© JSS 2020 J Soc Sci, 64(1-3): 1-13 (2020)

PRINT: ISSN 0971-8923 ONLINE: ISSN 2456-6756 DOI: 10.31901/24566756.2020/64.1-3.2266

Scope for Virtual Tourism in the Times of COVID-19

in Select African Destinations
Innocent Chirisa1,2, Tafadzwa Mutambisi1, Marcyline Chivenge1, Miriam Mbasera3,
Mthokozisi Sidambe5, Blessing Muchenje3, Tapiwa Mukwashi6, Elias Mabaso,4
Roselin Ncube7 and Dorothy Zengeni3
1
Department of Rural & Urban Planning, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
2
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of the Free State,
Bloemfontein, South Africa
3
Department of Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
4
Department of Geography, Bindura University of Science Education
5
On the Ground (OTG) Global, Pretoria, South Africa
6
Independent Researcher and Consultant, Harare, Zimbabwe
7
Women’s University in Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe

KEYWORDS Destination. Economy. Management. Online Services. Policy. Technology

ABSTRACT This paper explores the potential for virtual tourism in Africa as a way to contribute towards
economic growth and sustainability under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study engaged in an archival
method or document review, hence, thematic and content analysis. Virtual tourism has the potential to reach
millions of people. The paper contributes towards innovative strategies for integrated and regional virtual or
online tours of resorts such as game parks, reserves and other tourist attractions in Africa given travel restrictions.
African governments must seriously consider partnership with the private sector in building virtual technology for
virtual interaction and business resilience.

INTRODUCTION receiving a 5.6 percent growth against an aver-

age global growth rate of 3.9 percent (UNWTO
Tourism has been a major income and em- 2019).
ployment generator contributing significantly to The World Travel and Tourism Index re-
African countries’ GDP. Africa was already frag- search found that tourism in Africa was mainly
ile and vulnerable due to economic, social and seventy-one percent leisure-driven, with the re-
political problems before COVID-19. Confidence mainder twenty-nine percent being business-
levels among travellers, loss of revenue among driven (WEF 2019). The North African nation of
industry investors and entrepreneurs, loss of Morocco ranked first among the African coun-
jobs among employees, and lots of xenophobia tries with the most international tourist arrivals,
(fears of the unknown) have spurred national accounting for 12.29 million arrivals in 2018. Fol-
lockdowns, worldwide. It has reduced occupan- lowing in second place was South Africa, which
cy levels for hotels and lodges, which in turn, received around 10.29 million arrivals. Despite
have widely impacted even the banking sector. having the most international visitors among
In Africa, Internet access has always been low African countries in 2017, Morocco ranked sec-
for local tourists. Virtual tourism presents itself ond in terms of international tourism receipts,
with safer viewing, reduced socio-cultural dilu- which amounted to approximately seven and a
tion and new technological jobs. Major invest- half billion US dollars. In this respect it was beat-
ments are needed to reskill. Africa received en by South Africa, which accounted for inter-
around five percent of estimated 1.4 billion national tourist receipts of around 8.8 billion US
international tourist arrivals in 2018 according dollars. In terms of the Travel and Tourism Com-
to the United Nations World Tourism Organi- petitiveness Index (TTCI) in 2017, which mea-
sation (UNWTO) (UNWTO 2019). It was viewed sures factors and policies that make a country
as the second fasted growing tourism region eligible for investments in the travel and tourism
2 INNOCENT CHIRISA, TAFADZWA MUTAMBISI, MARCYLINE CHIVENGE ET AL.

