07/06/2023
On June 7, 2023, in the restaurant "Korzo" in Bitola, the third and last training for tourism stakeholders was held within the Alternative tourist experience - ALTER TRIP project, organized by Mobility Bitola. Fifty participants from both countries had the opportunity to learn about several aspects of accessible tourism, thanks to four experts from the Association for Socio-Cultural Development "Veritas" from Bitola: prof. Dr. Ivanka Nestoroska and Prof. Dr. Risto Rechkoski from the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality - Ohrid at the University "St. Kliment Ohridski" - Bitola and Dr. Irena Ružin and MSc Jove Pargovski from NI Institute and Museum - Bitola. Project manager Ivona Jankova was the moderator of the event. Dr. Nestoroska started the training with a presentation on accessible tourism, explaining what accessible tourism entails, why it is important for the sustainable development of this important economic branch, and what are the best practices from the world, but also from the region that can be applied here. Dr. Rechkoski, on the other hand, referred in detail to the legal aspects of accessible tourism, making a cross-section of international standards, European and Macedonian legislation, our laws and by-laws. Particularly important and interesting was the presentation of Mr. Pargovski, an expert on digitization of cultural heritage, who discussed a key topic of today's digital society - web accessibility and how to improve accessibility of web pages and online content. This part of the training was also practical, because with the printed presentations and by scanning QR codes, the participants could check for themselves whether their web pages are accessible and see what they should pay attention to and how they can fix the shortcomings themselves. Dr. Ruzhin's last presentation covered the accessibility of cultural heritage and the numerous opportunities and good practices that are already applied in our country, such as tactile exhibitions, audio and video narrations in sign language for exhibited exhibits. She also demonstrated the use of ICT tools, where by scanning QR codes and NFC tags, a visually impaired or hearing impaired person will be directly connected to audio or video content with a description of the given object. In the same way, the tactile signage and the tourist guide created within the "Alter Trip" project work, making Bitola the first city in the region with an accessible tourist offer at the city level. The event was covered by several local and national media, including MIA and MRT, whose coverage was broadcast in prime time in the first channel News. This training was practically the end of the activities of Mobility Bitola, and the final conference on June 20, 2023 in Thessaloniki remains to be realized. Activities continue.
