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Lessons from inclusive tourism on purpose

Africa News News African October 11, 2026 · Comments off

Imagine a tourist excursion that does not begin with questions about what a person cannot do, but with possibilities of what they can experience, discover and enjoy. Imagine a destination where accessibility is considered from the outset, allowing every traveller to explore with greater independence, dignity and confidence.

For far too long, the experiences, aspirations and perspectives of persons living with disabilities have been largely absent from the stories we tell about Kenya’s tourism destinations. The Kenya Beyond Sight Campaign was born from a desire to change that narrative, not simply by talking about inclusive tourism, but by putting it into practice.

Recently, six Kenyan creators embarked on a five-day journey along Kenya’s Coast to experience the country on their own terms, and demonstrate what becomes possible when tourism is intentionally designed with inclusion in mind.

As an ecosystem, no single organisation controls every part of the tourism experience, from financing and mobility to destination marketing, attraction access, hospitality and storytelling. If we want to make tourism genuinely more inclusive, we need to look beyond individual interventions and consider how different players can work together to remove barriers across the journey. That was one of the most important lessons from Kenya Beyond Sight which brought together several corporates.

KCB enabled the creators to transact conveniently throughout their journey through a mix of debit and prepaid cards. Rusis Energy Kenya supported mobility along the route through its network of service stations and enjoy convenience stores, providing places to refuel and recharge.

Kenya Tourism Board, through the Magical Kenya brand, brought destination-marketing expertise and industry networks to showcase Kenya through a more inclusive lens. Kenya Wildlife Service opened the gates to Malindi Marine Park, Accesible Travel Kenya curated the itinerary and facilitated the travel while Bamburi Cement facilitated access to Haller Park.

For brands, this requires moving beyond the traditional model of sponsorship, where organisations provide funding or visibility and consider the job done to a more intentional approach that understands the barriers within an experience and asking what each partner can contribute to remove them.

The creators were not participants in a tourism campaign but storytellers, experiencing destinations first-hand and documenting them from their own perspectives. This matters because people cannot be expected to choose experiences they cannot see but through authentic storytelling that can change perceptions and build confidence.

The campaign highlighted the role of purpose given its ability to enable a brand to move beyond what it says about itself to what people can experience. Sometimes, it lies in bringing together what we already do well, identifying a shared challenge and using our respective capabilities to address it.

At the end of the day, every brand has an opportunity to examine who is participating in the experiences it creates, who may be excluded and what barriers stand in the way.

The questions may look different from one sector to another. Can a customer access your product independently? Can they understand the information you provide? Can they navigate your physical or digital experience? Are your services designed around different needs and abilities? Most importantly, are you involving the people affected in designing the solutions?

The answer to the above questions does not lie in a single campaign, sponsorship or corporate social responsibility initiative but require organisations to look more closely at their own ecosystems and identify the synergies that will enable them to move from inclusion as a statement of intent to inclusion as a design principle.

The invitation, therefore, is not to make tourism more inclusive but for every organisation to ask: What would a more inclusive version of our industry look like, and what role can we play in making it possible? It is the collective opportunity to build products, services, experiences and economies in which more people can participate and guarantee long-term growth.

The writer is the Group Director, Marketing and Communication, KCB

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