sector, these two countries also held the top This is also according to data, as of 30 April,
spots. South Africa received a TTCI score of when USA had recorded 10,005,000 and 61,000
4.01 out of seven, which made it the leading Af- deaths (John Hopkins University 2020), and one
rican country according to the 2017 TTCI. Com- of the most affected sectors is tourism (RTG 2020;
paratively, Morocco came in second with a TTCI UNWTO 2020; Faus 2020).
score of 3.81 in 2017 (WEF 2018). Globalisation has been occurring at a high
COVID-19 is hitting hard on already weak rate around the world over the past century (An-
and fragile world economies forcing the world gelo 2016). This has led to significant changes
into a recession with the potential of deep con- in how many societies view the world. The world
sequences and historical levels of unemploy- has entered the informational age with the emer-
ment and deprivation (UN 2020b). Mitigation gence of a digital economy being its primary
measures to reduce and slow down the spread trend (Voronkova 2018). The introduction of dig-
of the virus (travel restrictions and lockdown of ital technologies through Virtual Reality (VR) has
cities) have resulted in a significant reduction in led to a different view of the role of tourism. It
demand and supply in the tourism sector (WHO was introduced as a marketing tool to attract
2020; Dube 2020). The vulnerability of the ser- tourists to visit various places (Rainoldi et al.
vice sector is a huge concern in countries with 2017). However due to the new world order
most of their sectors being characterised by the shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual real-
informal sector. An initial assessment by the ity could be used as a tool to stabilise and main-
World Trade and Tourism Council forecasts a tain income flows from the tourism sector for
decline in international tourist arrivals of up to many countries in Africa such as Zimbabwe.
twenty-five percent in 2020, which would place Before the pandemic struck, computer-generat-
millions of jobs at risk (International Labour Or- ed simulations of 3D images used to enhance
ganisation 2018). This has promoted policy mak- tourists desire to experience places (Jung et al.
ers to rethink the best course of action to pro- 2017). Tourists never had an insight of the plac-
mote and stabilise the tourism industry in Afri- es they wanted to visit unless they heard it from
ca, as the continent is already facing various prior experiences of other tourists or probably
challenges such as chronic poverty. people or relatives staying at those destinations.
This paper assesses the possibility of using Virtual Reality in an environment that limits di-
virtual reality in promoting tourism in Africa and rect contact with people and objects, and af-
primarily as an adaptive measure in the face of fords tourists the opportunity to experience their
the current COVID-19 or Coronavirus pandem- intended destination in the comfort of their own
ic. It explores if virtual reality can sustain the homes (Jenny 2017).
tourism sector while promoting the health and Virtual Reality is a mechanism that makes use
safety of the tourists as they virtually tour var- of a computer to create a three-dimensional
ious tourist destinations in the comfort of their world (Rainoldi et al. 2017). It is also a techno-
own homes. logical invention developed for smartphones and
motion sensors by tracking a person’s head,
Literature Review body positions and hand (cf. Pechlaner et al.
2003). Basically it functions with VR cameras,
Coronavirus is a generic name for various which have the ability to record in all directions
flu like viruses including SARS. When the spe- (Jenny 2017; Rainoldi et al. 2017; Jayendran and
cific virus is detected, a name is given for exam- Rejikumar 2018). Virtual reality merges two reali-
ple COVID-19. The spread of COVID-19 global- ties (physical and virtual reality) to create a space
ly has had detrimental impacts on the social, where people can communicate and touch each
political and economic structures of the world at other through virtual mechanisms. This tech-
large (Boldog et al. 2020). Since its emergence in nology is applicable and can be embraced in
Wuhan, China, COVID-19 has killed thousands tourism, as it applies to the visual senses since a
of people, many in large urban centres world- lot of experiences rely on visual stimuli of tour-
wide with the United States being one of the ists thereby addressing their wants and needs
most affected countries (Null and Smith 2020). (Voronkova 2018). Virtual Reality in tourism has

J Soc Sci, 64(1-3): 1-13 (2020)

SCOPE FOR VIRTUAL TOURISM IN THE TIMES OF COVID-19 3

been developed into an application accessible recover completely and preparedness remains
in iOS and Android phones. The application restricted. As the virus spreads, income flows
works well with various technologies such as are being affected leading to a decline in direct
Geographical Information Systems, as it is a route investment flows, capital flight, domestic finan-
tracker enabled application that has a map and cial market tightening, and a slowdown in in-
direction tracker with VR enabled service. As vestment, and hence job losses (UN 2020a). Post-
the tourist travels through the visual images, ma and Schmuecker (2017) suggest that sustain-
the application navigates them through their able development is an important starting point
destination showing reality images of the place in contemporary policy and planning worldwide.
as well as the weather conditions present (Jen- In order to sustain tourism for the present and
ny 2017). This application concentrates on tele- future generations, policy makers have dwelt
presence that adjoins all the five senses. The much on the concept of sustainable tourism de-
major positive result that is brought by virtual velopment, which tries to find a balance between
reality in the tourism sector is its provision for economic, environmental and social aspects of
very vivid visuals on different places in real time. tourism development (De la Vega et al. 2019).
Since the rise of mass tourism in the 1960s, Solutions to sustain the tourism sector in
city tourism has consistently been one of the Africa in the face of a global pandemic have
fastest growing sectors in the world economy become difficult due to travel restrictions and
(Postma et al. 2017; UNWTO 2020). The COVID- lockdown protocols (Muronzi 2020; Staff Report-
19 pandemic has led to disastrous impacts on er 2020; RTG 2020). Countries across sub-Sahar-
the world economy especially the service indus- an Africa are taking precautions to stop the ar-
try, which also includes the tourism sector. The rival of international visitors and stymie the
number of countries implementing additional spread of COVID-19 within their borders (Dube
health measures that significantly interfere with 2020). In many cases, this has meant blocking all
international traffic has increased since the dec- incoming flights or screening and quarantining
laration of COVID-19 as a public health emer- passengers of certain nationalities or arriving
gency of international concern (Muronzi 2020; from specific countries (Refugees International
Null and Smith 2020; RTG 2020; WHO 2020). 2020). With such travel restrictions, Virtual Real-
According to the European Commission (2020), ity can be a way for people to fulfil their visual
the spread of the virus is causing disruption of desires without direct contact with people or
global supply chains, volatility in financial mar- objects that can cause transmission of the Coro-
kets, consumer demand shocks and negative navirus (Jayendran and Rejikumar 2018; Voronk-
impact in key sectors like travel and tourism ova 2018). This comes, as there has been a grow-
(Boldog et al. 2020; Fulton 2020; Dube 2020). In ing reluctance among people to travel as a safe-
Europe there has been a considerable reduction ty measure against the pandemic. Virtual tour-
in international arrivals (massive cancellations ism has been established to enhance desirabili-
and drop in bookings for example from Ameri- ty of a destination in order to attract people to it
can, Chinese, Japanese, and South Korean trav- (Jayendran and Rejikumar 2018). However, in this
ellers). The COVID-19 crisis not only threatens new era of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual real-
the Western region but also the developing ity can be seen as a way to sustain tourism and
world is at risk not only health wise but as a maintain income inflows in the industry, as peo-
devastating social and economic crisis over the ple limit travelling for physical site seeing but
months and years to come (UNDP 2020). There- focus on visual tours of destinations of interest
fore, Africa’s tourism sector is also not immune in the comfort of their own homes.
to these impacts of the Coronavirus. Conclusions have been drawn that virtual
The fragility and vulnerability of Africa has reality is a valuable asset to the tourism indus-
left the continent more susceptible to economic try in six areas, which are planning and manage-
regression than any other continent in the world ment, marketing, entertainment, accessibility,
(Mata and Ziaja 2009; USAID 2018; Mavhura education, and heritage preservation (Rainoldi
2019). According to Carter (2008), countries with et al. 2017). Thus, Virtual Reality has transformed
repeated cases of disaster impacts never truly the ways in which tourism products and servic-

