Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism and Prospects of Recovery: An African Perspective

Ishmael Mensah (), Kaitano Dube and Lazarus Chapungu
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Ishmael Mensah: University of Cape Coast
Kaitano Dube: Vaal University of Technology
Lazarus Chapungu: University of South Africa

Chapter Chapter 1 in COVID-19, Tourist Destinations and Prospects for Recovery, 2023, pp 3-17 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The impact of COVID-19 on Africa’s tourism industry is unprecedented in the modern era. As a result of drastic measures taken by governments to stop the spread of the virus, coupled with the fear of travelling, international tourist arrivals on the continent took a nosedive. This chapter sets the tone for the rest of the chapters by examining the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, recovery strategies and the post-pandemic tourism outlook from an African perspective. Although the African continent recorded the least number of infections and deaths, it suffered disproportionately from the impacts of the pandemic compared to other parts of the world. Africa’s overdependence on inbound tourism, inadequate health infrastructure, unfavourable image and the dominance of small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) and informal tourism businesses are among the factors that make African countries particularly vulnerable to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. In the post-pandemic era, the tourism industry should be restructured to reflect African countries’ local and national peculiarities.

Keywords: Sub-Saharan Africa; International tourism; Pandemic; Recovery strategies; Inbound tourism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-24655-5_1

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-24655-5_1

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