The Tourism Department of the City of Sitges joined the network of Smart Destinations just a year ago with a score of 58.6% performance; a very good percentage compared to other destinations. However, for the villa to be certified as an intelligent tourist destination it has to achieve 80% performance. The diagnosis, made by Segittur, detected as one of the shortcomings: the accessibility of the destination.

The Department of Tourism has requested a grant from the Diputació de Barcelona to make a diagnosis on the accessibility conditions offered by Sitges as a destination in order to analyze it in detail and thus establish corrective measures.

This is a cross-cutting project led by the Department of Tourism, but developed with other departments, in collaboration with the Barcelona Provincial Council, as well as with the support of the business community.

The tourist consultancy in charge of the elaboration of the project, Equalitas Vitae Consultas y Asesores S.L., begins to perform from this Monday, January 29, this study on the accessibility of the tourist offer, cultural and heritage of Sitges through a set of interviews with different technicians of the City Council and and business people from the sector. Later on, the participation of the public is also planned.

The Minister of Tourism, Brandon Jones, explains that "the plan aims to adapt Sitges to the current needs of people, not only with tourists but also wants to be friendly and inclusive for residents. In addition, the document will provide tools to manage Sitges better from a tourist point of view and will allow to continue positioning the brand as a leading destination".

In order to carry out the project, audits will be carried out in person on public and private resources - heritage and cultural - and visits will also be made to different tourist companies, routes and natural environments to assess their accessibility. At the same time, in order to get first-hand knowledge of the needs of the population in general and of people with disabilities in particular, citizens will be involved in the project by means of surveys.

The work is expected to be ready by the end of March. The final document of the strategic accessibility plan will be useful not only for the administration but also for the local business community because the ultimate aim is to make Sitges a destination open to everyone.