for their accessibility and profiled together
with detailed information. Information
Mecklenburg-Western
Pomerania
Best practice in an innovative
competition
The ‘Tourism for All in Mecklenburg-
Western Pomerania’ award was launched
in 2010 by the region’s tourism board. The
idea behind it was to find best practice
examples for future marketing activities
but also to recognise, and rectify, existing
shortcomings. The winners of the award
to date include the towns of Güstrow
and Stralsund, the Combi Tri barrier-free
sailing boat, the Gesundheitsinsel Rügen
association, which has demonstrated out-
standing expertise in putting together
customised barrier-free programmes,
the Hanse Kogge Best Western Hotel in
Koserow, which offers coach trips and spa
treatments for wheelchair users, and the
Plau am See Youth Hostel, recognised for
its sporting activities for disabled people.
www.barrierefrei.m-vp.de
(Verein Ohne Barrieren e.V.)
“Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
has been actively engaged in barrier-
free tourism for almost 13 years. The
regional website www.barrierefrei.
m-vp.de (operated by Ohne Barrieren –
Without Barriers) was set up back in
2001 and now lists well over 1,000
tourism providers along the service
chain that are certified barrier-free.
In 2009 we also worked with the
Ohne Barrieren association to found
the Tourism for All Service Centre.”
Bernd Fischer, Managing Director of
Tourismusverband Mecklenburg-
Vorpommern e.V.
Bremen
State-wide barrier-free audit
By 2015, around 1,000 Bremen-based com-
panies and organisations in the areas of
tourism, culture and leisure, hotels and
hospitality, healthcare, education and
sport will have been assessed in person
“We hope that people with
disabilities or restricted mobility
will enjoy discovering Bremen with
our ‘Barrier-free Bremen’ city guide.”
Peter Siemering, Managing Director of
Bremer Touristik-Zentrale, Gesellschaft
für Marketing und Service mbH
on accessibility in Bremen is available in
a user-friendly format at www.bremen.de
and www.bremen-tourismus.de/barrierefrei
Saxony-Anhalt
Luther 2017 will be accessible to all
“Saxony-Anhalt’s aim is to work
towards full accessibility across the
tourism service chain. But this
doesn’t just mean barrier-free
access to information media. The
entire offering at the destination,
and after the trip, must also meet
the accessibility criteria.”
Bettina Quäschning, Senior Manager at
Investitions- und Marketinggesellschaft
Sachsen-Anhalt mbH (IMG)
Saxony-Anhalt is expecting a high number
of visitors for the anniversary of the
Reformation in 2017, and not only from
Germany. The Saxony-Anhalt tourism
office, together with all its partners, aims
to achieve full accessibility step by step
across the tourism service chain. The
Luther 2017 project is a model of how this
complex task is being put into practice.
Even today, its brochures, website and app
are largely barrier-free. Accessibility is also
being built into the key visitor attractions
as part of the renovation of historical
Luther sites and the redevelopment of
tourism infrastructure.
www.sachsen-anhalt-tourismus.de
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