On Friday, March 11, 2022, the 10th Accessible Tourism Day took place from 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. online, complementing the ITB Berlin Convention.

How can the various needs of vacationers with impairments be addressed in tourism offers? Which attractive possibilities already exist for the different target groups of barrier-free offers? How can communication and booking processes be better adapted to the needs of people with disabilities? And what are the associated opportunities and challenges for tourism providers and DMOs?

These questions were addressed comprehensively and practically from different perspectives by experts in discussions and presentations.

Claudia Müller, Federal Government Coordinator for Maritime Economy & Tourism, and Jürgen Dusel, Federal Government Commissioner for Matters relating to Persons with Disabilities, opened the event.

Helena Dalli, Member of the European Commission responsible for gender equality issues, presented the new EU strategy "Union of Equality: Disability Rights Strategy 2021-2030".

Other prominent speakers included Mike Adams (UK), CEO of „Purple“, who gave a keynote speech on "Changing the conversation between business and disabled people", Josh Loebner (USA), Director of strategy at the marketing and advertising agency Designsensory, which specialises in accessibility, university lecturer and founder of the advertisinganddisability.com portal, and Christopher Patnoe (UK), Head of Accessibility and Disability Inclusion, EMEA at Google.

The GNTB focused on best practices for barrier-free planning and implementation of tourism facilities and events, the barrier-free experience of tourist attractions and the integration of new digital communication channels such as augmented, mixed and virtual reality at the 2022 Accessible Tourism Day.

For the 10th Accessible Tourism Day, the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) once again welcomed many international trade visitors, including representatives from politics, the travel industry, DMOs, associations and universities, as well as experts and journalists.

The event was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection.

It was implemented with the support of the state working group "Tourism for All", the working group "Leichter Reisen - Barrierefreie Urlaubsziele in Deutschland" and "Messe Berlin".

Sign language, simultaneous and written interpreters were used for the event. Event languages were German and English (with simultaneous translation).