A Resilient Tourism Future for Developing Countries: Conclusions and Recommendations

Resilience building is a panacea to promoting a safe and sustainable tourism economy in Southern Africa and beyond. This chapter highlights key findings from case studies across South Africa and Zimbabwe before, during and after the COVID-19 lockdown period (before 2020 and post-2021). The chapter presents the major findings and policy recommendations related to (i) the impacts of COVID-19 on tourist destinations, (ii) the management of COVID-19 in tourist destinations and (iii) tourism recovery and resilience in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The study found that COVID-19 led to a loss of revenue for state actors, private companies, tourism employees and host communities in South African and Zimbabwean destinations as a consequence of restrictive measures that were put in place to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The general picture is that COVID-19 has reconfigured the tourism sector from one largely dependent on international tourists to one on domestic tourists’ drive. The recovery process has been quite complex and challenging given the direct and indirect challenges caused by COVID-19, which are compounded by the Russia–Ukraine war and climate change. Building a resilient tourism future is a complex matter that requires the country and the region to deal with traditional challenges of regional geopolitics, address challenges of safety and security, address the issue of road and air network connectivity and address the tourism product marketing mix to make it more diverse and inclusive. Given the challenge of climate change in the region, promoting resilience building within the sector will go a long way in addressing current sustainability challenges.