Critical shifts in the global tourism industry: perspectives from Africa
- PDF / 388,513 Bytes
- 20 Pages / 547.087 x 737.008 pts Page_size
- 51 Downloads / 262 Views
(0123456789().,-volV) ( 01234567 89().,-volV)
Critical shifts in the global tourism industry: perspectives from Africa Zibanai Zhou
Accepted: 11 September 2020 Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract The study investigates critical shifts impacting the international tourism space in contemporary times. Furthermore, the current study examines tourism policies and product development challenges faced by tourist regions as a consequence of market dynamics. Drawing upon a sample of thirty tourism experts in southern Africa, the critical shifts were identified and key among them include BRICS, terrorism, ageing population, and trophy hunting, are increasingly framing a new narrative for the future growth trajectory of the international tourism industry’s value chain in the context of Africa. A conclusion is reached that to attain long term sustainable development of the sunrise multi-trillion dollar industry, it is critical that tourism operators re-set and deploy sharpened strategies which are in synch with the realities obtaining in the broader operating environment. Policy recommendations and managerial implications are proffered. Keywords Global tourism industry Trends and patterns Emerging economies Global north Population demographics Africa
Z. Zhou (&) Tourism and Hospitality Management Department, Midlands State University, P. Bag 9055, Gweru, Zimbabwe e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction Globally, tourism contributes significantly to the national economies in terms of employment creation and revenue generation (Musavengane et al. 2019; UNWTO 2018a, b). Understanding travel motivations and shifts in the global tourism marketplace is critical for unpacking future travel patterns and consumption perspectives, and also for tourist destinations to leverage on tourism spin-offs. Anton et al. (2017) observed that growing competition in the tourism landscape has resulted in destinations increasingly becoming concerned with balancing tourists with attracting new visitors. While it is true that tourism is sensitive to violent events, political instabilities, disasters and calamities as well as economic meltdown (Alvarez and Campos 2014; Woyo 2018; Dieke 2009), it could be argued that tourism is also highly responsive to dynamics in the tourism market place. Hapairai et al. (2018) state that political crises often lead to a decline in visitorship and public and private tourism organisations should constantly adjust policies, and product offerings in tandem with market dynamics. However, research examining the fundamental shifts in the international tourism landscape is limited. Primary source markets such as the United Kingdom (UK); European Union, (EU) and North America consider emerging tourist destinations like Africa as offering alternative authentic touristic experiences as compared to over trodden traditional
123
GeoJournal
destinations. Based on this, understanding the implications of the global tourism market place fundamental shifts on emerging tourist regions such as Africa is critical for
Data Loading...
