Inclusive Traveling Wriggling Between Barriers and Terminologies

Over the last decade, in the field of Tourism and Travel, much has been done to break down, first of all, the "Architectural Barriers" and then what were the Social and Prejudicial barriers. Today, after the years that have passed, of the many conferences, of the laws, of the investments (in economic terms and of changes in the "status"), of the words, everything should now be resolved, "normalized", and yet the watchword is "Inclusion" again, a sign that, unfortunately, there is still a lot to do. Yet, we who have lived and who experience friendship and share days and journeys with people with "special needs" have never had to stop to think or quibble about terminologies, limits, barriers, looking for politically correct definitions or terminologies. Our daily life has always been simply that of friends who lived their daily lives together and traveled as equals, going somewhere together, without obstacles to stop us.

Today that we are in MeTour and that we deal with Tourism, given our past and experiences, it seems absurd to us that in 2022 (almost 2023) in the Travel sector we still have to ask ourselves about guaranteeing "Inclusive Travel" or what definitions and behaviors to adopt towards travelers with "special needs" or words such as Handicap, Disability, Differently Skilled. In our opinion, in the world of Travel and Tourism, but also in everyday life, we are all "Able" and at the same time "Disabled"!! What do we mean by this? We are all different from each other, each with our own strengths and weaknesses, talents and shortcomings, with our own impulses and our own fears. We aspire to be astronauts, but we are afraid of the abyss, we love bears, but we are allergic to cats, we like heights, but we are afraid of speed, we love flying, but we are afraid of swimming. When traveling, then, there are those who love to relax and those who experience adventures, those looking for extreme sports and those who seek the best SPAs, the beach or the calm of the mountains, bike tours or playgrounds... from this it can be seen that we are all different, skilled in experiencing a certain adventure or type of trip and, at the same time, differently skilled in not experiencing things, adventures, trips that we don't like, that scare us or that aren't suitable for us. So what? What does this reasoning lead to?

We mean that each of us has his Perfect Holiday and his Perfect Tourism, as he has his Terror Holiday or simply that he would NEVER book because it is unsuitable for him! What distinguishes one from the other? It is the information provided by our Agent, Tour Operator, Catalog or Website which, through clear forms and information, allows us to know in advance what we will find, what we will experience, how we will experience it, what may or may not be suitable, prerogatives or limitations, thus allowing us to choose based on our UNIQUENESS!

We hope in this change, that is, that all the tourist offer sheets are CLEAR and DETAILED, because in this way we should no longer talk about inclusion, disability, limitations, handicaps, denials or unpleasant surprises. Information gives the power to choose, while it is ignorance, the lack of information that makes you prisoners!

On our Metour.it portal, this is the philosophy we want to adopt and we strive every day with our Partners to offer simple, clear, easily readable, complete cards, with immediate icons that tell us the merits and usability/limitations of what we are booking However, we believe that this is not enough and therefore we are actively engaged with local politics, with partners who offer tourist services, with museums, local authorities, associations in the creation of new and innovative services that give the opportunity to those with Specials" to fully experience the tourist offer. This is why we are creating, with important collaborations, visits, tours, tailor-made experiences, for example, for those who need translation into sign language because they are deaf or who need tactile paths because they are blind or partially sighted.