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FIRST REPORT ON ACCESSIBILITY IN PERU FOR

TOURISTS WITH DISABILITIES

Peru, January 2001

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Tourism for people withdisabilities

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Tourism for people with disabilities

TThe project “Peru: Towards an Accessible Tourism”, organized byPromPerú in co-ordination with Kéroul (Canada), SATH (U.S.A.),Conadis and Confiep, was aimed at making public and private compa-nies more sensitive about the issues of accessibility and disability, train-ing specialists from the tourism sector and analyzing –with measuringtapes and special evaluation sheets– the accessibility level of more thanone hundred tourist facilities, such as hotels, restaurants, malls, tour-ist attractions, airports, churches and museums. Target cities includedAguas Calientes, Cusco, Iquitos, Lima and Trujillo. These were days ofhard work, in which more than one asked if the project weren’t tooambitious in trying to evaluate so many places in such a short time.However, our will made it all possible. In fact, it was a decision thatwas fed everyday by the enthusiasm of all the people we met and whoseenergy was perhaps the only thing too big to be measured by our tapes.

Decision and enthusiasm were our loyal friends along the road, espe-cially in Aguas Calientes, where the group, which included two con-sultants in wheelchairs –José and Guy- and a third with a white cane– Francisco -, climbed to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu. Despite thesun and the numerous stone stairs, it was easy to feel the emotion inour hearts when we reached the Temple of the Three Windows, one ofthe highest areas of the archaeological complex. That afternoon, eachperson deep inside had won a personal challenge.

Many were the lessons we learned in a month, but maybe the mostimportant was that all physical limitations can be surpassed with deci-sion. A wise young prince once said, “The essential things are not mate-rial, they are really invisible to the eyes”.

In this sense, Peru is on its way towards accessibility and even thoughthere are still lots of pending challenges related to infrastructure, Pe-ruvians have the firm decision to open our country to everyone. Andthis is really essential and important. As examples, we have one thou-sand people who attended the training workshops with the intention ofoffering the best service to people with disabilities, tour operators whomade huge efforts in trying to find the most comfortable way for theircustomers to travel by wheelchair through the Amazon rainforest orthe Andes and others who, despite the scarcity of their resources, builtaccessible toilets and ramps before we arrived..

For the training portion of the project, we created an 85-page ServiceManual for Tourists with Disabilities, with information developed ex-clusively for these workshops, as well as materials from previous re-search conducted by local and foreign organizations. Each participantreceived the manual on computer diskette as well as a diploma.

There are many opportunities that arise for Peru by promoting thedevelopment of tourism for people with disabilities, a market estimatedat 61 million people in Canada, the US and Western Europe (Kéroul,

PresentationPresentation

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1994). In the US alone, the main source of tourists that come to Peru,the disabled population is at least 54 million people (US Census Bu-reau, 1994).

PromPeru has taken since 1998 a series of actions in favor of the devel-opment of tourism for people with disabilities, with the knowledge thatupgrading the infrastructure and tourist services will benefit not onlytourists with disabilities, but also the general population, especiallysenior citizens, people with temporary disabilities (due to accidents orillness), pregnant women, people with babies and overweight people.The work that PromPeru has done during these years was possiblethanks to a joint effort between private and public institutions. Thiseffort was recognized by SATH in January 1999 when it awardedPromPeru the Access to Freedom Award during its Third World Con-gress that took place in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. (USA). That same yearPromPeru presented in Lima and Cusco the investigative report Tour-ism for people with disabilities: a market segment in expansion, thefirst of a series of documents, like this one, that will enable us to makemore people aware, on a daily basis, of the importance of Tourism forAll.

The present evaluation report constitutes the first effort made in Peruto analyze accessibility levels of the local tourist infrastructure andincludes the future challenge of integrating more cities and touristservices. In the future, the plan is to publish a tourism guide for peoplewith disabilities.

