However, has this been so bad? Several studies have lamented that foreign tourism has generated an unequal distribution of economic benefits, greater social disparities, marginalized local communities and exploited local resources. This is the case in Africa, where tourism has basically benefited foreign and foreign companies and individuals, with the largest air transport and e-commerce equipment concentrated in the North.
As part of our research, we seek to see if and how the COVID-19 pandemic has been and can be used for the tourism sector in a more sustainable domain in Southern Africa. How tourism can move forward to meet the wishes and expectations of local communities in terms of obtaining better living standards and quality of life was vital for us. Another facet was to explore how to safeguard the environment for the health and well-being of the inhabitants.
Interviews were conducted with tourism professionals, members of local networks and heritage managers at the World Heritage Sites of Lamu Old Town (Kenya), Stone Town of Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro National Park (Tanzania) and Robben Island and Cape Floral Region (South Africa). Labadi’s most recent book, Rethinking Heritage for Sustainable Development (UCL Press, 2022), provides further insights and analysis.
Change of desires and expectations.
The global fitness crisis has shown the negative consequences of an over-reliance on foreign visitors as the main source of income generated through tourism. He showed how visits to heritage sites need to diversify to make the tourism industry more resilient and sustainable. A popular suggestion made by study participants to succeed in this challenge is to encourage domestic tourism and regional tourism from neighboring countries. Some of the tourism professionals interviewed, specifically in Kenya, noted that since the country emerged from lockdown in August 2020, domestic tourism has been booming, with many Kenyans visiting the Maasai Mara National Reserve and vacationing in Lamu and other coastal destinations.
Changing the profile of tourists is a long-term challenge. As one accommodation manager in Kenya explains, exclusive hotels prefer to have a low occupancy rate, than drastically reduce their costs and attract other different and less privileged people and/or accommodate a larger number. Currently, it gives Western and foreign visitors a focus on colonial history, especially for cultural heritage destinations. and local history.
This won’t happen overnight, and attempts to replace those maps and destinations have already faced serious challenges. In the case of Namibia, the government and foreign network have sought to refocus tourism on the country’s war of independence and indigenous communities rather than on the German colony. history. These efforts have faced challenges, adding to the sector’s understaffing and insufficient infrastructure and facilities.
Adventure recovers
With large-scale vaccination and reduced infection rates, overseas is on the rise again. Unfortunately, some projects funded through foreign aid have been reduced to pre-pandemic income, providing education and capacity building activities so that locals can meet the wishes of foreigners. Visitors. Instead of helping to replace the narrative and build a more resilient sector based on local, national and regional visits, the foreign network is reselling the unsustainable style that prevailed before the pandemic.
A positive aspect of the pandemic has been greater environmental sustainability, reduced pollution, CO2 emissions and decreased foreign tourism. Considering that these benefits can help combat the climate crisis, the global post-pandemic and the long-term World Heritage Convention, announce a world beyond tourism.
On the island of Mozambique, a World Heritage site in the north of the country, government and foreign projects aim to publicize and develop tourism. However, it has just opened a university on the island, so why not take the opportunity to supply goods and services?Based on local resources, to meet students’ wishes?This bottom-up technique would not only meet several Sustainable Development Goals, aggregating education, reducing inequalities and selling gender equality, but would also serve the island’s historical and vacant resources. buildings, desperately yearning for a new life.
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