Can rural tourism become inclusive? Discover the project funded by the European COSME programme that supports rural tourism enterprises across Europe to improve their accessibility.
Inclusive Rural Tourism: Data in Europe
Traveling is still not a right for everyone. In Europe, over 80 million people with disabilities encounter barriers already at the stage of booking a trip or accessing basic information. Challenges are even greater in rural tourism, where accessible infrastructures and services are often lacking.
Yet accessibility is not only a matter of fairness: it is also a major economic opportunity. Beyond people with disabilities, inclusive tourism addresses the needs of seniors, families with young children, pregnant women, and people recovering from injuries. Ensuring accessible transport, facilities, and digital tools means expanding the market and generating sustainable, long-term growth.
The response: DigAccessAgrotourism
Recognizing this gap, the European Commission and key stakeholders have long advocated for barrier-free tourism. However, many agritourism businesses, especially in rural areas, are still lagging behind.
This is the context in which DigAccessAgrotourism was created: a European project active in six countries (Belgium, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Poland, and Cyprus). Coordinated by a diverse partnership—OIC Foundation, EUROSUCCESS, Legacoop Emilia-Romagna, FENACERCI, the Greek-Italian Chamber of Commerce, the Cyprus Agroturism Company, and the ARFIE network—the project aims to make rural tourism more accessible through digital transformation.
Key actions
To achieve its goal, DigAccessAgrotourism focuses on the following activities:
- Needs mapping: analyzing gaps in digitalization and accessibility among rural tourism SMEs in the social economy.
- Training and support: mentoring and technical assistance for agritourism SMEs to implement concrete accessibility improvements and adopt technologies such as IoT and data-driven tools.
- Supporting facilitators: equipping “support organizations” of agritourism SMEs with the know-how needed to guide digital transition in the sector.
- Engaging operators: involving social economy SMEs operating in rural areas in the project’s activities to ensure real on-the-ground impact.
- Best practices: collecting and sharing accessible and digital solutions already tested at the European level.
A project in line with the EU
DigAccessAgrotourism is closely aligned with EU strategies for the digital transition of SMEs, the promotion of social innovation, and sustainable development. Its goal is twofold: economic growth and social inclusion.
Next steps
Project partners are currently carrying out assessments in six countries, identifying the needs of the rural tourism sector in terms of digital transition and accessibility. This process involves 100 social economy agritourism enterprises and 16 support organizations. Moreover, it will gather 20 European best practices of digital solutions that improve accessibility in rural tourism.
The results will feed into a structured framework to train sector operators through the project’s capacity-building activities and to guide future accessibility policies.
An initial presentation of the project and its objectives will take place during the webinar on 27 May 2025. Register here!
Source: digaccess-agrotourism.eu/it/blog/bViLAR7UQJ2tU1gdThPh7w
Views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor EISMEA can be held responsible for them.