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4 INNOCENT CHIRISA, TAFADZWA MUTAMBISI, MARCYLINE CHIVENGE ET AL.

es are promoted on the market. Jenny (2017) re- ments and other organisations such as the Unit-
veals that the use of smart phones makes it eas- ed Nations. However, there are rising questions
ier to access information on tourist destinations as to how some industries are going to adapt to
thereby making the virtual tourism open and the prevailing conditions set by the Coronavi-
accessible to a wide array of Internet users. This rus. This section of the paper will look at the
can be achieved by ensuring that protocols on impacts of the COVID-19 on tourism as well as
data sharing are calibrated to remove all hurdles how virtual technology can be applied to sus-
pertaining to sharing of information (Allam and tain tourism activities by maintaining income
Jones 2020). flows for African tourism cities.

METHODOLOGY Land-use Planning Perspective

The paper uses the pragmatic research ap- Land-use planning has always factored in
proach, which is dominantly qualitative in in- security factors, health factors, conformity and
vestigating the applicability of virtual tourism in also space capability (Randolph 2004). Land-use
building resilience in the tourism sector (Cre- planning is the process of regulating the use of
swell 2014). Documentary analysis of books, land in an effort to promote more desirable so-
journals, websites and newspaper articles as- cial and environmental outcomes as well as more
sists in the enhancement of reliability of the pa- efficient use of resources (UN-HABITAT 2018).
per (de Falco et al. 2019). Data obtained was COVID-19 affected the way people and commu-
then processed into information and analysed nities operated (Boldog et al. 2020; European
through the use of thematic content analysis. Centre for Disease and Prevention and Control
Thematic content analysis is the use of textual 2020; Faus 2020). This has seen policy makers,
material in research reducing it to more relevant, planners as well as other actors in development
manageable bits of data and is also a method of question whether COVID-19 will affect the plan-
analysing the text of social investigation among ning process and systems. These sentiments
the set of empirical methods (Kumar et al. 2020). are in line with (Klaus 2020) who states that dis-
After summarising literature, it was assembled ease shapes cities as a number of infrastruc-
and structured thematically into important con- tures in many cities such as London were con-
cepts. This enabled the paper to bring out structed as health facilities to carter for the Span-
themes on virtual technology and its uses in ish flue.
tourism amidst the pandemic. Mitigation measures to deal with disasters
do not occur in a socio-spatial vacuum but in a
RESULTS rural or urban space. COVID-19 is affecting many
people especially in big cities where migration
COVID-19 hit the globe unexpectedly lead- and movements occurred at higher rates (Zenou
ing to greater than anticipated impacts during 2010). Tourism cities such as Wuhan in China,
the first phase of the disaster (Fulton 2020; Eu- Rome in Italy and New York City in the United
ropean Centre for Disease and Prevention and States had the highest number of affected pop-
Control 2020; Jones and Kassam 2020). Besides ulation in the early phases of the pandemic (‘Les-
the impacts affecting the heath sector more, the sons from Italy’s Response to Coronavirus’ 2020;
tourism sector and other service industries were Zhang and Xu 2020). This means that the pan-
greatly affected too. Income losses are expected demic has disrupted the patterns in which tour-
to exceed USD 220 billion in developing coun- ism cities function globally. Considering virtual
tries (UN 2020b). With an estimated fifty-five technology in tourism is not a new concept, vir-
percent of the global population having no ac- tual tourism was already in the works as stated
cess to social protection, these losses will re- by scholars such as (Jung et al. 2017; Jayendran
verberate across societies, impacting education, and Rejikumar 2018; Voronkova 2018). Virtual
human rights, and in the most severe cases, ba- tourism provides tourism operators to access
sic food security and nutrition. Mitigation mea- markets by offering a safe ‘seeing environment’
sures have been proposed by different govern- for those that want to see only. It will not ad-

