The Evolution and Pandemic Recovery of Africa’s First Creative City of Gastronomy

Research issues around tourism development in small town South Africa have generated a growing scholarship. With the announcement in May 2023 by the World Health Organisation of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic the paper reflects both on the pandemic experiences for tourism in South African small towns and of relevant initiatives for revival at the beginning of the post COVID-19 era. Specifically, the aim in this paper to extend the literature on tourism in small town South Africa by focusing on the context of small town recovery from COVID-19 analysing the example of the Overstrand, Africa’s first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. The study shows that under certain circumstances amenity-rich small town localities can be resilient to external shocks such as the pandemic. For the resilience and recovery of small-town tourism destinations it is argued that place-based responses are critical.