Civic Chamber of Russian Federation held a round table devoted to «Public control in the system of measures to improve urban and touristic infrastructure for people with disabilities».
The CEOs of federal and regional organizations, public organizations, touristic communities, restaurant and hotel businesses — all gathered to discuss pressing questions relating fans and tourists with disabilities.
In his opening statement, the round table moderator, First Vice-Chairman of the Civic Chamber of Russian Federation, Artem Kiryanov, pointed out that in preparation for the World Cup a lot of effort was made in RF regions to make urban infrastructure more accessible. «It is known that some part of the tickets for the World Cup was allocated for people with disabilities, impaired mobility and obesity. That’s why the cities must be prepared for such type of fans and tourists. We are building special parking spaces, rest areas, special entries to the sports facilities. We hope that sport and tourism will become more accessible for people of different physical abilities after the Championship» — Artem Kiryanov said.
Deputy Director-General of «RZD Tour» Alexander Lvov presented a project «Tourism For Everyone» in which some expert tours were carried out in 2017 across 5 Russian cities: Saransk, Great Novgorod, Sergiev Posad, Yaroslavl, Chelyabinsk. This expert group, which assessed the prospects of the railway tourism for people with disabilities by themselves, consisted of wheelchair users, accessible tourism experts and journalists. «We wanted to make sure that any person who is confined to a wheelchair has an opportunity to travel on the train. We also wanted to know if our transport companies and urban infrastructure could provide an adequate level of comfort» — «RZD Tour» Deputy Director-General Alexander Lvov pointed out. He also stressed that it appeared to be not so easy to organize such tour for people with impaired mobility. There are not so many hotels, restaurants and cultural sites in the regions that would’ve been suitable for such special guests.
«Despite the fact that regular citizens and specialists, who maintain the infrastructure objects, are always ready to meet the needs of people with disabilities, we still have some difficulties. The major problems, as usual, are with toilets, doorways, high doorsteps and non-compliance with technical regulations. Very often, there are some absurd situations when there is a ramp that leads to the closed door. So, nominally, all the necessary conditions are created, meanwhile, no one can actually use these facilities» — the project expert, Chairwoman of Moscow Association of the «All-Russian Society for Disabled People» Nadezhda Lobanova pointed out.
Minister of Culture of Moscow region, Oksana Kosareva, reported about all the necessary measures that have been taken in the region: «We changed the approach to working with disabled people, moving on from the adaptation of infrastructure to tailoring tourist routes. 2 600 routes have already been arranged for disabled people, and the upcoming World Cup gave extra impetus to this initiative». The Minister pointed out that there should be a much closer dialogue with business industry about the way it deals with the problem.
Yulia Rybakova, Director of the Tourist Department in Yaroslavl area, raised an issue about financing the reconstruction of restaurants, cafes and hotels adapted to the needs of people with disabilities which is 11% of all tourists who come to the region. That’s why the speaker suggested to carry out the recommendations for public authorities to navigate the problem. Her proposition was supported by the President of Charitable Fund «Co-Integration», Olga Mikhailova: «We need to carry out technological norms for business industry to fully equip all the spaces».
Vice-President of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers, Vadim Prasov raised another issue — too strict governmental regulations. The expert believes that obligation to equip 5% of the hotel rooms is unnecessary since most rooms for disabled people still go to waste. «Unfortunately, at present moment regular tourists are not willing to live in such rooms, even during the high season, they remain vacant» — Prasov commented.
During the discussion, the participants of the round table came to conclusion that hoteliers should pay more attention to the design which will be suitable for both categories of guests — disabled people and, for example, for people with kids or elderly. Vice Chairwoman of Saint-Petersburg tourism committee, Nana Gvichia, reported that, despite the difficulties of adapting the places of interest for people with disabilities, this problem is being gradually solved. The perfect example is Saint Isaac’s Cathedral which was specially equipped. There is even a special observation platform built specifically for wheelchair users. According to the speaker, an equipment for only one room may cost 200-500 thousand rubles.
A whole other topic was a German experience. Olga Mikhalova noted that for several years already, Moscow has been implementing technologies used in Berlin which has a wide range of historical buildings. Head of Mission of the German National Tourist office in Russia, Alla Belikova, expressed the readiness for experience exchange and presented the results of the program «Travel for Everyone» which allowed Germany to create a navigational system for people with impaired mobility and to turn tourism into something they can enjoy.
Overall, speakers stressed that Russia made huge steps towards creating infrastructure fully adapted for people with disabilities. «Within the last 10 years there have been major changes. Disabled people now have access to many tourist objects what also stimulates and develops regional economy» — Head of the Federal Tourism Agency department, Evgeni Kudelya, concluded. Elena Volohova, the President of Charity «Give Love To the World» supported his statement: «Attitude to people with disabilities from government, business and society changed for the better».
To summarize, the moderator, Artem Kiryanov, pointed out that after this discussion, special recommendations will be carried out to strengthen future measures of increasing infrastructure availability for people with impaired mobility. As an example, Kiryanov brought up the experience of «RZD» holding that created all the necessary conditions for people with limited abilities that led to a three times growth of the number of travelling disabled people.
