Havana, December 16 (RHC)-- Tourism officials and national network representatives inaugurated on Wednesday the 4th Ibero-American Summit on Accessible Tourism.

Delegates from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal are attending the event being held in the Cuban capital.

The Cuban Ministry of Tourism tweeted that the event will take place until Friday 17 at the Hotel Nacional to promote and encourage alliances that generate tourist spaces and environments to make destinations more accessible.

The event is co-sponsored by the Ibero-American Network of Accessible Tourism, with the technical assistance of Skedio Travel and Ecotur and 30 speakers from 14 countries of the five continents.

During the inaugural day, a meeting of ministers and directors of the national networks of this modality was held to approve the Havana Declaration for Accessible and Inclusive Tourism in Ibero-America.

The document has been in preparation since 2016 with international organizations to ensure that what has been achieved does not remain in words, but in deeds, said the president of the Ibero-American Network of Accessible Tourism, Diego Gonzalez, recently.

The meeting agenda includes the exchange of experiences in working with people with disabilities, eliminating barriers of different kinds so that they can enjoy a full tourism experience, and forging partnerships between public decision-makers, the private sector, and organizations related to this issue.

Dedicated to people with physical, intellectual, and sensory disabilities, accessible tourism considers the special attention to a wide range of travelers, as is the case of 50 million in the United States and a similar number in Europe. They wish to enjoy a vacation with the same rights afforded to those around them.

Cuba was chosen as the venue for the event because of its work to promote this modality within the leisure industry, an objective for which its institutions are strongly involved.

The event will also serve to award the Hotel Nacional with the universal accessibility certification, which accredits the facility to cater to this market segment, and for being one of the accommodations in the region with the best services for those who have motor, hearing, visual or other difficulties.

According to the World Tourism Organization, six out of every ten people with reduced mobility stop traveling for lack of accessible services and facilities.