Rooots & Routes
Hello, am Trevor Chomumwe. I'm interested in culture, history, food, people, and places. In June 2021, I set out on a road trip to learn, examine, and document how COVID-19 has affected the tourism and hospitality industry in Africa. My target was to visit 25 countries and I ended up managing to visit 10 countries in just over 1,000 days. This is a visual diary of the journey.
Photo: On the way to catch a bus to Lilongwe, Malawi. Taken Dudu Dube on Sam Hancock St, Johannesburg, South Africa around the Constitutional Hill Human Rights Precinct. March 2022
Why Did I Do This?
When I started thinking and planning on travelling Southern Africa to onboard suppliers for a project we were working on, COVID-19 struck and life as we know it changed forever. At a crossroads of uncertainty, and with no plan, business, or money I decided to take a leap of faith and travel to these suppliers with the aim to:
- Witness the impact of COVID-19 on micro, small, and medium enterprises in the tourism and hospitality sector.
- Uncover investment opportunities and showcase the pathways for careers, and learnerships within the fields of tourism and hospitality.
- Capture the experience of remote work across visa-free African destinations, offering insights into diverse work environments and cultures.
- Comprehend the demographics of current travelers in the destinations I visit and their preferences, shedding light on their travel experiences.
- Explore how content is aiding tourism businesses and hospitality stakeholders in engaging consumers throughout the travel purchasing process.
Where I Did I Go?
One of the things I loved about this journey is that each destination has been completely unique, with its own traditions, vibes, and typography. So naturally it was difficult to decide which destination I will be visiting next. My decision-making process of where to go over time came down to a couple of things; COVID-19, Entry and visa requirements, the logistics of getting around, how much cash I have, the opportunity for collaborations, work, people, and of course, food.
I took pictures as I travelled, and documented the stories of people, buildings, traffic, and all the things in between that make up the daily lives of the places that I visited.
Who Did I Talk To?
every day I talked to people and listened to stories, and sounds to get a better understanding of how they are navigating their lives amid the COVID-19 pandemic. sometimes I recorded these and shared them.
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