The onset of COVID-19 has negatively impacted the tourism industry globally as a result of the lock-down and the imposed travel restrictions. StatsSA (2020) revealed that foreign arrivals dropped by 71% from 15,8 million in 2019 to less than 5 million in 2020, reducing the tourism sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product in the SADC region and globally.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO, 2020), COVID-19 pandemic has put 100 million jobs at risk, many of those in micro, small and medium sized enterprises and which employ mostly women who represent 54% of the tourism workforce.
The tourism sector needs rebuilding and since COVID-19 strives in crowded spaces, it becomes necessary to come up with strategies to restore the visitors’ confidence by ensuring their safety when travelling. More inclusive destination management and partnerships can result in sustainability which will pave way to the recovery of the tourism sector. The creation of digital technologies is one way of ensuring that visitors continue to enjoy without risking getting infected with COVID-19.
The government should intervene by steering funds to business survival, job retention and the rest of tourism operations that protect ecosystems and create green jobs (OECD, 2020). Rebuilding tourism also calls for enhancing collaboration between key stakeholders at both international and destination levels that emphasises inclusive participation to ensure efficient implementation of recovery plans.
The government’s support should be channeled towards improving the lives of the vulnerable groups, which includes women, the youth, people living with disabilities, rural people and those who depend on informal economy. Tourism needs to be repurposed as a supporter for the community with well- established tourism businesses creating opportunities to strengthen ties with local communities who use indigenous knowledge and encourage them to showcase their culture to maximise benefits.
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In order for communities to benefit from tourism, they need capacitation and business mentorship to improve supply chain inclusion and to encourage local entrepreneurship ventures. Rebuilding tourism requires the restoration of trust through transparent and pro-active communication to regain visitor confidence by addressing the public health of host communities, the employees and tourists. The safety protocols should also integrate sustainability protocols to avoid decisions that might have a harmful effect on the environment and in the process putting the lives of the visitors at risk. Again, implementing new social distancing protocols should not pose as barriers to inclusive participation by limiting participation of people living with disabilities and senior citizens.
Sharma, Thomas and Paul (2021) propose that rebuilding tourism means strengthening local value chains to maximise social and economic benefits to local communities and reduce dependence on foreign suppliers to avoid leakage and to ensure that the income generated circulates within the country to achieve sustainable livelihoods for the host community. OECD (2020) argues that rebuilding tourism means encouraging support conservation efforts through tourism, more especially where human-wildlife conflicts are rife to minimize the risk of poaching, over-exploitation of the resources upon which tourism rebuilding depends, therefore tourism recovery plans should acknowledge efforts by tourism stakeholders for the conservation and preservation of natural, historical and cultural resources.
As part of rebuilding tourism, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms should be strengthened to ease travel restrictions but at the same time introducing policies that will ensure responsible contribution to the well-being and health of those employed in the tourism sector as well as visitors to the destinations.
Stakeholders such as the government and the private sector in collaboration with the academia, NGOs, international organisations and the civil society need an integrated plan to enhance destination competitiveness. Coordination and partnerships should prioritise people and their needs and work together to ease and lift travel restrictions in a responsible and coordinated manner for the benefit of all.
Department of Cultural and Heritage Tourism
University of KwaZulu-Natal
College of Humanities Durban, South Africa
Email: [email protected]
