International News and Views: Peru is Turning into an Accessible Tourist Destination

Huaca de la Luna (Trujillo). Standing (from left to right): 4 members of the support team, including Ingeborg Zielinski, the tourism guide in Trujillo, Fernando Sotomayor (Lima Tours), Alessia Di Paolo (Prom Perú), Laurel Van Horn (SATH), Ghislaine (Guy Dery's companion). Sitting (from left to right): José A. Isola (CONFIEP) and Guy Dery (KEROUL)

Since 1998, Peru has been working on the project Peru: Towards Accessible Tourism that aims to attract tourists with disabilities from the major world markets as are: the United States, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, England, Italy, Japan and other countries. The project started with a study tour, that was held in the month of April 1998, the trip included visits to the city of Lima, the Paracas National Reserve, the city of Cuzco and the Machu Picchu ruins.

The original project was begun by Juan Jose Lopez, owner of Apumayo Expediciones and tour operator specialized in adventure travel and river rafting. This was an idea Juan José had for many years and that started growing after he met Sharon Myers, sports, adventure travel& adaptive equipment chair for SATH and Laurel Van Horn, executive director of the same organization, The Society for the Advancement of Travel for the Handicapped (SATH) is a US organization that has been promoting the development of new tourist destinations for people with disabilities in its own country and abroad for the last 25 years. Laurel is also the editor of Open World Magazine, that promotes tourism for people with disabilities all over the world.

Juan José submitted his project to Prom Peru, a state organization that is under the authority of the office of the president of the ministers' council and is dedicated to the promotion of the image of the country. The then president of the organization, Miss Beatriz Boza, accepted to sponsor the study tour and started working together with all the different sectors involved in the tourist field, in order to turn Peru into an accessible destination for people with disabilities.

Solar Clock INTIHUATANA, higher part of the town of Machu Picchu. Standing (from left to right): 4 members of the support team, including Juan José Lopez (Apumayo Expeditions), Francisco Vásquez (CONADIS), Héctor Olivera ( Medical Service of Machu Picchu), Laurel Van Horn (SATH). Sitting: José A. Isola (CONFIEP)

For this first trip the group was completed with Paula Bonillas, editor of Hearing Health Magazine from Ingleside Texas and with José A. Isola from the National Confederation of Private Business Institutions (CONFIEP). This trip was the start of the project and also of many changes that are occurring in Perú in the accessibility arena, not only in the tourist field but also in the social area and that is oriented towards bettering the quality of life of people with disabilities in that country.

It is relevant to say that SATH granted the Access to Freedom Award both to Juan José López as well as to Prom Peru during their annual meeting in January of 1999 and that Juan José's project won last November the Prize for Creative Business in the tourist sector, awarded by the Peruvian Applied Science University of Lima, Peru.

Aiming at 2005
As a result of this first study tour, Prom Peru published in October of 1999 the document, "Tourism for people with disabilities: a growing segment", which was presented in the cities of Lima and Cuzco. This study estimates that 61 million people with disabilities coming from the United States, Canada and Western Europe are able to travel, both in economic terms as well as in ability to do so. The aim is that Peru prepares itself in order to receive 250,000 of these tourists by the year 2005.

The presentation was also the opportunity for the team to return to Peru and that in addition to Lima and Cuzco, a destination in the Amazon Jungle could be added. This destination was the Madre de Dios state, specially the Manú National Park and the natural reserve of the Tambopata River.

Temple of the Three Windows, before the hike to Intihuatana. Standing (from left to right): Aníbal (support personnel), Héctor Olivera (Medical Service of Machu Picchu), Francisco Vásquez (CONADIS), Ghislaine (Guy Dery's companion), Fernando Sotomayor (Lima Tours), Laurel Van Horn (SATH), Leo (Apumayo Expeditions) Sitting (from left to right): José A. Isola (CONFIEP) andGuy Dery (KEROUL) andJuan José Lopez (Apumayo Expeditions)

Preparing for first Access Guide
The project has taken a more direct approach this year. A group of national and international experts are visiting and inspecting accessibility features of all possible tourist sites we have in Peru with the object of publishing in January 2001, the first tourist guide intended for the use of people with disabilities. The final activity in every city they visited was a basic training course on how to accommodate and serve people with disabilities during their trips.

This is how, in a joint effort Prom Peru, the National Confederation of Private Business Institutions (CONFIEP), the National Council for the Integration of People with Disabilities (CONADIS), SATH and KEROUL (Canadian NGO from the city of Montreal dedicated to the development of tourism for people with disabilities) and with the help of a great number of private companies involved in the tourism business in Peru, got together a team of 5 people, 3 of them with a disability, to visit the cities of Lima, Cuzco, Aguas Calientes (city located at the base of the mountain where the citadel of Machu Picchu is), Iquitos and Trujillo, inspecting more than 200 hotels, restaurants, museums, archeological sites and other.

Training course developed
The basic training courses were developed in three (two hour each) modules, The modules are designed to reach the following groups: the employees of hotel and restaurants; employees of travel agencies, airports, airlines and other means of ground transportation; and a third module aimed at tourist guides, employees from museums, archeological sites, places of interest, shopping malls and students in general. During the five sessions the group had the chance to give basic training to over 1200 people. At the end of each session the attendees received a diploma and a copy of the Manual for the Attention of Tourists with Disabilities, that all the members of the team prepared specially for this tour.

José A. Isola (CONFIEP) visits the community of Indians of the tribe Yagua, close to the Sinchicuy River (tributary of the Amazon River)

As part of the trip, the team composed of Alessia Di Paolo (Prom Peru, Laurel Van Horn (SATH), Guy Dery (KEROUL), Francisco Vásquez (CONADIS) and José A Isola (CONFIEP) had the opportunity to visit the citadel of Machu Picchu, where a group of them had the opportunity to climb up and see the solar clock or Intihuatana, located in the highest part of the citadel. Also they visited two lodges located in the Amazon Jungle, the first one of them on the Sinchicuy river (tributary of the Amazon river), where they had the opportunity of visiting a community of the Yagua tribe, and the second one located on the banks of the Amazon River where there were bird watching excursions and pink dolphins that live in this part of the rainforest.

During the visit to the city of Trujillo, they also got to see the citadel of Chan Chan and the Huacas of the Sun and Moon--all ruins of the pre Inca civilization of the Moche culture. For all the members of the team, the trip has been without doubt un unforgettable experience and a unique opportunity to boost the Peru: Towards Accessible Tourism project in order to make the dream come true.