"Tourisme & Handicap" : a label for an adapted tourism
The National Tourism & Handicap label, (recognised by the French Government) was created in 2001. The label considers the 4 types of impairments (hearing, mental, motor, and visual) to develop an adapted tourist offer.
The Labelling process - requires strong involvement to satisfy vital criteria’s
The national "Tourisme & Handicap" label is part of a process of integrating people with disabilities in terms of reception and accessibility, with two objectives:
- provide reliable, descriptive, and objective information on the accessibility of tourist sites and facilities, taking into account all types of disabilities.
- develop a tourist offer adapted and integrated into the general offer.
Which tourist structure can be labelled ?
Accommodation: furnished tourist accommodation, guest rooms, hotels, campsites, holiday villages, holiday centres, holiday residences, unusual accommodation (bubble domes, tree houses, tipis, caravans, yurt, etc.).
- Leisure services: performance halls (theatre’s, cinema’s, village hall’s), theme parks, sports facilities (swimming pools, beaches, sports halls).
- Tourist sites and sites for visits: museums, exhibition halls, monuments, natural sites (gardens, regional parks, etc.).
- Restaurants.
- Tourist offices and tourist information offices.
- Walking and hiking routes.
- Fishing stations.
- Water sports.
- Outdoor swimming areas.
- Well-being activities: balneotherapy and care centres, thalassotherapy centres, well-being institute and SPA).
- Theme and leisure parks.
- Swimming pools (Public or private).
- Venues for educational shows and leisure activities.
- ...
How is the "tourisme & handicap" label awarded?
Tourist establishments wishing to make themselves known to people with disabilities, request it from county specialists and register on the label’s website.
To validate the process and be able to display the label, the tourist structure, is first visited and evaluated, by two inspectors.
- One of which represents the tourism sector,
- the other is a representative of the disability section.
The assessment visit aims to validate accessibility as it was defined on a national level, under the law of February 11th 2005, and applicable since January 1st 2015.
Tourism & Handicap label is a voluntary process that requires strong involvement to satisfy all regulations and requirements. But it is also about fulfilling the various criteria’s imposed by the label, which today requires a desire for excellence.
La marque "Tourisme & Handicap"
La marque permet aux prestataires touristiques d'afficher visiblement un pictogramme qui les rendra repérables. Pour valider cette labellisation, la structure touristique, quelle qu'elle soit, est d'abord visitée et évaluée, par un binôme d'évaluateurs (l'un représentant le monde du tourisme, l'autre représentant le monde du handicap). La visite d'évaluation vise à valider l'accessibilité telle qu'elle est définie au niveau national, dans le cadre de la loi du 11 février 2005, applicable depuis le 1er janvier 2015.