CubaPLUS Magazine

The IV Ibero-American Summit on Accessible Tourism will be held at the emblematic Hotel Nacional de Cuba between December 15 and 19, with the presence of 30 speakers from 14 countries in that region and the Caribbean.

In a press conference offered this Wednesday, Diego González Velasco, President of the Ibero-American Accessible Tourism Network, referred to the objective of this meeting, which is to raise awareness and sensitize the tourism sector about the rights of disabled people or people with reduced mobility.

It is intended that people with special needs, whether those with limited movement, sight or hearing who wish to travel, can do so without worries.

In Europe alone, he said, there are around 130 million people who live with a disability and who have economic possibilities to travel, hence the congress is looking for a way to facilitate adequate conditions for these individuals.

This meeting, which will be held in a hybrid way -face-to-face and virtual manner- will have panels that will dedicate their debates and analysis to topics such as culture, nature, technologies as a way to make life easier for the disabled, and another about the solutions that can be offered to these people to alleviate issues related to their disabilities.

At the end of the congress, the Declaration of Havana for Accessible Tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean will be signed, a document that has been managed since 2016 and sets the guidelines to follow in this regard.

The president of the committee also participated in the press conference of the Summit and vice-prime minister of Tourism (Mintur), María del Carmen Orellana, the president of the Cuban Network of Accessible Tourism, Luisa Pérez, and the adviser of Mintur, José Manuel Bisbé.

Cuba was chosen as the venue for this congress during the meeting held in Uruguay in 2019 due to the great performance of the sector and its efforts in developing accessible tourism.

The selection of the Hotel Nacional as the main setting for this important meeting was possible thanks to the fact that this facility is an example of everything that can be done to make life easier for people with disabilities. In addition, it is considered one of the accommodations with the highest levels of accessibility in Latin America.