Guangzhou, September 8 - The host city of the 2010 Asian Para Games Guangzhou welcomed a team of experts on barrier-free facilities from the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) who were on a tour to inspect barrier-free facilities of the Games headquarters hotel the Chateau Star River and offer some detailed advices for improvement on Wednesday.

The delegation inspect barrier-free facilites of the Games headquarters hotel.

The delegation inspect barrier-free facilites of toilets at the Games headquarters hotel.

At the parking lot

At the lobby

The delegation inspect barrier-free facilites of toilets at the Games headquarters hotel.

One member of the deletation takes an interview during the tour.

The team inspected the accessible facilities of the hotel's lobby, parking lots, toilets, presidential suites, suites and standard rooms.

One member of the inspection team works as an expert of barrier-free design for the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and provides consultancy advices to APC on creating an accessible environment. He used to work for the construction of barrier-free facilities for the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games and Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games. During the tour, he thought highly of barrier-free faculties in the Games headquarters hotel, adding: "The safe and barrier-free environment of the Chateau Star River does impress me a lot with appropriate planning and layout.

"I like this place and hope I can often stay here in the future."

He also came out with some detailed advices for improvement. For example, clearer signs for disabled toilets and lower grab bars inside of the toilets should be installed

In his opinion, the Games headquarters hotel will set an example for hotels around the city in building an accessible environment and Guangzhou can enhance its barrier-free facilities for the disabled in the city as it is to welcome the Guangzhou Asian Para Games slated for December 12 - 19.

(Zhu Runfang) (The End)