The conference kicked off with a welcoming word by Veroniek Maat from Accessible Travel Netherlands. She introduced project coordinator Massimo Canalicchio, who presented the goal and results of the European ACCESSTOUR project. A presentation by Mieke Broeders, director of INTER in Belgium followed. She outlined the potential of accessible tourism for countries in Europe and explained about the extensive accessible tourism policy by Tourism Flanders. She also highlighted the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) which companies and people working on accessible tourism in Europe can become a member of. One of ENAT’s works is the website Pantou, which is the European Accessible Tourism Directory.

After lunch, three workshops took place which all addressed different topics, namely;

1. Accessible tour guiding
2. Accessible tourism policies
3. Accessible heritage sites

The first workshop included a theoretical introduction and a practical part where the participants went outside to experience accessibility needs personally, using a wheelchair and being blind folded and walking with a stick. The second workshop was a group discussion that addressed examples of accessible tourism policies of DMO’s in Europe. The goal of this workshop was to come up with ideas to best address accessible tourism in the Netherlands. The third workshop challenged the participants to think about heritage sites and museums and how to make them accessible for all.

After the workshops a panel discussion followed with Massimo Canalicchio, Mieke Broeders, Wouter Schelvis and Walter Jonker. The outcomes of the workshops were discussed as well as the future of accessible tourism in the Netherlands.