Athena na cestách

The twenty-year-old Jiří Mára is the only Czech who has travelled to almost all continents in his wheelchair. This year's journey across the African countries will complete the Mára family's tour round the world. They are a proof that physical disability is definitely not a handicap for travelling. Last week, they shared their travel experiences as well as advice on travel for people with specific needs with the participants of an ATHENA project workshop in Ostrava focused on the promotion of accessible tourism.

The mountains of Šumava have welcomed the ATHENA project specialised in accessible tourism for all. At the workshop in Vimperk, whose major topics included accessible tourism and the role of non-profit organizations in tourism, the participants emphasized in particular the need to adapt tourism services to make them accessible for all. In Šumava, they have found several good examples of successful non-profit organizations focused on accessible tourism.

During the Medical Fair 2009 in Brno, the project managers of ATHENA on travel, a project that focuses on support of accessible toruism, met at the workshop called Barrier-free travelling in practice. The participants at the workshop pointed out the necessity of making tourist facilities accessible to all, as well as the need of promoting accessible tourism before the representatives of public bodies and state administration of the Czech Republic.