Since 2008, the Hong Kong Federation of Handicapped Youth (hereinafter referred to as the “Federation”) has been sponsored by the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) and the Equal Opportunities Commission. It has designated volunteer teams consisting of disabled and healthy people to visit all districts of Hong Kong and conduct field tests, and compiled the collected data into the brochure titled Barrier-free Travel Guide (hereinafter referred to as the “Guide”). In addition to providing people in need with the required barrier-free travel information, the Guide aims to advocate the public to care about the needs and difficulties of the disabled when traveling, and to arouse the recognition of the concept of “barrier-free travel” by various social groups and institutions.

The response of the community to the Guide is fairly ideal, and therefore, this brochure has been updated and printed many times since its launch, and a web version and a mobile app version have also been produced. The Federation hopes that the Guide can draw more attention from the public to “Barrier-free Travel”.

“Barrier-free Travel” signifies that any person, including the disabled, the elderly and pregnant women, can easily visit the tourist attractions and access all the facilities in the scenic spots. The Federation believes that all human beings are created equal. Everyone, whether disabled or not, should fairly have the basic rights to participate in community activities and barrier-free travels.

To further promote the barrier-free development of Hong Kong, the Federation applied to the LWB in 2022 once again for funding to launch the “Accesible Recreation in Hong Kong 2022/23”. The disabled and healthy people were recruited again to form volunteer teams, and continued to visit all districts over Hong Kong to provide the latest and most appropriate barrier-free information for those in need.

The Barrier-free Recreation Guide focuses on each design route and introduces scenic spots, itineraries and barrier-free information to readers in multiple columns. With the practical and interesting content, it will help readers improve their interest and motivation in travelling. Its content is mainly concerned with the travel needs of people with impaired mobility and physical disabilities, so as to provide important and practical information and reduce the inconvenience of travel. The Federation hopes that this new edition of the Guide will enable the public, public transport operators and relevant government departments to fully understand the concept and significance of the barrier-free travel, so as to promote the improvement of barrier-free facilities in places involved. Meanwhile, through reading the Guide, people in need are allowed to obtain practical information about the barrier-free travel. In addition to providing barrier-free information as before, the new edition of the Guide contains 25 new routes, including those to the outlying islands of Kowloon and New Territories, Hong Kong, which contributes to exploring different places of interest and leisure attractions in Hong Kong. Enormous beautiful scenic spots are located in Hong Kong, such as waterfront promenades and country parks, which make people accessible to nature while enjoying the beauty of Hong Kong’s nature. The Federation hopes that more disabled people are attracted to come out and explore the community, enhancing their motivation to travel with family and friends and then enjoy the pleasure of barrier-free travels with ease.

As more and more people with disabilities go out of the community, the attention of the society to barrier-free facilities naturally increase, which finally further promotes the barrier-free development of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a world-renowned tourist city with tourism as one of its major economic properties. It is hoped that through this scheme and its accomplishment, the society can be urged to provide more and improve various barrier-free facilities in the community, thus making Hong Kong a real “barrier-free city” to attract visitors with the different needs all over the world in visiting Hong Kong.