The Sunday News
Phineas Chauke
CORONAVIRUS (Covid-19) has wreaked havoc to humanity, leaving a trail of deaths in some countries and disrupting businesses and economies across the globe.
However, it shall certainly come to pass and there will be life after coronavirus. Industries and businesses will find their way back into the groove. The tourism sector being one of the hardest hit will also come back. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, will cause major changes in a number of things. In some cases, the way business has been conducted for years will not remain the same.
It is imperative therefore, for businesses in the tourism industry to begin to re-strategise and gear up for a changed operational terrain. If businesses are simply waiting for the pandemic to pass so that they go back to their old ways, they may be confronted with a nasty surprise.
It is difficult right now to predict the exact magnitude of change that will result from the pandemic since no one knows when it will end, however, change is certain. The business environment for any enterprise in any industry has never been static, to those with a discerning eye, and strategic thinking has always been the insurance for continued survival and flourishing of the business.
What we are witnessing now through the effects of Covid-19 pandemic on business, is just an acceleration of a phenomenon that was gradually unfolding. Some aspects of business will be rendered redundant, some aspects of service will become unacceptable as standard practice.
This is likely to be witnessed more in the tourism and hospitality industry where close interaction between employees and customers is high in the course of the production and consumption of services. If we are to face the reality, following a global shake-up by the coronavirus pandemic, international and national standards in the provision of tourism and hospitality products will be reviewed and new legislations will be put in place.
This will disrupt the way business has always been done. It might happen that some of the things we had developed specialist skills in are discarded, some of our sources of competitive advantage may also vanish. Are we going to be ready when that happens? The prudent will be proactive and re-tune and refine the systems for the beckoning dispensation in the conduct of tourism business.
Tourism managers should brace themselves for some complex managerial conundrums of unprecedented magnitude. Employees now need to draw on their versatility for there may be a need for serious reshuffling in order to allocate manpower to the essential tasks from the redundant ones. Retraining and redeployment is likely to effectively save the situation. If this is not carefully planned for, some people may lose their jobs and that would be very unfortunate.
The tourism industry in Zimbabwe will certainly recover, especially given the nation’s natural endowment and its incredible cultural diversity. Whether the industry emerges weaker or stronger is dependent on the strategies which will be adopted on all different levels across both the public and private sectors.
The co-operation witnessed so far in the fight against this monster virus is heartwarming and if only the same spirit could prevail in the post-Covid-19 era, the challenges that have hampered our progress in the tourism industry would be addressed.
The infrastructure and policy framework needed for Zimbabwe’s tourism success requires that same kind of inter-ministerial and private sector partnerships and synergies.
The construction of suitable roads, protection of heritage and implementation of various tourism development issues call for such unity of purpose. Tourism still has the potential to contribute immensely to the economic turnaround of Zimbabwe.
Phineas Chauke is a Bulawayo-based tourism consultant, marketer and freelance tour guide. Contact him on +263776058523, [email protected]
