How to cite: Mushawemhuka W., Rogerson J.M. and Saarinen J., 2018: Nature-based tourism operators' perceptions and adaptation to climate change in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.Abstract. Climate and weather are important resources for tourism. In particular, nature-based tourism activities and operations are largely dependent on and affected by environmental conditions and changes. Due to the significant socio-economic role of the nature-based tourism and the tourism industry, in general, in the region of southern Africa it is important to understand the dynamics between the industry and climate change. A key aspect of this understanding are perceptions and adaptation preparedness of tourism operators towards the estimated impact of climate change. There is a dearth of empirical studies on climate change perceptions and adaptation in nature-based tourism operations across southern Africa and specifically from Zimbabwe. This research gap is addressed in this article which provides an exploratory analysis of the nature of climate change adaptation practices occurring in southern Africa using evidence from Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.

Transnational entrepreneurship is an evolving field of research which occupies an interface between social and regional sciences. The phenomenon of transnational entrepreneurship is driven by entrepreneurs that migrate from one country to another whilst maintaining business-related linkages with their former country of origin and the adopted country. The most critical distinguishing feature of transnational entrepreneurs is bifocality or the ability to function across two different business environments. Most writings on transnational entrepreneurship concentrate on business individuals from the global South operating enterprises in the global North. Absent are empirical studies of the nature and behaviour of transnational migrant entrepreneurs who operate across or between emerging or developing economies. This South-South gap in international research concerning transnational entrepreneurship is addressed in the paper which provides an exploratory analysis of the nature of transnational entrepreneurship occurring in Southern Africa using evidence of Zimbabwean transnational entrepreneurs based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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The tourism sector plays a major role in the economic development of a number of countries in the Global South, particularly Southern Africa. One such country is Zimbabwe, which struggles with significant economic hardships and relies heavily on the tourism sector. The Victoria Falls, a key tourism attraction of Zimbabwe on the Zambezi River was the subject of a plethora of news articles published between November 2019 and January 2020. The media suggested that the world’s largest waterfall had dried up due to climate change induced drought. These reports arose during the dry season and were thus arguably ill-founded and downplayed the natural seasonal characteristics of the Zambezi River. This paper presents content analysis of these media articles and the phenomenological qualitative data analysis of interviews conducted with tourism operators in Victoria Falls. Although some of the articles published within this period strived for accurate reporting, some articles claimed that the Victoria Falls was dry, which was inconsistent with experiences of tourism operators. This inaccurate reporting is argued by the tourism operators to have negatively affected the tourism sector and destination image of the key attraction. This paper highlights the need for accurate science-based media reporting on weather, climate, climate change and the knowledge of the local tourism stakeholders within the tourism sector.

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