Partnerships in tourism: Private partnerships between Dutch and Ethiopian tour operators in the context of the COVID-19 crisis

Abstract

Over the past decades both development scholars and practitioners have called for more partnerships in tourism. In spite of these calls, there is a clear divide between literature focusing on tourism as a tool for development and literature focusing on cross-border private partnerships in tourism. This study aims to bridge this gap by focusing on how partnerships between Dutch outbound tour operators and Ethiopian inbound tour operators shape opportunities and constraints for Ethiopian inbound tour operators, prior to and during the current COVID-19 crisis. For this purpose, 12 in-depth interviews have been conducted with Ethiopian and Dutch tour operators. The concept of value chain governance has been used to study partnership flows, their aspects of movement and partnership qualities. The analysis revealed that the value chains in which these partnerships are set, show signs of relational value chains in which power is well balanced and mutual dependence exist. Nonetheless, the findings show that this general image should be nuanced by the ‘depth’ of partnerships, the channelling force of institutions and, most importantly, by the exclusion of fully Ethiopian-owned tour operators from these value chains. This exclusion has been found to relate to the importance of European trade fairs and, most prominently, to the prevalence of generalisations and stereotypes leading to a lack of trust towards Ethiopian business owners. Furthermore, regarding these partnerships and COVID-19, it has been found that building resilience prior to the crisis was closely related to these partnerships. Nonetheless, partners have become completely detached during the COVID-19 crisis. Subsequently, the adopted adaptation strategies during the COVID-19 crisis have been analysed and possible governance implications for the recovery of these value chains have been discussed.