Abstract
The impacts of COVID-19 for cities are generating an extensive international scholarship. This study contributes to the literature on the ramifications of urban tourism. The research is an assessment of what might be termed the early stage or ‘first round’ of the impacts of COVID-19. Using the IHS Global Insight local tourism base for South Africa the study analyses COVID-19 impacts during 2020 for the country’s eight metropolitan areas. It reveals the pandemic’s devastating impacts for tourism flows and correspondingly the diminished role of tourism in urban economies. An important finding is that South Africa’s metropolitan areas experienced a greater proportionate decline in tourism than the recorded national rate of decline. The consequence is a reduction during 2020 in the relative share of metropolitan areas in the South African tourism economy. This implies a reversal of established trends towards polarization and increasing city dominance that have been observed over the previous 20 years. The major burden of the collapse of urban tourism has fallen upon the five largest metropolitan areas which have been severely impacted by government regulations to halt the pandemic and resultant changes in consumer preferences for travel.