Fourie, AliciaBlaauw, DerickDe Villiers, Vickey2024-04-102024Alicia Fourie, Derick Blaauw & Vickey De Villiers (2024) ‘It’s a disaster, nobody is coming’: International travel bans’ effect on Cape Town's informal traders, Development Southern Africa, 41:1, 53-70, DOI: 10.1080/0376835X.2023.2244530.0376-835X (print)1470-3637 (online)10.1080/0376835X.2023.2244530http://hdl.handle.net/2263/95459The COVID-19 crisis has been one of the most significant events in recent history. Informal traders who depend on a thriving tourist market have been especially vulnerable to COVID-19. The resultant travel bans affected South Africa’s tourism-related informal economic activities. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of the pandemic on informal traders’ livelihoods and resilience in Cape Town, South Africa. Tourists have always constituted a large proportion of informal traders’ customer base. They are often willing and able to spend more than locals. The impact of travel bans on traders’ income, profit margins, and livelihoods has been disastrous. However, many traders have shown commendable resilience. There were obviously limits to the effectiveness of their mitigating strategies. There is an urgent need (from a social justice and a pure economic perspective) for further relief and assistance to supplement street traders’ efforts to survive as international tourism recovers.en© 2023 Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC). This is an electronic version of an article published in Development Southern Africa, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 53-70, 2023. doi : 10.1080/0376835X.2023.2244530. Development Southern Africa is available online at : http://www.tandfonline.comloi/cdsa20.Informal tradersInformal sectorInformal employmentTourismCOVID-19 pandemicCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)SDG-08: Decent work and economic growthPostprint Article