On 26 September 2016 the Department of Tourism, in partnership with the Free State Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA) and Central University of Technology hosted a public lecture in celebration of tourism month. 

The public lecture served as a platform to exchange and share ideas with industry role players on how best South Africa can enhance and promote universal access in tourism.  This year’s theme: tourism for all promoting universal accessibility brought to light factors that needed attention regarding the growing demands for universal accessibility to restore dignity and respect to people living with disabilities. When elaborating on the purpose of the day, Prof. Albert Strydom, Dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences, said that as institutions, they need to dig deeper to understand the 21^st century challenges facing the tourism industry in South Africa and the world at large. “We need to allow ourselves to have a dynamic engaging analysis of our constitutional rights to equality and provide solutions to the sector and direct our thoughts into these issues that are dear to CUT community, our partners in government, business and industry, media and the general public at large.” He further mentioned that collaborative planning and investing will bear more fruits, address the growing demands for universal access, produce intended outcomes of universal accessibility and restore some form of dignity of the downtrodden. 

Mr Derek Hanekom, Minister of Tourism said in keeping up with the theme, the overall challenge is to provide for the specific needs of domestic and international tourists living with disabilities. “As far as possible, airports, hotel rooms, restaurants and other facilities must cater to the needs of people who are blind, deaf and those living with other disabilities. Professionals should always available to help customers with special needs and provide them with information about local attractions that meet their needs. We understand that every facility can’t meet everyone’s need but every facility should do its utmost best to cater for such needs,” he said. In her keynote address Ms Therina Wentzel, Director: National Council for Persons with Physical Disabilities in South Africa said, “when we refer to accessible tourism we mean tourism that enables everyone regardless of their functional limitations to participate in the tourism experience. That freedom should confidently and independently allow all citizens access to all tourism products; services and environments and ensure that universal designs are systemic throughout the tourism value chain.” She also highlighted that the transport systems and services are not user-friendly thus; people with disabilities are often unable to enjoy the same freedom of travel as other citizens. Speakers from various organisations discussed issues based on the challenges and experiences that people with disabilities face on a daily basis. 

They not only brought challenges forth but also proposed ways of overcoming and improving on them. The speakers included Mr Francois Deysel from Deaf SA, Mr Simon Netshituni from Blind SA, Mr Freddie Botha from Kaleidoscope SA, Ms Pam Taylor from Flamingo Tours and Disabled Ventures and Mr Gary Hopkins from I love coffee. In conclusion, MEC for Free State Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Mr Sam Mashinini said the key lies in finding how universal accessibility can be achieved. “We need to encourage and motivate people living with disability to be part of the rest of the people, they must not feel separated.” MEC Mashinini also promised that all urgent matters particularly in the Free State would be actioned and improved.   

Images 

1: Front row, from left: Mr Derek Hanekom, Minister of Tourism; Mr Sam Mashinini, MEC for Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs in the Free State; and Prof. René Haarhoff, Senior Lecture in Tourism at CUT with CUT students in the back row. 

2: Mr Simon Netshituni Vice-President of Blind SA during a panel discussion delivering his presentation on Universal Design.