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SCOPE FOR VIRTUAL TOURISM IN THE TIMES OF COVID-19 5

dress a ‘feeling factor’ for those that want to of the Coronavirus pandemic hit hardest in mega
experience. The use of virtual technology does cities than small towns. This is due to the large
not eliminate the threat that tourism cities’ infra- number of tourist traffic in mega towns. High
structure may become white elephants. There is rate of migration in cities such as Rome, Italy
need for tourism cities, working through local has caused a higher rate of infections than Great
and central governments to come up with solu- Zimbabwe Ruins in Masvingo Zimbabwe (Ma-
tions to these impacts. landrino et al. 2019). Most mega cities with a
COVID-19 has started to accelerate changes higher rate of tourist arrivals rely more on the
that have been slowly brewing in many cities for tourism sector for economic growth than small-
a long time, with one of those being urban sprawl er cities and towns, therefore can be at higher
and gentrification. Many people have fled the risk of impacts of COVID-19. There is need to
cities to live in rural areas showing that many implement a systems approach in planning that
urbanites now view the rural areas as safer zones considers inputs, processes and outputs, which
than the city centres. According to Fulton (2020), should be holistic and comprehensive to under-
urbanism was one of the most important drivers stand the diverse impacts of the Coronavirus.
of both social and economic life due to the pow- Planners need to shy away from obsession with
er of proximity. With the coming in of the pan- spatial planning heavily biased towards physical
demic, people are learning that proximity does planning and include a ‘human face’ to planning
not always result in positive results. Urban plan- considering socio-political factors that affect city
ners need to consider and balance issues of safe- dynamics and growth as well as resilience.
ty and health in the rural and urban areas as well There should be consideration and a balance
as to see how much value and relevance to at- between place prosperity versus people pros-
tach to the rural regions. perity in the development discourse, which
should also be the guiding principle of plan-
Management of COVID-19 Impacts by Tourism ning. Impacts of the virus on the local people
Cities and businesses can be reduced and disease
transmission can be minimised. This can be done
Disaster risk management is the use of re- through implementing social distancing, isola-
sources and information towards a disastrous tion practices, in crowded beaches, for example
event and it is measured by how effectively, ef- in Durban, Cape Town (Pisano et al. 2020). This
ficiently and seamlessly one coordinates these calls for redesigning of such tourist attractions
resources (Kapucu 2012; Modh 2010). The tour- or simply re-organising use of the same space
ism sector can also be affected by disasters and and at times, more policing than planning rede-
requires effective disaster risk management to sign, with the planning balancing physical plan-
reduce loss of lives as well as sustain tourism ning and people prosperity.
activities. There is need to come up with effec- In tourism cities, people prosperity is heavi-
tive solutions to the declining tourism sector, ly dependent on the informal sector especially
which partly is due to the impacts of COVID-19 in Africa. Informal traders should be reorgan-
disaster that resulted in reduced travel as coun- ised so that they continue earning a living dur-
tries had imposed travel restrictions. The World ing travel bans, for instance, informal traders
Travel and Tourism Council has warned that the selling souvenirs in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
COVID-19 pandemic could lead to the loss of 50 (Null and Smith 2020). Some other businesses
million jobs globally in the travel and tourism such as small-scale food outlets and restaurants
industry. Once the outbreak is over, it could take can be operational under strict government con-
up to 10 months for the industry to recover (Faus trol and monitoring.
2020). Many mega-cities or small towns are tour-
ist destinations, distribution centres, and key Packaging Virtual Tourism
tourism sources because of their large popula-
tion or unique environments as well as impor- Information communication technology
tant status and function in the national urban (ICT) has increasingly been incorporated into
system (Postma et al. 2017). However, impacts the tourism sector. Virtual technology has been

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6 INNOCENT CHIRISA, TAFADZWA MUTAMBISI, MARCYLINE CHIVENGE ET AL.

