16/05/2023
After the first successful training organized by the lead partner, which took place on March 30 and 31 in Thessaloniki, on May 15 and 16, 2023, Mobility Bitola and a group of tourism workers from our country participated in the second training, this time organized by the second partner in the project – the Ministry of Interior (Sector Macedonia and Thrace) from Greece. The training was held at the "Mediterranean Palace" hotel, where participants from both countries had the opportunity to learn about the European Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 and accessible tourism as a key factor in the development and sustainability of tourism. Particularly interesting was the presentation of the civil engineer and accessibility expert Dr. Panagiotis Tsalis, archaeologist and Byzantine scholar Dr. Konstantinos Raptis and Dr. Spyros Avdimiotis from the International University of Thessaloniki. They presented their work in improving the accessibility of cultural heritage in Thessaloniki, especially the Church of St. Demetrius, and they also referred to the legal regulations for interventions in cultural monuments that enable accessibility, which are almost identical to ours. For the second part of the training, Dr. Avdimiotis was joined by his colleague Athena Mouradidou, as well as Grigoris Toulias, marketing director of the Thessaloniki Tourism Organization. He emphasized the importance of correct and realistic advertising of accessible tourism, that is, the awareness of tourism stakeholders themselves about accessibility in their businesses and institutions, as well as the availability of accurate and reliable information about their products and services. It was also interesting to know that in Thessaloniki there is a film festival for people with disabilities, especially for people with visual and hearing impairments, and the way in which films can be adapted for the appropriate audience - with narrations about the actions that take place when there is no dialogue between the characters, or with a textual description of sounds that occur during the action. This information was especially useful for our participants and representatives of cultural institutions, such as the Center of Culture - Bitola, the National Theater - Bitola and the Cultural Information Center - Bitola (Officer’s House and Manaki Cinema), where various cultural events are held. Bearing in mind that this Mobility Bitola project covers the entire Pelagonia region, we made sure to include participants from all over Pelagonia, so that among them were the director of the Memorial House of Toše Proeski from Krushevo - Lefkija Gazhoska, Aleksandar Cvetkoski from the Museum of tobacco from Prilep, Victoria Velkova from the "Mayberry" hotel in Pretor, as well as a representative of AGTIS (Association for Civil Tolerance and Cooperation) from Prilep, who filmed the event and published an attachment on their platform (link: https://otv.mk/alternativno-turistichko-iskustvo-alternativno-patuvanje/?fbclid=IwAR1dTULsxPdWsOJ_x-qmj51Dh0RYGC4oE5zAMZEFx4AwRtYOup3WdoPbmec ). The two successfully implemented trainings are just an introduction to the third and last training that will be held on June 7, 2023 in Bitola, where we will have 4 experts who will talk about 4 aspects of accessibility in the tourism sector. The training will be preceded by two info-days in Resen and Prilep, where the attendees will be informed about the work done in the project and the prospects for improving accessibility in tourism. Activities continue.
