People with disabilities also have leisure time and go on holiday! A tourist clientele with specific needs in terms of information and welcome services... expectations that the students at Excelia Tourism School have been trained to meet.
Right from Year 1 of the Bachelor programme, LRTHS students can choose a third modern language from Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese or even sign language, a course taught by a certified teacher, and which has been on offer for more than 3 years now.
In Year 3, they study a compulsory module, "Accessible Tourism", developed in conjunction with four associations: Association des Paralysés de France, for physical and motor disabilities, Association Valentin Haüy, for visual impairments, ADAPEI, a regional association for parents and friends of mentally-disabled persons, and CISIC et ARDS associations for hearing impairments. The lecturers themselves are people with disabilities.
The objective of this continuous assessment module, with role-playing scenarios, is to raise awareness amongst our students, who will become future professionals in the tourism industry, so that they can develop products and services that take into account these different disabilities. With this in mind, for one whole day, the students have to live with a certain disability such as being blindfolded, having their hands tied etc. A real awakening of awareness to encourage a change in outlook and open-mindedness.
In addition, as part of the module, Charentes Tourisme, an economic and tourism development agency dedicated to tourism professionals and local authorities in Charente and Charente-Maritime, presents the Tourisme & Handicaps label to our students. This national label recognises advances made in terms of accessibility and the welcoming of this specific clientele, to ensure that they can choose their holidays and leisure activities in complete freedom, safety and autonomy, whatever their disability (hearing, mental, motor or visual). Charente-Maritime is proud to be the leading French destination in terms of the number of tourist sites with the Tourisme & Handicaps label!
The School is committed to working in perfect harmony with its local region and regularly organises events such as "The Olympics for All", a games event for a mixed audience, and "Senses", a dinner in the dark. This dinner, organised by those on the Tourism and Digital Technologies specialisation, in association with the Minimes Youth Hostel and the Association Valentin Haüy, aims to put the students themselves in the shoes of the visually-impaired, making them use their other senses: touch, taste and smell. Creating awareness... which definitely makes sense!
