Tourism resilience in the SADC region: A multi-crisis analysis and integrated crisis management model

Abstract

The tourism industry in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region is highly vulnerable to multiple, overlapping crises, including environmental disasters, energy shortages, political instability, economic fluctuations, and global health pandemics. Despite the growing importance of resilience in tourism research, existing studies largely adopt single-crisis or destination-specific approaches, limiting their applicability to complex regional systems, which is particularly problematic given the interconnected nature of crises affecting the SADC region. This study examined tourism resilience in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, with a focus on the impacts of crises, the strategies adopted to enhance resilience, and the effectiveness of these adaptation measures. The study adopted a qualitative research design based on a systematic desk review of secondary data. Literature was sourced from peer-reviewed journals, books, and policy reports from institutions such as SADC, UNWTO, and the World Bank, retrieved through databases including Google Scholar, Scopus, and ScienceDirect. A thematic analysis approach was used to synthesize findings on tourism resilience and crisis management in the SADC region from studies published between 2000 and 2025. The study finds that tourism in the SADC region is highly vulnerable to multiple interrelated crises, including environmental, economic, political, energy, and pandemic shocks, which significantly disrupt sector performance, with uneven recovery across countries. Despite this, resilience is gradually emerging through digital transformation, infrastructure and technological adaptation, and market and product diversification, although these efforts remain constrained by structural inequalities and weak coordination. The study recommends the adoption of an integrated SADC Crisis Management and Resilience Model (S-CMRM) to strengthen multi-level governance, enhance adaptive capacity, and promote a more proactive and transformative approach to tourism resilience in the region.