Issue 5 | Volume 4 | 2021

Corresponding Author Affiliation*: University of Zimbabwe (UZ), Zimbabwe

Abstract:

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan province in China in December 2019 and its subsequent spread throughout the world brought the tourism industry to a standstill. Businesses closed down and large numbers of workers including those in the tourism industry lost their jobs. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) experienced similar challenges that occurred at the global level. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact that COVID-19 had on jobs in the tourism industry in the SADC region. The study employed a desk research approach. The study showed that the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism sector has set back the gains that the region had accumulated over the twenty three years of working together as one destination since the formation of the Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa (RETOSA) in 1997. A number of governments in the region responded by implementing measures that were aimed at cushioning tourism enterprises from the impact of the pandemic. All the subsectors of the tourism industry had to undertake a range of cost cutting measure to mitigate the impact of the pandemic the majority of which negatively affected employees in the sector. The study recommends that the public and private sector in the region closely work together to develop and implement policies and strategies that will create traveller confidence on the destination with regard to health and safety issues. It is further recommended that the governments of the region continue to assist business enterprises to enable them to be effective partners in the post COVID-19 programmes that each country will roll out.

Keywords: COVID-19, Tourism, SADC, Jobs, Enterprises, Africa

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37227/ITHJ-2021-03-116