COVID-19 Domestic Tourism Recovery Strategies by Wildlife-Based Tourist Destinations in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, foreign visits to wildlife-based tourist destinations (WBTD) generally outnumber domestic visits. This can be attributed to the poor economic environment and low disposable income. The emergence of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) in 2019 and its travel restrictions hit international travel hard, which was one of the ‘cash cows’ of the government, hence the government had to look inside. Domestic tourism was identified as a key pillar for tourism recovery, as it helped erase the country’s negative image and address the impacts of COVID-19 on tourism. Therefore, the objective of this chapter is to examine quick-win strategies after COVID-19 implemented by WBTDs in Masvingo province to promote domestic tourism, as international tourism rebound is expected to take longer after experiencing a pandemic shock. The methods used in this chapter involve structured interviews with regional managers of WBTDs to explore their domestic tourism recovery strategies. To augment interview data, publicly available data from the World Tourism Council, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), and National Parks and Wildlife Management (ZimParks) were also extracted and analyzed. The research findings show that the regional ZTA and ZimParks offices conducted various domestic tourism promotional activities on behalf of the two WBTDs. Therefore, the lack of marketing departments in the two WBTDs affected their ability to independently customize destination marketing programs. In view of this, the study recommends that while ZimParks should maintain the oversight role, PAs should develop their own destination-specific domestic promotional initiatives in line with their mandate and local peculiarities. The ZTA regional offices should guide WBTDs as they take their promotional messages to national platforms to harness potential domestic visitors from other provinces. Furthermore, regional marketing departments should integrate local people who can identify with local communities if the local market is to be fully tapped.