We thank all the people who motivate us every day to continue withthe project of tourism development for people with disabilities. We alsothank Laurel Van Horn from SATH, Guy Déry from Kéroul, José Isolafrom Confiep and Francisco Vásquez from Conadis for helping usthroughout one whole month, leaving their jobs, homes and familiesin order to achieve this shared dream. Our thanks go also to FernandoSotomayor from Lima Tours, for his unlimited patience and toGhislaine Busby, for the calmness transmitted to the group. We alsothank all those businessmen and officials of the private and publicsectors who made this project possible. Thank you.

Alessia Di PaoloChief of the Project, Tourism for People with DisabilitiesPromPeru

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The project “Peru:Towards Accessible Tourism”developed by PromPeru in coordination withKéroul (Canada), SATH (USA), CONADIS (Peru)and CONFIEP (Peru), in September of 2000 in-cluded evaluation of the existing tourism infra-structure of the cities of Aguas Calientes, Cusco,Iquitos, Lima and Trujillo. More than 100 hotels,restaurants, tourist attractions, museums and air-ports were evaluated These are the main conclu-sions of what is the first effort done to analyze thedegree of accessibility of tourist products and ser-vices for people with disabilities in Peru. The evalu-ations were made using the standards of the Ca-nadian organization Keroul and those used bySATH that are based on the American with Dis-abilities Act. (See Accessibility Categories section).Some of the suggestions and recommendationsmade are included in the Manual for the Attentionof Tourists with Disabilities and on the report: Tour-ism for People with Disabilities: a Developing Seg-ment. Both of these documents have been publishedby PromPeru and are available to everybody thatis interested in them.

Lodging facilities

• Of the 43 lodging facilities that were evalu-ated (hotels, hostels and lodges) information of29 of these facilities has been included in thisreport. This is because their infrastructure,at the moment the evaluation was done, camenearer to the parameters used internationallyto classify levels of accessibility.

• Even though none of the facilities evaluatedcan be considered as accessible for people withall kinds of disabilities, there are hotels in-cluded in this report that offer wheelchair ac-cessible rooms and/or have public spaces thatare accessible with help (like restaurants, rec-reation areas and/or public restrooms).

• Most of the wheelchair accessible hotels arelocated in Lima, followed by the city of Cusco.In Trujillo, Aguas Calientes and Iquitos thereare no totally accessible lodging facilities. How-ever, there is a lodge, located in the Amazonrainforest, that has a wheelchair accessibleroom and bathroom.

• Most of the hotels that were evaluated showedtheir commitment to modify part of their in-frastructure to give adequate service to guestswith disabilities. They have to take into con-sideration that the international rules statethat all lodging facilities have to have a num-ber of accessible rooms depending on the totalamount of rooms they have in the facility. Partof these hotel personnel attended the trainingseminars that were given during the project.We recommend that the hotels, hostels andlodges include in their service policies thetraining of their staff to better serve touristswith disabilities and that they consider buy-ing the basic technological aids to serve deafand hard of hearing people, as well as specialtraining on emergency evacuation procedures.

Restaurants

• Of the 34 restaurants that were evaluated,information of 31 of these facilities has beenincluded in this report. This is because theirinfrastructure, at the moment the evaluationwas done, came nearer to the parameters usedinternationally to classify levels of accessibil-ity.

• Even though none of the restaurants evalu-ated can be considered as accessible for peoplewith all kinds of disabilities, there are restau-rants included in this report that offer certainspecial services, like wheelchair accessiblepublic restrooms and/or entrances that are ac-cessible or accessible with help. Even thoughnone of the restaurants evaluated had menusin Braille, part of their personnel was trainedand instructed on how to give a better serviceto blind or vision impaired people, as well ason how to serve people with mobility impair-ments.

• Only a small number of the evaluated restau-rants, located in the cities of Lima and Trujillo(Huanchaco), had wheelchair accessible pub-lic restrooms.

• We recommend that all the restaurantsmodify their public restrooms to make themaccessible, especially for people that use wheel-chairs or that have other physical problems.