used to find innovative ways to market tourism dominated by the advanced economies with
and integrate it in product service offerings their high access to advanced technologies
(Jung et al. 2017). According to Jayendran and (Rainoldi et al. 2017; Voronkova 2018). Advanced
Rejikumar (2018), there are four main attributes economies are likely to develop and package
identified, that can give better destination im- local attractions in a more compelling manner.
age. These attributes are accommodation, amen- Policy makers should develop and implement
ities, accessibility and attractiveness. These give policies that promote protection and user rights
a good quality image to the destination. To ad- as well as copyright laws. Post COVID-19, virtu-
dress the limitations caused by COVID-19, an al tourism has a greater potential of being the
actual tour on the virtual application should be entry point which, will help to boost confidence
given more attention over accommodation, amen- for physical visits by tourists (Jenny 2017; Jung
ities and accessibility, as most of the tourists et al. 2017). Incorporating VR into tourism also
will not be able to physically visit the destina- creates a momentum impact on addressing the
tions of their choice. When it comes to use of gap between the tourist expectation and the ex-
virtual technology, any tourist destination, be it perience of a destination.
New York, Cape Town or Harare can generate While virtual technology might be a new way
more income by promoting virtual tours. How- in which tourism is likely to operate, there is still
ever, success depends much on marketing and need to come up with diverse ways of effective-
packaging (Jenny 2017). Hence, planners play ly using existing infrastructure. Local govern-
an important role in providing a holistic under- ments should come up with sustainable ways to
standing of city dynamics that can help gener- repurpose existing buildings, for example adap-
ate interests as a tourist destination to the out- tive reuse. Adaptive reuse refers to the process
side world. For instance, tourism operators can of reusing an existing building for a purpose
add compelling local stories to animated pictures other than which it was originally built or de-
and using local resources and people with signed for (Bullen 2007). It is also known as re-
knowledge of the socio-cultural dimension cycling and conversion. Adaptive reuse is an
(Rainoldi et al. 2017). effective strategy for optimising the operational
In Zimbabwe, there is a package for virtual and commercial performance of built assets. It
tourism for Expo 2020 Zimbabwe Pavilion in can be an attractive alternative to new construc-
Dubai. The host packages a walkthrough virtual tion in terms of sustainability and a circular econ-
video available online. The simulation video can omy and it has prevented thousands of build-
be accessed through codes that can be paid for ings’ demolition (Langston et al. 2008). There is
online. The viewer then wears virtual reality ear- need to consider other viable economic activities
phones with goggles that make them feel like that can make use of unused buildings so as to
they are walking through Amazon forest in the promote economic efficiency in tourism cities.
comfort of their home (Voronkova 2018). In in-
ternational tourism, computerisation facilitates Challenges Faced by the ICT Sector to
holistic packaging and synchronisation of three Facilitate Virtual Tourism in Zimbabwe
primary pillars that constitute the backbone of
successful tourism planning and implementation The adoption of virtual tourism is enabled
and these are the creation of global booking and by the smooth functionality of information com-
reservation networks, the advent of electronic munication technologies (ICT) in the country.
marketing and management and the design of The development of ICT infrastructure remains
virtual guided tours (Voronkova 2018). This high- a big challenge in most countries (Scheyvens
lights the central role that virtual reality can play 2017; Weidenfeld 2018). In Zimbabwe, efforts
in promoting tourism marketing with an addi- were made to improve the ICT infrastructure
tional potential to promote virtual tours. through the adoption of the second generation
One of the challenges with virtual tours for (2G) applications, which in 2014 were recorded
the less economically advanced countries is that to have exceeded seventy-five percent (Zimba-
with the world having become a global village, bwe National ICT Policy 2015). Considering that
there is a greater risk of virtual tourism being most tourism activities in Zimbabwe are con-

