Safari Tourism in the Post-COVID-19 Environment: The Case of Small Businesses in Mpumalanga

Safari tourism is a type of nature-based travel that most often involves visiting national parks and protected areas to view wildlife. Businesses feeding into the Kruger National Park (KNP) constitute a large share of safari tourism in South Africa and were hard hit by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study seeks to determine the nature of these impacts on safari tourism using the case of Mpumalanga, within which a large share of the KNP exists. The findings show safari tour operators struggled significantly during the pandemic, losing all business and often unable to make ends meet. Most safari operators in Mpumalanga are small businesses and therefore did not have the capacity to deal with the financial consequences. Findings also show that the government assistance to these businesses was low. Although safari tourists are returning to the area, operators are still dealing with the devastating effects of the pandemic, in some cases unable to cope with incoming tourists due to pandemic era losses.