15 July 2020

Online course update: The impact of COVID-19 on tourism

Sustainable tourism

The global corona pandemic continues to have a massive impact on all sectors, not least the global tourist industry. Therefore, we found it relevant to update our online course ‘Sustainable Tourism – promoting environmental public health’ to include a lesson on how COVID-19 is impacting tourism in Zanzibar.

A smoking landfill site in Zanzibar
A smoking landfill site in Zanzibar. Mosquitoes often lay their eggs in small puddles made from waste.

Text: Morten Mechlenborg Nørulf / Photo and video: Centre for Online and Blended Learning

Grounded flights, closed borders and empty hotels are some of the consequences of COVID-19. And they have negative implications for many of the hundred million people employed in the global tourist industry. Last time we visited Zanzibar in this course, the tourist industry was booming and it is still the main economic sector in Zanzibar. But the suspension of all international flights to Tanzania due to the corona pandemic suddenly left Zanzibar without its main source of income.

How is this global crisis impacting the population and its local tourist industry? Are there any positive changes, for example in relation to environmental health? Will the pandemic force Zanzibaris to consider alternative ways of earning money less dependent on tourists? We have asked two of our colleagues living in Zanzibar, Fatma Saleh and Ayubo Kampango to help us answer these questions.

The online course is free for everyone and it takes approximately 10 hours to complete.

Take the free online course in ‘Sustainable Tourism – promoting environmental public health’.

If you only want to see our update about the impact of COVID-19 on tourism in Zanzibar,  you can watch the video below.

Topics