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SCOPE FOR VIRTUAL TOURISM IN THE TIMES OF COVID-19 7

centrated in remote areas, mostly in rural areas, the returns on investment will be very marginal
the broadband coverage in these areas still re- with the high interest rates.
mains very low. This means that tourist destina- It has taken Zimbabwe 12 years to come up
tions, which are in remote areas, are not ade- with the Cyber Security Bill (Herald 2018). This
quately covered compared to urban and well- means that the country has been operating with-
developed destinations (Department of Tourism out a cyber security framework. Cyber security
2020). is explained as a practice, which ensures the in-
The ICT applications depend on electricity tegrity, confidentiality and availability of infor-
for their functionality. In Zimbabwe, the com- mation as when it is required (Porud 2017). The
mercial electricity is distributed through the na- country lacks the basic preventative techniques
tional grid and does not cover the whole coun- used to protect the integrity of network, pro-
try. The country is currently operating at an elec- gram and data from attack, damages and unau-
tricity supply of 1200 Megawatts against a na- thorised access (MISA 2017). This implies that
tional requirement of 1600 Megawatts (Herald as a country Zimbabwe is open to cyber-attacks
28 March 2018). The tour operators outside the and the use of ICT platforms in operations is not
national grid depend on alternative power sourc- safe.
es, which include solar and generator systems.
The alternative systems have the disadvantage Case Study: Victoria Falls Opportunities for
of being very expensive, particularly at the in- Promoting Virtual Tourism
stallation stage. The operators who are on the
national grid are also experiencing erratic sup- Victoria Falls is in western Zimbabwe and a
plies pushing them to use backup plans in the gateway to a massive waterfall of the same name
form of solar systems and generators. (Mkono 2012). It is one of the seven natural
In Zimbabwe, the uncoordinated institutional wonders of the world and a major waterfall on
systems and governance has resulted in less the Zambezi River in Africa (Arrington 2010).
effective implementation of ICT policies in most With a length of 1,700 metres and maximum ver-
organisations (Zimbabwe National ICT Policy tical drop of 108 metres, it forms the world’s larg-
2015). ICT developers in Zimbabwe have ear- est sheet of falling water when in full flood (La-
marked ICT development as central to tourism ver et al. 2001). Besides the waterfalls, Victoria
development and management (Research ICT Falls has a beautiful national park, Zambezi Game
[Link] 2017). Lack of coordination in design Park that offers several tourist attractions and
and implementation of ICT policies by various activities such as prime game viewing, bungee
ministries in Zimbabwe has resulted in slow adop- jumping, boat cruises, flight of angels over the
tion and development of ICT by many indus- Victoria Falls and traditional cultural dances.
tries, tourism included. For example, the Minis- When COVID-19 cases were reported in Zimba-
try of Transport and Infrastructural Develop- bwe, a number of measures were implored by
ment needs to work together with the Ministry the town of Victoria Falls and government to
of ICT to build supporting infrastructure for net- protect the tourists as well as the local people.
work development within the country. According to RTG (2020), hotels were closed for
The investment in ICT infrastructure devel- the duration of the lockdown period. The Rain-
opment has mostly resulted in positive econom- bow Hotel in Victoria Falls implemented recom-
ic growth (Bankole 2017). The initial investment mended actions, staff awareness, guest aware-
for ICT development is normally very huge, ness and personal hygiene. Staff Reporter (2020)
thereby resulting in many countries failing to has stated that the tourism industry in Zimba-
commit resources to its fruition. The current per- bwe has recorded cancellations of bookings and
ceived investment high-risk status of Zimbabwe trips by international travellers following the
is resulting in foreign borrowing being very ex- outbreak of COVID-19 that continues to spread
pensive for the country. This is resulting in many worldwide.
promising investors losing interest to invest in The current hotels occupancy rate in Zimba-
the country. A high-risk country is perceived by bwe has declined from eighty-five percent be-
most investors as not safe to invest in because fore the COVID-19 pandemic to about twenty-

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8 INNOCENT CHIRISA, TAFADZWA MUTAMBISI, MARCYLINE CHIVENGE ET AL.

