NATIVE has been working since 2010 for the accessibility of hotels for the convenience of more clients and the attraction of new ones. We help hotels comply with the Equality laws and follow the instructions of the UNWTO. The accessible platform of NATIVE is the first international hotel network that allows the website to be manageable by 500 million elderly or disabled people who can not use a computer today if the webs are not created in accessible code. Our InSuit tool has just won the Queen Letizia Award for Accessibility Technologies. Information is the first step of the tourism chain.
The NATIVE website can be operated without seeing the screen, without touching the keyboard and without speaking to the computer. Blows, sounds or playing any key – in the case of Parkinson’s for example – is equivalent to mouse clicks. Soon the users will be able also to navigate with the simple movement of the eyes and a blink is a mouse click.
Like this, our website is practical also for the 500 million people unable to manage a PC if the websites are conventional. NATIVE´s website looks like the others, but it can be handled without seeing the screen, without touching the keyboard and without talking to the computer if we select “Activate accessibility”. So, is is usable also by clients with Parkinson´s disease, blindness or impaired vision and any kind of reduced mobility in hands or fingers. In these cases it works by means of blows, sounds or touching any key. Practical also for customers with color blindness -personalized selection of background and text colors- or if we forgot our glasses -increase the size of texts 8 times higher or lower-.
We have been the finalist of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2017 Innovation of the World Travel & Tourism Council WTTC, the world’s largest institution of tourism professionals, at the ceremony of its Annual Summit, chaired in Bangkok by David CAMERON: “While much of the industry continues to make considerable progress on this issue, few have embraced the challenge and opportunity as innovatively as the company Native Hotels”, said the president of the Jury during the ceremony.
We have been also World Responsible Tourism Award of the World Travel Market in London 2014. Also Trophée Maroc du Tourisme Responsable of the Moroccan Government in 2014.
The United Nations has chosen NATIVE as one of the 6 global projects selected for the “Call to Action” of the 10YFP Sustainable Tourism Program of the 2030 agenda, last December in Botswana.
We are advisers on accessible tourism and we promote technological solutions for the deaf customers, the blind, the customers having allergies and food intolerances, the elder people. Everyone who wants to enjoy leisure time.
By the moment we are only present in Morocco with a selection of hotels, but we would provide suggestions for accessible accomodation in all Africa. Our most surprising contribution has been a wheelchair to ride a camel, to allow handicaped people to enjoy a trek in the Moroccan desert. One of our most iconic images.
We could send to you some visual information about our work. By the moment you can take a look in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qEnUHHQjWQ (French)
https://vimeo.com/212615006 (English)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpLGO2nWwRY (several languages)
http://www.greenhotelier.org/our-news/industry-news/native-hotels-is-tourism-for-tomorrow-finalist/
http://www.naidex.co.uk/exhibitors/native-hotels-and-accessible-tourism/
NATIVE is a nonprofit association promoting the universal accessibility to Tourism also for more than 600 million people with disabilities or reduced mobylity. We manage no budget, we are volunteers, but we are very activ in media, trade fairs (own stand in FITUR and INTUR, Naidex Birmingham, TechHOTEL Live London), participating in many others (ITB Berlin, BTL Lisbon, WTM London…), and we are one of the 6 projets selected in the Botswana Symposium of the 10YFP Programme by United Nations to be promoted in 2018 in a global level.
Our web platform www.nativehotels.org is extremely accessible, and it can be used by people with any kind of reduced mobility also. Our system will be adopted by UNWTO website soon.
We could include the logo of AFRICAN TOURISM BOARD in our website like a Partner, and we can promote your brand in our public events, specially in the mentioned trade fairs.
Ramón Ramón, director of communication