SMALL TOWN INFORMAL ENTREPRENEURS OF THE GLOBAL SOUTH: INSIGHTS FROM INFORMAL BUSINESS TOURISM IN ZIMBABWE

Existing research on the informal entrepreneurship in tourism is dominated by participation in leisure tourism. A knowledge gap surrounds informal entrepreneurship in business tourism and the phenomenon of informal business tourism. The aim is to contribute to scholarship on the mobilities of informal business tourists in the study setting of Zimbabwe. The specific focus is on informal business tourists who are residents of the nation’s small towns. A key finding is that most domestic informal business tourists visiting Harare originate from small towns or surrounding rural settlements. Significant contributions are made by these informal business tourists towards food provisioning and food security of Harare citizens. The shopping undertaken by these tourists in the markets of Harare provides a range of goods which otherwise would not be readily available for sale to residents of Zimbabwe’s ‘leftbehind’ small town economic spaces. Nevertheless, small town informal entrepreneurs function in a precarious business environment dominated by anti-informal economy regulations from Harare authorities and the constant threat of police harassment, loss of stock and reduced business income.