AusLeisure

The 'Sydney For All' website and the project that initiated the portal, a 2008 study called Visitor Accessibility in Urban Centres, led by Associate Professor Simon Darcy from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and funded by the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre, has jointly received the 2010 World Leisure International Innovation Prize.

Sydney For All and the 2008 study were among three World Leisure International Innovation Prize winners, presented at last weekâs World Leisure Congress in South Korea.

Entrants in the award are judged on factors including: innovation, community involvement, impact on participants and sustainability. Applicants were required to demonstrate that their project was inspirational and did not exist elsewhere.

Sydney For All is an ongoing partnership between Tourism NSW and Darcy, and provides information about accessible attractions and activities in Sydney including Circular Quay, The Rocks and Darling Harbour. The project has recently expanded with the City of Sydney provided funding for Darling Harbour attractions to be added to the website.

One of both project's key partners, Bruce Cameron, is attending the 11th World Leisure Congress in South Korea to receive the award. Cameron is the Principal of Easy Access Australia and was responsible for physically assessing each tourism attraction included in the portal.

Welcoming the receipt of the award, NSW Minister for Tourism Jodi McKay stated "Sydney For All has been designed to international standards for web accessibility and I'm delighted that it has received international recognition.

"Our accessible tourism portal is an Australian first and is thought to be a world first. It was developed by people with disabilities for people with disabilities to improve visitorsâ experience in Sydney.

"The Sydney For All portal is for people with disabilities and older people with mobility, vision, hearing and other support needs. It features universal symbols for attractions that feature facilities such as wheelchair access, audio assistance and sign language interpretation to help people determine which attractions provide the appropriate level of access for their needs.

"The web pages themselves have been specially designed. For example, users can change the text size to suit their needs and the content can be used with screen readers (software that assists people to read computer screens)."

In 2009 Sydney For All received a Highly Commended Certificate in the Vision Australia Making a Difference Awards.

It is estimated that around 20% of Australians and more than 600 million people worldwide have accessibility requirements with the accessible tourism market being worth around $4.8 billion to the Australian economy.

For more information go to www.sydneyforall.com

Image: Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.

22nd February 2010 - WORLD LEISURE INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION PRIZE  

7th January 2010 - STUDY ON DISABILITY PARTICIPATION IN SPORT AND RECREATION 

11th February 2010 - WORLD LEISURE CONGRESS HEADS TO KOREA

3rd April 2009 - WORLD LEISURE ANNOUNCES FUTURE STRATEGY