Barrier Free Tourism: Pilot Project will be implemented for PWDs

The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism plans to draft Barrier Free Tourism Pilot Project, and as the initial step, arrangements will be made for providing services to the Persons With Disabilities at the Hotels and tour related destinations.

On Thursday, a workshop on Barrier Free Tourism for All was held at the Ministry. Union Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr Thet Thet Khaing discussed that implementation of the Barrier Free Tourism in the post-COVID-19 period will benefit not only for the PWDs but also for those who have difficulties for traveling and all commuters.

Myanmar is carrying out for rehabilitation and development of PWDs in line with the human rights norms. It also needs to make arrangements for the PWDs to ensure smooth and easy commuting in public transportation system. In the neighbouring ASEAN member countries, there are many tour packages for the PWDs like Barrier Free Tourism, Accessible Tourism and Wheel Chair Tour.

Implementation of Barrier Free Tourism could benefit turn out not only social benefits but also the economic gains. Union Minister Dr Htay Aung also discussed that various tour packages have been developed for public recreation, and it also needs to create smooth and easy environ for the PWDs and those who have difficulties in traveling.

He called for cooperation of all involved persons for implementation of the project. 2014 Census showed that there are 2.3 million PWDs in Myanmar, accounting for 4.6% of the countrys’s population. Moreover, some 46% of the senior population in the world are PWDs, and the UN statistics also show that there are 727 million of senior persons aged 65 and above in the world in 2020. In Myanmar, there are 4.5 million senior citizens as per the 2014 Census.