Barrier-free: Minister of Economics Sven Schulze presents certification

Barrier-free: Minister of Economics Sven Schulze presents “Travel for All” certification to Dessau-Roßlau and six local businesses

Dessau-Roßlau is already the fourth city in Saxony-Anhalt to be certified as a barrier-free tourist destination. And is now among only 11 cities nationwide in Germany.
Sven Schulze, Minister of Economy, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of Saxony-Anhalt, honored this today at a ceremony in the Bauhaus Museum Dessau, awarding the certificates “Travel for All” to the city and six other tourism businesses. In addition to the Bauhaus Museum, these include the Anhaltinische Gemäldegalerie, the City Pension Dessau, the zoo and the tourist information offices in Dessau and Roßlau.

Barrier-free certified places and enterprises make a participation and carefree vacation joys possible for as many guests as possible.
Minister of Economic Affairs Sven Schulze explains: “With four certified tourist resorts now, Saxony-Anhalt occupies a top position nationwide. In addition, we were able to certify nearly 200 businesses as barrier-free. I am very proud that our Saxony-Anhalt is taking a pioneering role throughout Germany with important offers like these. In this way, we are increasing the attractiveness of our travel destination. The state of Saxony-Anhalt will continue to work to ensure that more barrier-free places are created in the future to make travel possible for everyone.”
Elke Witt, Managing Director of the World Heritage Region Anhalt-Dessau-Wittenberg e.V., adds: “The tourist facilities in the city of Dessau have invested a great deal of commitment and also financial resources in making their offerings accessible to people with disabilities. In addition to the tourist beacons such as the Bauhaus Museum, other great tourist offers of Dessau have been tested for accessibility.
Congratulations for that!”

The World Heritage Region expects the high appreciation of all guest groups in accordance with its marketing claim “World Heritage. Love” not least an increase in its guest numbers. Also the service quality is taken in Dessau Rosslau into the focus, in order to make from content guests convincing ambassadors, as Hannes wolf, managing director of the city marketing company Dessau Rosslau explains: ?Each guest is to be able to orient itself and move in Dessau Rosslau as barrier-free as possible. The award as a barrier-free certified tourist destination is first and foremost an incentive for us and our partners, because the issue of accessibility is a permanent task. And we are very happy to take on this challenge.

The criteria for the uniform Germany-wide “Travel for All” label include, for example, signposted parking spaces, elevators, ramps or entrances with no steps, public WCs for people with disabilities, large movement areas in rooms, listening stations in museums or inclusive guided tours.

Special target group reports are prepared for each barrier-free certified establishment. Barrier-free certified tourist destinations, on the other hand, only acquire the award if at least three barrier-free certified offers can be developed.
These include accommodations, recreational activities, museum visits, guided tours or gastronomy.

Background:
The federal project “Travel for All” makes it possible for the first time to have the infrastructure of a facility checked by trained experts according to uniform, detailed and reliable criteria throughout Germany. As a result, audit reports are produced for various target groups, published on appropriate thematic websites and incorporated into thematic marketing campaigns. Special attention is paid, among other things, to the design of barrier-free audited offers in appealing tourist towns and regions with corresponding accommodation, gastronomic and leisure facilities as well as museum/cultural facilities.

Increasing the number of barrier-free offerings is one of the goals in Saxony-Anhalt’s Tourism 2027 Master Plan. The “Travel for All” project is funded by the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Economics, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry and implemented by Investitions- und Marketinggesellschaft Sachsen-Anhalt mbH (IMG). Here, barrier-free offers of local tourism businesses are surveyed and certified on the basis of the Germany-wide standardized labeling system. Guests who are looking for barrier-free offers thus receive reliable information before starting their journey, which can be viewed clearly on the Internet at www.reisen-fuer-alle.de.