ABSTRACT
Adol F.C Gogo1 & Prof. Lóránt Dénes Dávid2
(Doctoral School of Regional Sciences, Szent István University Hungary, Fredrick.Gogo@phd.uni-szie.hu )
2
(Professor Doctoral School of Regional Sciences, Szent István University Hungary,
David.Lorant.Denes@gtk.szie.hu )
1
Tourism Policies before, during and after CORVID 19 pandemic in East African
Community
When CORVID 19 swept across the world, even the most advanced model of regional integration
found in the European Union was shaken and thrown into confusion. Schengen polices took a back
seat, while national policies sat on the driver’s seat. Free movement was suspended with clarion
calls of “stay home, save lives” running across television networks. This sent shivers down the
spine of the East African Community. The East African Community comprises of some of the
award leading attractions and the best tourism service providers that Africa has to offer. The region
is naturally endowed with spectacular beauty ranging from luxurious islands at the coast, award
winning beaches, conference facilities and most importantly, leading National Parks for wildlife
safaris. The reliance on tourism sector is immense and when CORVID 19 was reported in the
region, lockdown measures were instituted effectively grinding tourism activities to an
instantaneous halt. Despite the region having a common e-passport to facilitate free movement of
people across the region, partner States locked borders and it was everyone on his/her own. Hotels
sent their employees on unpaid leave, tour vans were grounded, beaches were closed and most
importantly, local communities that rely on tourism abruptly lost out on income generation. It is
also public knowledge that lack of coordination at the regional level has led to tensions flaring up
between two of the biggest economies in the region. Tanzania has declared that it is corona free
through prayers, while her neighbor Kenya has continued to enforce lockdown measures of more
than thirty days, blaming Tanzania for derailing her efforts to stop the spread. This study seeks to
carry out a primary research using qualitative research design to dissect the pandemic outcomes
using a two lens approach. One is at the policy level to examine pre-existence of preparedness
strategy, policies during the outbreak, and polices after lifting of lock down regulations. The
second lens will interview the actors being tour operators, travel agents, hotel employees and local
communities around tourism destinations. The findings hope to unravel the appropriateness of preexisting policies if any, the effectiveness of policies enforced during the pandemic and the recovery
strategies proposed at the policy level once normalcy resumes. The other lens intends to provide
an insight of how the actors were impacted by the pandemic with emphasis on how companies
responded to the outbreak while dealing with employees, how employees and local communities
coped during the pandemic, and their suggestions on what should be done next time should there
be another pandemic. Respondents will be selected from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Inclusion criteria will consist of having worked in a hotel located at the coastal region before the
pandemic, having worked with a tour company or travel agency before the pandemic and being in
a community that relies on tourism sector. The overall contribution of the study will be to provide
policy makers both at National and regional level of East African Community (EAC), with insights
on how to cushion tourism stakeholders when such pandemics emerge. In addition, the study will
also analyze the recovery strategies developed, thereby providing the basis for further studies on
the effectiveness of the polices adopted post-corvid 19 within the region.