COVID-19, Politico-Economic Crises and the Precarity of Actors in the Tourism Industry in Kariba Resort Town, C 2000–2021

Abstract

The tourism industry sustains the economies of many nations across the globe through contributing to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP); creation of employment and infrastructure development. However, its sustainability is vulnerable to various temporal and spatial environmental, socio-economic and political events. In the Zimbabwe case, the politico-economic crises of the 2000s and the COVID-19 pandemic have variedly impacted on the prevalence of tourism with the actors (such as employees, tourists and recreational facility owners) involved in this industry having been seriously impacted. Using the precarity conceptual framework, this article critically analyses the impact of the politico-economic crises induced by the Fast Track Land Reform Programme of the early 2000s and the COVID-19 pandemic on the actors involved in tourism. Information regarding the impact of the political crises and COVID-19 pandemic on tourism in Kariba town is missing in the literature, yet Kariba is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa. The article discusses the precarity of these tourism actors in the context of the politico-economic crises as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. We define ‘precarity’ as a condition of vulnerability and uncertainty. Our results indicate that for employees, these factors have resulted in uncertainty in the tourism business with some shutting down and others scaling down their operations resulting in redundancy and vulnerability of the workers. For tourists, the successive lockdowns and surge in COVID-19 cases in Zimbabwe resulted in (re)booking and (re)cancellation of bookings; the politico-economic crises resulted in fear among the potential clients and a drop in the number of international tourists. The recreational and accommodation service operators have had the challenge of making food (and other resources) orders for trips that are eventually cancelled due to the surge in the COVID-19 cases. The article draws from data gathered in 2021 through face-to-face interviews with different stakeholders in the tourism industry including employees, hotel and boat owners, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority officials and local politicians in Kariba resort town.