Elsie Gabriel

Focus Areas

Elsie Gabriel is the founder of Accessible Ocean Tourism, a global platform advancing accessibility and inclusion in ocean spaces, marine tourism, and coastal experiences for persons with disabilities. As the founder of Young Environmentalists Programme, her work promotes inclusive ocean engagement by connecting accessibility, Ocean Literacy, and sustainable tourism, while building a knowledge hub that unites researchers, tourism stakeholders, divers, conservationists, and disabled communities through lived experience and collaboration.

Gabriel is an author, a TEDx speaker, plenary speaker at the United Nations Ocean Conference 2022, contributing member to the Ocean Literacy Venice Declaration, and International Director of the Handicap Scuba Association. Her work bridges disability inclusion, ocean literacy, and sustainable tourism across destinations including the Maldives, India, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines.

“As a visionary leader, I aspire to transform the ocean from a space of exclusion into a space of belonging and shared human connection for all.”