural patterns as other travellers. The most common issues that differently-abled tourists encounter include adapted hotel rooms, airport transfers, wheelchair access vehicles, adapted toilets in public restrooms, and accessible restaurants and coffee shops. To make a meaningful impact, Dubai has stepped in the efforts to make the world’s prime tourist spots accessible to all and friendly to People with Disabilities. The world’s second most-visited global tourist destination wants to be disability-friendly by 2020.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group and Summit Patron says insights, experiences and best practices will be shared at the Summit to make destinations more accessible to People with Disabilities. Dubai Strategic Plan 2021 strongly outlines this commitment. The Emirate is modifying more than a thousand buildings, including hotels and heritage sites, to make them accessible to all. Dubai Universal Design Code defines how buildings and transportation systems have to be designed, constructed and managed keeping in mind the People with Disabilities. The tourism industry is investing in developing inclusive facilities.

A host city for the first-ever World Expo in the MENASA region in 2021, accessibility remains top on the agenda in Dubai’s growth journey. Accessible Tourism is an ongoing endeavour to ensure tourist destinations, products and services are accessible to all people, regardless of their physical limitations, disabilities or age. Making tourism more accessible is not only a social responsibility – improving accessibility can boost the competitiveness of tourism.

The Dubai Summit will discover how improving the accessibility could improve the tourism-related businesses facing intense competition. And how a city can remain a socially responsible and sustainable destination. Dubai is focused on making the destination accessible to all, whatever the disabilities. The Dubai Summit will be focused on how well the emirate is headed and getting inspired from success stories from around the world.

Accessible Travel and Tourism International Summit

Price

Special Offer

Location

JW Marriott Marquis Hotel

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