Project aim and target group

Main aim of the project was to promote and support tourism entrepreneurs to value mentally impaired clients and their families as persons and costumers; and to help them to design mindful tourism services accessible for mentally impaired people.

Main target groups were:

1. organizations which offer tourism services, museums

2. persons with mental disabilities and their families

3. participating higher education institutions.

Children, families with children and elderly were indirect target group.

Mentally impaired people have certain needs for the content and type of information, for channels and formats which help them to perceive the new information and those needs are comparable in one or another way with children and elderly as well. This project helped to design tourism services accessible for mentally impaired people, the solutions are suitable also for another target groups.

Objectives of the project were:
1. to find out more about the specific needs and behaviours of travellers with mental impairment
2. to assess the current level of accessibility in the tourism sector and identify different approaches to accessibility within the sector
3. to identify obstacles to the introduction and implementation of accessible tourism for mentally impaired people
4. to increase the knowledge about mental impairment and needs of this target group among tourism organisations
5. to develop and implement prototypes of different services of tourism for mentally impaired people
6. to develop study material how to design and implement tourism services for mentally impaired people
7. to develop assessment tool how to evaluate accessibility of tourism service from mental impairment context
8. to make recommendations to relevant stakeholders on how to accelerate the introduction of accessible tourism for mentally impaired people.