carlos Oroza

The Proturga Forum focuses on the need for more training and on having the groups involved to create accessible tourist products

Inclusive tourism in which tourism products are developed that take into account the opinions of the groups to which they are addressed as well as a firm commitment to tourism accessible at destination level were some of the issues that were addressed in the first day of the IV Proturga Forum, held in Pontevedra under the title “Accessible Tourism to the sensitive”. The training, but also the awareness of professionals, companies and public entities, were aspects in which the participants emphasized the importance of betting on a tourism in which we all fit. And the accessible group not only groups people with functional or cognitive diversity, but also older people or families with small children, who also need adaptations in accessibility to leisure spaces or tourist spots. These groups represent, in Europe alone, 12% of the tourist market as a whole, so “our commitment as a tourist destination must be for quality, sustainability and accessibility, offering training in this sense to professionals in the sector and Adopting measures that combine the policies of social integration, techniques of universal design and the use of new technologies and information tools, which allow us to offer a complete and unforgettable experience to these visitors”, Explained the secretary of the Clúster Turismo de Galicia , Cesáreo Pardal, who also participated in the inauguration of the Forum, together with representatives of the Council of Pontevedra and the Diputación de Pontevedra.

The forum, organized by the Association of Tourism Professionals of Galicia (PROTURGA), was attended by representatives of different sensitive collectives such as the accessibility officer of the Federation of Deaf Associations of Galicia, Enrique Santos, the director of the Center for Educational Resources of the Eleven of Pontevedra, José Ángel Abraldes, the director of the Association Juan XXII, Nuria Luque, addressed to people with cognitive deficits, who transferred professionals and students in training the needs and gestures that can generate a better tourist experience . All of them agreed that accessibility should be a compulsory subject in training and that learning small gestures (greetings, communicating with a blind person or a deaf person) would greatly improve the tourism experience.

There was also an opportunity to learn about tools that new technologies facilitate so that these groups can better know a city or visit a museum. Likewise, successful tourist experiences such as the Accessible Cabins being built in Outes, within the Cabañas do Bosque project or the Hydronauta project, in Riveira, were exposed.

Pontevedra, sensitive
But, in addition, the forum also has a practical but, above all, sensitive aspect, with product tastings such as coffee, cheese or bread using only one of our senses (touch, smell, taste) and limiting sight , for example. Or sensuous routes through Pontevedra to discover the city from another point of view. All activities in which the CIFP Carlos Oroza is very involved through the students of the cycles of Services and Restoration, Cooking and Gastronomy or superior cycle of Guide, information and tourist assistance. The Forum Proturga also serves to highlight the work developed by the CIFP Carlos Oroza de Pontevedra, which in recent years has been characterized by its commitment to accessible tourism and the creative ability to design tourist experiences based on the senses.