Listening, Talking, Learning, Acting:
The RIU x ESCP Professorship Field Mission in Zanzibar

In September 2025, the RIU x ESCP Hospitality & CSR Professorship carried out a field mission in Zanzibar, Tanzania, as part of its ongoing efforts to co-develop, improve and reinforce “El Método RIU” for social investment in tourism destinations.

Measuring Social Impact Through the Lens of the CSRD: A Student Consulting Milestone

The field tryp focused on gaining a deeper understanding of the social investment projects currently underway, Kukua and NED Institute, and how they align with the needs of the communities neighboring RIU hotels in the north of the island. Over the course of the days, the Professorship team engaged with a range of local stakeholders in the fields of education, healthcare, and community development, as well as with the management teams of RIU hotels in Zanzibar. These exchanges provided valuable perspectives on how social initiatives are contributing to local challenges and how they might be better connected to the priorities of nearby communities, such as Nungwi.

The main objective of the mission was to observe, listen, talk and learn: to collect insights on the projects, identify synergies, and map opportunities for improvement in terms of child abuse prevention, and neuro-health and well-being. This groundwork is essential to ensure that the social investment approach is relevant, impactful, and responsive to the realities of the destination.

The next step will be to work with Kukua and NED Foundation teams on refining and testing the tools of Phase 3 of the RIU Method, building on the evidence gathered during the visit. This process, which will take place from now until the end of 2025, aims to strengthen project monitoring, professionalize local stakeholders, and co-design the future trajectory of the initiatives in Zanzibar.

Preliminary insights already point to promising directions for reinforcing social impact—from expanding collaborations with educational and healthcare actors to ensuring that projects generate tangible benefits for the communities closest to RIU hotels.

This fieldwork continues the Professorship’s broader journey, which began with earlier missions such as Guanacaste (Costa Rica) in 2021, or Quintana Roo (México) in 2022. The goals achieved definitively reinforce the value of combining academic research, corporate responsibility, and local engagement in building sustainable models for tourism destinations responsible development.

This mission is thus another milestone in advancing the goals of RIU’s global sustainability strategy Proudly Committed — a shared journey toward a more responsible and inclusive hospitality sector.

➡️ Stay tuned as the RIU x ESCP Professorship moves forward with the next stage of this process, testing and consolidating the tools that will help scale impact across destinations. .