Conclusions and recommendations

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Also we recommend that they make a specialeffort to better the quality of service offered todeaf or hard of hearing people.

Tourist attractions

• Of the 26 tourist attractions that were evalu-ated (museums, churches and archeologicalsites) information about 24 of these facilitieshas been included in this report. This is be-cause their infrastructure, at the moment theevaluation was done, came nearer to the pa-rameters used internationally to classify lev-els of accessibility or can be accessible withthe help of specially trained staff. This is thecase of the citadel of Machu Picchu (Cusco)and the clay city of Chan Chan (Trujillo) bothof them appointed as Natural and CulturalMankind Heritage by UNESCO and thereforeforbidden to be altered.

• People using wheelchairs can visit these sitesin the company of tour operators that havespecially trained personnel to take care of theirneeds.

• There are museums, like the Larco Herreramuseum in the city of Lima that offer specialservices for blind and vision impaired people.For example: these persons will be allowed totouch with their hands some replicas of thepieces that are exhibited. Also, the museumlocated inside the Chan Chan ruins in Trujillooffers special services for deaf and hard of hear-ing people.

• We recommend that the areas that are out-side the zones identified as historical heritage(like public restrooms, ticket counters and sou-venir shops), be remodeled in order to satisfythe needs of tourists with disabilities, speciallythose using wheelchairs. Also we recommendthat the people working as guides at these sitesbe trained for the better service of deaf andhard of hearing people and visitors who areblind.

Other services

• Of the four airports that were evaluated in thecities of Lima, Cusco, Iquitos and Trujillo, theone that was most accessible was the VelascoAstete Airport in the city of Cusco. This air-

port has jetways to board and disembark peoplefrom airplanes, as well as wheelchair acces-sible public restrooms. With the exception ofthe airport of the city of Iquitos, all the air-ports evaluated had wheelchair accessible pub-lic restrooms.

• Part of the personnel from Peru’s Airport andCivil Aviation Corporation (CORPAC) wastrained to give better service to travelers withdisabilities at the training sessions that weregiven through out the duration of the project.

• The main Peruvian airports are in the pro-cess of being given in concession to privateoperators. The Jorge Chavez Airport of the cityof Lima has already been given in concessionto a company that has committed itself to re-model the terminal infrastructure in a giventime. We recommend that this remodelingprocess include accessibility criteria for allkinds of disabilities.

• Most of the airlines that fly to and from Peruas well as those that serve the local destina-tions have boarding chairs available. Part oftheir personnel was trained during the dura-tion of the project on how to use these chairs,and in the cases that the airports did not havejetways, they were trained on how the con-duct the boarding and disembarking processusing the boarding chairs. Nonetheless, werecommend constant training sessions, so thatall personnel (cabin crews, counter attendantsand ground personnel, as well as the person-nel of the companies sub contracted by the air-lines and the airport operators), get refreshertraining at least once a year.

• We recommend that those airlines that do notown boarding chairs, avoid boarding and dis-embarking passengers in their own chairs orin chairs that airports have available for pas-senger use. These chairs have no security fea-tures that guarantee the safety of the personsitting on them and cannot access the aisles.Hand carrying people in and out of airplanesmust not be permitted under any circum-stance.

• Peru has in the cities of Cusco, Lima, Iquitosand Trujillo tour operators specialized in serv-ing this segment of the market and that are

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very interested in keeping themselves updatedand broadening their services. These compa-nies are in constant coordination with othertourist service providers (like those who pro-vide ground transportation) to assure that acomfortable and secure service is provided.

We recommend that both govenment and privatesectors work seriously in the development of a sys-tem that makes transportation easier for peopleusing wheelchairs, through retrofitting air andground transportation terminals as well as invest-ing in adapted means of transportation (trains,motor coaches, vans and taxi cabs).

