Protected Areas – Accessible Areas in Poland

Adaptation of Polish national parks and landscape parks for easier access for people with disabilities.

Background

Across the EU, 80 million people live with a more or less severe disability. Tourism and recreation are important aspects of rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. They contribute to and improvement of physical fitness and efficiency. Visiting touristic sites such as national parks leads to an overall improvement of mood, restoration of self-confidence and regaining of emotional balance.

In Poland, the national parks offer a major destination for tourism. 23 national parks extend on 317,000 hectares, which represents approx. 1 % of the country’s area. These parks attracted more than 60 % of all tourists. Yet, information on accessibility is outdated or simply not available.

Project Goals

The project aims to improve the accessibility of national and landscape parks in Poland for people with disabilities.

It takes a comprehensive approach that includes concrete and strategic elements and addresses the needs of people with different types of disabilities. The project takes into account the diversity of parks in terms of nature, location, size, etc., so that concepts can be applied context-specifically.

Project Activities

In cooperation with supranational partners, the project will develop a new, comprehensive model for improving accessibility of national and landscape parks for people with various disabilities. This includes, for example, information availability on the internet as well as barrier-free access to information and catering services in the park.

The newly developed comprehensive framework model will be implemented in one of the national or landscape parks, tested and good implementation practices identified.

In addition to people with different types of disabilities, the measures are also intended to benefit other people with specific needs (such as older people) who encounter barriers when accessing the services of the national and landscape parks.