In the last decades, an increased consideration for the inclusion of people with special needs in all areas of life has lead to the concept of Accessible tourism which can be defined as the service which “enables people with access requirements, including mobility, vision, hearing and cognitive dimensions of access, to function independently and with equity and dignity through the delivery of universally designed tourism products, services and environments (...). (Darcy, S., & Dickson, T. 2009).According to ENAT, the European Network for Accessible Tourism, accessible tourism includes: • Barrier-free destinations: infrastructure and facilities• Transport: by air, land and sea, suitable for all users• High quality services: delivered by trained staff• Activities, exhibits, attractions: allowing participation in tourism by everyone• Marketing, booking systems, web sites & services: information accessible to allNevertheless, the extension of accessible tourism is often limited by the lack of real customized high quality proximity services for these clients with special needs. In fact, following the principles of independent living, full inclusion and full participation (individuality, self-determination, respect, informed choice, empowerment, flexibility) many of those clients may not be part of groups where needs are considered in a standarized way. There is a growing demand for proximity high quality customised services, adapted to the specific needs of clients. As a consequence, there is a growing demand too for professionals with a sound knowledge on local resources who are able to particpate with clients, applying the co-production principles, in the design of the most convenient solution for their individual needs.NEWSCAT gathers organizations with different and complementary expertise (research bodies, service providers organizations, advocacy and umbrella organizations...) in order to increase the competences of professionals of the tourist sector to deal with this demand. Those organizations are the Tourist Agency of Balearic Islands and Fundación EMPLEA (Spain), Consorzio Mestieri Lombardi (Italy), the European Association of Service Providers for Disability (EASPD) and the European Network of Accessible Tourism (ENAT) from Belgium, the National Association for Social Responsibility (Bulgaria), the Latvian Movement for Independent Living (Latvia) and the NHTV University of Applied Science of Breda (The Netherlands).In order to tackle this challenge, partners will develop the following products and will achieved the following results:- A “How to Guide” on Customised Accessible Tourism- A professional profile and a training course for the Customised Accessible Tourism Assistant which will be tested by means of a pilot training action.- An Awareness Raising Toolkit to promote Customised Accessible Tourism- A Guide for the design and implementation of Customised Accessible Tourism, addressed to policy makers and key stakeholders, including 4 case studies for the 4 touristic destinations that take part in the partnership- 40 trainees will take part in training activities included in the project- 4 National workshops will be organized by project partners to present the model to key agents and policy makers- More than 200 key stakeholders and policy makers will take part in dissemination activities promoted by the project, including national workshops and final seminar- A final public seminar will be held with the participation of all the partnersTherefore, the project is maily address to increase knowledge, skills and capacities of two main target groups:- Professionals, companies and entrepreneurs involved in the tourist sector. For this target gruop, the project will identify and define the main support and assistance methodologies to be used to provide CAT services. Those methodologies will be gathered in a How to Guide and will lead to the definition of a professional profile and a competence model for the Customised Accessible Tourism Assistant. Those outputs will be the base for the development of an on line training for CAT assistants that will be tested by means of a training pilot action and, once its relevance and applicability has been proved, will be disseminated so that tourist professionals can gain the appropriate skills.- Key agents and policy makers. In order to increase the transferability and applicability of the training tools, it is necessary to address policy makers and key -stakeholders involved in tourism, making them aware of need to establish a enabling legal and policy framework and providing them with the tools to design and implement CAT programmes in their territories. The project will design an Awareness Raising Toolkit and a Guide for the Design and Implementation of CAT Programmes that will ensure that the training is not an isolated activity, but its impact is maximized by the adequate policies and legal frameworks.