Tourism resilience and recovery in the face of disruptive global events: An international comparison

Résumé fourni par la source

This study explores tourism recovery and resilience in South Africa following COVID-19 amid geopolitical instability and disruptions to global travel. Using a comparative design, it analyses secondary data from government documents, OECD and UNWTO reports, academic literature, and industry sources across South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Portugal. Four dimensions of resilience are examined: policy response, digital transformation, public-private partnerships, and market diversification. Findings reveal distinct resilience pathways, with Portugal displaying transformative resilience through coherent policies and innovation; Zimbabwe exhibits constrained adaptive resilience due to macroeconomic instability and weak institutional capacity; while South Africa shows systemic yet uneven resilience, supported by a domestic tourism base constrained by structural inequalities and limited digital inclusion. It is argued that South Africa requires institutional reform, inclusive digitalisation, and market diversification to achieve transformative resilience. The study’s novelty lies in a multi-dimensional comparative framework distinguishing adaptive recovery from transformative systemic change in tourism economies facing disruptions.