five percent with no foreign visitors except for in means that more revenue was generated
locals. Victoria Falls water levels have reached a through Victoria Falls.
peak that was last seen in the 1970s, and yet Tour guides trained by the Department of
there are no visitors to experience this natural Tourism and Hospitality are employed by estab-
wonder due to the current national lockdown lished companies like Shearwaters and some
(Zengeni 2019). The influence of ICT on desti- operate as freelance tour guides, which creates
nation competitiveness was put to comparative employment (Victoria Fall Times 2020).
analysis with accommodation and transport dur- From the foregoing discussion, it can be
ing a study, which was carried out in the resort noted that the decrease in tourist arrivals within
town (Zengeni 2019). He concluded that accom- the Victoria Falls tourist destination will result in
modation and transport as tourism infrastruc- tremendous impacts on the social wellbeing of
ture had the greatest weight with a coefficient of the community through loss of employment and
0.13, whilst ICT had the least coefficient of 0.04 loss of revenue. Therefore, the concept of virtu-
(Zengeni 2019). Though it was the case then, al tours may save the town from massive reve-
but due to the rise of COVID-19 and the need of nue decline. Tourist related companies and
virtual tourism, ICT could possibly be a leading
freelance tour guides should explore options of
variable in destination competitiveness. This is
developing a virtual tour, which can be market-
not surprising considering the fact that the role
of technology in the tourism sector has long ed and sold online. The implementation of virtu-
since been acknowledged, with earlier scholars al tours in the resort town might minimise some
(such as Olsen and Connoloy 2000, Magnini et negative perceptions, which were linked to ac-
al. 2003; Su 2011) confirming the significant role. tual tours. For example, in 2009, there was a com-
Victoria Falls would be an appropriate attrac- plaint, which was filed by two hotel operators
tion in Zimbabwe for the adoption of virtual tour- about noise caused by helicopters during the
ism. This is because it carries among other at- flight of angels. It was stated that Victoria Falls
tractions the most popular tourist attraction for World Heritage status is under threat after two
Zimbabwe, which is the waterfall. Victoria Falls hoteliers at the prime resort town petitioned the
has several world-class five-star hotels such as World Heritage Commission against noise pol-
the Victoria Falls and Kingdom hotels. An inter- lution in the town (Victoria Falls Times 2020).
national airport is also found in Victoria Falls, The hoteliers, The Victoria Falls Hotel and the
making the destination well accessible by inter- Kingdom, separately wrote to the World Heri-
national tourists. Furthermore, most rental and tage Commission saying noise generated by fre-
tour operating companies that include Shearwa- quent flights over the Falls and through gorges
ter and Wild Horizon are found in Victoria Falls. and the number of licenses given to helicopter
In the past years, Victoria Falls has been re- operators were a cause for concern (The Zimba-
cording high figures of international visitors. In bwe Independent 2009). The hoteliers com-
2018 the total number of tourists who visited plained that the noise caused by the helicopters
Victoria Falls was seventy-two percent of clien- was depriving their guests of a quiet and relax-
tele mix compared to twenty-eight percent of lo- ing environment. Furthermore, in 2013 environ-
cal visitors in room occupancy (Zimbabwe Tour- mentalists warned the government of Zimbabwe
ism Authority 2018). From July 2015 to June 2016 that noise pollution from helicopter flights over
(the duration for Visitor Exit Survey (VES)), the Victoria Falls could badly affect elephant herds
total number of visitors to the country was in Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs 2013).
2,106,975 as per the Department of Immigration Elephants are considered to be an important part
Control. The average expenditure of all visitors of the ecosystem in Zimbabwe and if they were
as per VES was USD 385. Therefore, the estimat- to flee, the environmentalists were concerned
ed direct revenue from visitors for July 2015 to about what will become of the ecosystem in the
June 2016 was USD 811,185,375 (Zimbabwe Vis- resort town (Victoria Falls Times 2020). The re-
itor Exit Survey (VES) Report 2015-2016). As- strictions brought about by the COVID-19 are
suming that more travellers visited Victoria Falls likely to temporarily reduce such problems.

J Soc Sci, 64(1-3): 1-13 (2020)

SCOPE FOR VIRTUAL TOURISM IN THE TIMES OF COVID-19 9

DISCUSSION technology are transforming and technology is

capable of effectively reaching millions of peo-
Building confidence through trust and dia- ple across the globe (Rainoldi et al. 2017). With
logue is crucial in making policy measures effec- advances in 3D and 360-degree cameras, it is
tive (International Labour Organisation 2018). possible to develop animation of tourist desti-
This equally applies to policy measures that af- nations such as the Victoria Falls and addition
fect the tourism sector, which require trust and of several options that may not be offered to a
confidence if the tourists are to prioritise visit- physical visitor, such as games that can be sold
ing a selected destination. Building resilient cit- through payment of a subscription fee, regional
ies should inform planning and development of virtual tours of a wide range of attractions com-
cities whose economies heavily rely on tourism, bined with cultural tours of different countries.
such as Victoria Falls. A resilient approach in This however should not be done at the expense
city planning and development should promote of the local industry and local population who
the integration of the physical, socio-economic also earn a living from tourism.
and political environment to ensure that after a Planners need to consider all possible im-
disaster, the tourism sector can effectively re- pacts of any venture including tourism activi-
spond, adapt, recover, transform and bounce ties and how to minimise negative impacts. How-
forward better than before. This entails innova- ever, virtual tourism might not appeal to all visi-
tive approaches such as promotion of planning tors especially those who seek adventure and
laws that facilitate multipurpose use of public authenticity of attractions. Developing countries
buildings such as conversion of schools and such as Zimbabwe might not offer effective and
hotels into hospitals and safe havens. Tourism appealing tour packages due to limited techno-
cities also need to heavily invest in research, logical advancement especially to visitors from
information technology as well as marketing and advanced economies. The Coronavirus can also
communication, which will facilitate launch of be a once in a lifetime disaster like the Spanish
and adaptation to virtual tourism by both local flu and Coronavirus driven investments in the
and international consumers. This can be tourism sector may not be economically viable if
achieved by promoting partnership with academ- there are low chances of the world being affect-
ic and research institutions as well as private- ed by a virus of similar magnitude and impact to
public partnership for investments into required COVID-19. However, considering virtual tech-
infrastructure that facilitates setting up and use nology is still a viable option, it is pertinent to
of virtual tourism. strengthen marketing strategies making it a pos-
Virtual Reality in tourism should be devel- sible game changer for local and regional tour-
oped to enable the tourists to experience what ism, which will be fit for a future that is likely to
each place offers just by the touch of a button. be heavily determined by virtual reality as tech-
This would reduce fear in tourists, for example, nology continues to advance.
fear of being affected by diseases in some of the
destinations that tend to be disease prone, par- CONCLUSION
ticularly tropical destinations. In addition, virtu-
al reality would have positive impacts on the The Coronavirus has impacted the world at
tourism industry that tend to bear the economic a scale greater than any other disaster faced in
brunt whenever diseases outbreaks, such as the last 75 years, particularly the health sector.
coronavirus, occur. The success of virtual reali- The economies of the world have also been hit
ty heavily depends on good governance that hard especially the service industries. In some
countries, the tourism sector has been complete-
should ensure continuous monitoring and as- ly shut down as countries imposed travel bans
sessment as well as data sharing on available and restrictions to reduce transmission of the
attractions, challenges and opportunities with virus. Businesses need to come up with resilient
all stakeholders, including national and interna- strategies to generate income and minimise job
tional tourists through platforms such as the losses. Investment and increased use of virtual
smart city network. Emerging applications of VR technology that include 3-D is one of the strate-

