Crisis management in the tourism industry in Africa: the case of tourism subsectors in The Gambia during the COVID-19 pandemic

The aim of this study is to expand the analysis of crisis management approaches in the context of the tourism industry in Africa by exploring strategies applied by tourism subsectors to manage a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, using The Gambia as a case study. A total of 45 respondents from a purposive sampling of 65 professionals were surveyed. The respondents include tourism officers from public sector, hotel managers, tourist lodging managers, ecotourism facility managers, tourist ground handling managers, restaurant managers, entertainment sector managers, tourist taxi owners, and tourist markets vendors, all of whom hold managerial positions and possess professional experience and knowledge of the country's tourism business environment participated in the research. A mixed-method approach was adopted, and content analysis utilized as a data synthesis technique. The findings indicates that, apart from survival strategies employed by various tourism subsectors in The Gambia, managers also relied on local resources, tourist suppliers abroad regarding travel requirements and restrictions, and directives from government to maintain their operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on this knowledge, the findings shows that practitioners and policy makers should rely on available local resources, aligned with international standards creating a foundation for tourism operations to become resilient and survive situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic as a strategy for crisis management.