Mayor Hasan Sipahioğlu provided information about the Project, stating that “very important steps have been taken towards a barrier-free city,” and noted that “the Project aims to ensure accessibility for everyone in Alanya and to provide the necessary technical, institutional, national, and international promotion, marketing, and financial cooperation to implement projects aimed at developing barrier-free tourism,” adding that work would be carried out in line with determined goals through the establishment of a joint commission with the participation of all parties.
ALTİD President Gülçin Güner, in her speech, drew attention to the fact that tourism gains even more meaning when environmental and social values coexist, and that Alanya has taken a step forward with this project. ALTSO President Kerim Aydoğan thanked the Mayor for the studies initiated for barrier-free tourism and barrier-free living in the city, emphasizing that the project would add significant value to the city's commercial life, that carrying out this work is a duty from a humanitarian perspective, and that from a commercial perspective, it would offer the opportunity to appeal to 10% of the world population.
District Governor Hulusi Doğan expressed that the project would be a significant gain in terms of alternative tourism and stated that people who see a person with a disability entering the sea and the pool without barriers would envy this project.
Deputy Minister Abdurrahman Arıcı, stating that Alanya is achieving a first, expressed that the concept of barrier-free tourism is spreading rapidly worldwide, and noted that the 7-year period stipulated by law for the completion of regulations regarding the accessibility of people with disabilities in public areas and public transportation vehicles will end in July 2012. Mentioning that the project will provide a great contribution to the diversification of tourism and its extension across 12 months, and touching upon the certified facilities, chambers, and bed capacities in Turkey and Alanya as well as the Green Star application, Arıcı stated that priority would be given to funding requests for regulations such as roads, sidewalks, parks, and beaches to be made for the accessibility of people with disabilities, and thanked the parties for their sensitivity in the formation of the project.
Following the speeches, the protocol for the project with the slogan ‘Alanya for Everyone’ was signed between Deputy Minister Abdurrahman Arıcı, Mayor Hasan Sipahioğlu, ALTSO President Kerim Aydoğan, and ALTİD President Gülçin Güner.