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Rebuilding Tourism Resilience in the Post-Pandemic Era: Hotel Success Narratives in Tanzania

    Abstract

    COVID-19 struck tourism more deeply than ever before and it is still less clear how tourist hotels in the remote setting of the global south navigated the crisis. Limited explored empirically and what remain less known is how the standard operating procedures were designed, perceived and effectively applied to inform resilience in specific tourist hotel setting. In this article we explore the role of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) played in rebuilding tourist hotels resilience. Karatu district Tanzania touristic space situates study context. Methodological approach adopted is qualitative research design with integration of interview, observation and pertinent hotel statistics in comparing pre and post pandemic realities within a span of ten years. With focus on luxurious hotels in the study area and drawing from crisis management and resilience theory we triangulated interviews, hotel bookings data and bed occupancy rate to generate novel outcomes. Findings disclose that tourist hotels adopted safety protocols proactively to manage crisis and rebuild resilience. Innovated protocols in tourist hotel setting provided peculiar geopolitical space to counter the global pandemic fear and deconstructed lockdown and mobility restriction discourses and ultimately reclaiming booking and increasing bed occupancy rates with time. Beyond SOP, counter-narratives also pointed to the role of vaccination, that came relatively latter. In future similar global disasters, tourist hotels crisis management protocols should embrace continuity in service delivery taking proactive precaution while evading disastrous mobility restrictions policies. Our contribution is specific within the tourist hotels setting during the formation of COVID-19 protocols along with their adoption and after.

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