If you want to know more information about the level of accessibility of tourist products and servicesfor people with disabilities in Peru, you can contact Alessia Di Paolo, at [email protected]

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ConadisCreated in 1999, the National Council of Integra-tion for Disabled People (Consejo Nacional deIntegración de la Persona con Discapacidad -Conadis) is the Decentralized Public Institution ofthe Women and Human Development Ministry(Ministerio de la Mujer y del Desarrollo Humano– Promudeh). Among Conadis’s functions are for-mulating and approving all kinds of policies, suchas prevention, protection, health care, work, edu-cation, rehabilitation, social security and accessi-bility, so that people with disabilities develop andintegrate socially, culturally and economically.

WebPages: www.conadisperu.gob.peE-mail: [email protected] numbers: (511) 428 -9888 Fax: (511) 427 -9027

ConfiepThe National Confederation of Private BusinessInstitutions (Confederación Nacional deInstituciones Empresariales Privadas –CONFIEP) was officially established in 1984. Itsobjective was to contribute to the sustainable eco-nomic growth process, based on investment andwork promotion from the efforts of individual ini-tiative, business expansion and private property.Its growing responsibility is to examine the glo-bal context and promote the country’s integra-tion within international markets. Confiep bringstogether and represents Peru’s private businessactivity, at local and worldwide levels. A repre-sentative from Confiep is part of Conadis’s Ex-ecutive Council since its creation in 1999.

E-mail: [email protected] numbers: (511) 440- 6050 Fax: (511) 221-7225

KéroulFounded in the city of Montreal (Canada) in 1979by André Leclerc, who is also the current execu-tive director, Kéroul is an organization that seeksto facilitate, together with the tourist industry,tourism accessibility for people with disabilities.To solve the needs of those tourist companies will-ing to serve the significant portion of the marketformed by people with disabilities, Kéroul offers abroad variety of services including all-inclusivetours and trips, training, consulting and publica-tions. Kéroul has been recognized by the Officefor People with Disabilities of the Province of Que-bec and is Tourisme Quebec’s privileged spokes-man for people with disabilities. The city ofMontreal has recently named Kéroul as its spe-

cial advisor regarding tourism for people withdisabilities.

WebPages: www.keroul.qc.caE-mail: [email protected] number: (1-514) 252 -3104 Telefax (1-514)254 - 0766

PromPerúCreated in 1993, the Commission for the Promo-tion of Peru - PromPerú (Comisión de Promocióndel Perú) is in charge of promoting an integratedand attractive image of the country, thus encour-aging investments and tourism. In its promotiontask, PromPerú develops strategies for integralpromotion and information. Since April 1998, itis working on developing tourism for people withdisabilities, in co-ordination with public and pri-vate institutions. Part of the information collectedsince that time is compiled in a research studytitled “Tourism for people with disability: a devel-oping segment” (October 1999).

WebPages: www.peru.org.peE-mail: [email protected] numbers: (511) 224 -3279 /71 Fax: (511) 224-3323

SATHCreated in 1976, the Society for the Advancementof Travel for the Handicapped – SATH is an edu-cational non-profit which works actively in theUnited States and worldwide to promote and im-prove tourism for people with disabilities andmature travelers. SATH represents the interestsof these persons within the main American tour-ism organizations such as American Society ofTravel Agents and National Tour Association. Inaddition to serving as a clearinghouse for accessinformation, SATH publishes a disability travelmagazine, Open World, and organizes conferenceson accessible travel in the US and overseas. Anactive advocate of disability rights, SATH wasinvolved in the creation of the accessibility sec-tion of the Americans with Disabilities Act andrecently served on an Access Board committeewriting new access guidelines for passenger ves-sels. As of January 2001, SATH will have a newname: Society for Accessible Travel & Hospitality.

WebPages: www.sath.orgE-mail: [email protected] numbers: 1 (212) 447 -7284; Fax: 1 (212)

725-8253

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© PromPerúThis document and the information containedtherein may be reproduced, on condition that thesource be quoted.

PromPerúEdificio Mitinci, piso 13,Calle Uno Oeste s/nUrb. Córpac, Lima 27

Tel: (511) 224-3118 / 224-3125Fax: (511) 224-3323E-mail: [email protected]

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