J Soc Sci, 64(1-3): 1-13 (2020)

10 INNOCENT CHIRISA, TAFADZWA MUTAMBISI, MARCYLINE CHIVENGE ET AL.

Table 1: Disaster risk management activities in tourism cities

Governments City Operators

Revisit policy and legislation to Housing is a vital component of Avail B&Bs, hotels and lodges as
enable all the city and opera- managing the pandemic. There- quarantine accommodation at
tors to effectively take on their fore, the city should amend laws home rental prices.
roles in the disaster risk man- and spatial plans to allow alter-
agement of the cities. native building technologies and
materials instead of sticking to
conventional approaches.
Strongly invest in primary and pub- Local Economic Development in- Avail above venues to be centres
lic health as well as other sec- itiatives should focus on local for broadcasting of e-teaching.
tors that can be affected by di- tourism and SMEs especially af-
saster having ripple effects on ter lockdown. as they are more
the rest of the sectors, for ex- fragile financially and cash-
ample, education, transport and strapped when market demand
social protection. is down.
Explore options for economic di- Decongest hotspot human settle- Invest in state-of-the-art private
versification rather than solely ments and use technology like medical facilities, which will
relying on tourism medium to drones to monitor hotspots. attract high-class tourists who
long term. may be concerned of inadequate
Strengthen hazard mapping, risk Planners to coordinate with other or low-quality health provisions
monitoring and early warning city stakeholders and package in some of the countries.
to enable preparedness planning the cities for tourism museums,
for cities. history of some physical struc- Invest in technology to facilitate
tures and importance in city internet access and promote
growth marketing of attractions at the
Establish national disaster funding Decentralise economic activities international level.
mechanisms to support cities through killing CBDs and going
and other entities if the disaster for suburban hubs.
effects are beyond capacity of Build grassroots disaster risk man-
the city to use its own resourc- agement (DRM) local institu-
es. tional structures and invest in
disaster risk reduction strategies
(DRR) as well as promoting city
resilience strategies.
Promote cremation and aquama-
tion. as it is cheaper and easy to
undertake and also deals with
land shortage induced by the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Develop business continuity and
contingency plans and also con-
duct simulation exercises to en-
sure city readiness in case of a
disaster.

gies that can be used to promote tourism in the net so as to promote and protect use of virtual
context of COVID-19 and travel restrictions. This tourism. More so, local governments should
has the advantage of people being protected come up with strategies that can promote the
and kept safe in the comfort of their own homes. adaptive reuse of buildings such as hotels while
search for a vaccine is in progress. Virtual tour-
RECOMMENDATIONS ism has the potential to reinvigorate tourism in
cities that rely on tourism for income as well as
There is need for responsible authorities to enable them to continue getting cash inflows
come up with various technologies, laws and particularly during times of COVID-19 and trav-
policies on property rights on the use of Inter- el restrictions.

J Soc Sci, 64(1-3): 1-13 (2020)

SCOPE FOR VIRTUAL TOURISM IN THE TIMES OF COVID-19 11

There is need for a collective effort in disas- [Link]> (Re-

ter risk management between the operators, gov- trieved on 3 May 2020).
European Commission 2020. Communication from the
ernment and the city, particularly development Commission to the European Parliament, the Euro-
of multi-hazard risk management plans and strat- pean Council, the Council, the European Central Bank,
egies as well as ensuring their implementation. the European Investment Bank and the Eurogroup/ ;
Table 1 shows a number of activities that can be Coordinated Economic Response to the Covid-19
Outbreak. Brussels, COM(2020) 112 final.
undertaken in order to help tourism cities adapt Falco Stefano de, Angelidou M, Addie Jean-Paul D 2019.
to the pandemic. From the “Smart City” to the “Smart Metropolis”?
Building resilience in the urban periphery. European
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