The tourism sector has been worst affected of all sectors in Eastern Africa and the socio-economic effects on employment, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution and revenues continue to worsen. International tourist numbers are projected to decline by 60-80%. At the launch of the policy brief on COVID-19 and Transforming Tourism, the UN Secretary General highlighted the fact that as one of the most important economic sectors, the industry was among those that had been the most severely affected and that there was urgent need to intervene in the developing countries. This project is, therefore, expected to contribute to the enhanced resilience of African Member States against external shocks as demonstrated by diversification from a narrow range of tourism products and reduce dependence on international tourist arrivals towards the domestic and regional markets; improved research and development potential backed by contemporary tools to collect good quality tourism data which is critical in informing policy on the contribution of the industry to social and economic development and impact externalities to tourism industry to inform appropriate mitigation and recovery strategies in light, of the current COVID-19 pandemic and in the spirit of building back and leaving no one behind.