By Laurence Wall, International Hotel Group Manager at Profitroom
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), South Africa's tourism industry could become a key driver of economic growth over the next decade. The sector is expected to contribute 800 000 jobs and R287-billion to the national economy by 2032. Technology will likely be a massive contributor to the sector’s future success.
Technology has revolutionised almost every industry, and the tourism sector is no exception. Online booking engines like ours, AI chatbots, and the metaverse have thrown the cat among the outdated pigeons so to speak. All of this bodes well for the consumers.
According to the international data portal Statista, South Africa has over 41 million active internet users in South Africa. This presents an excellent opportunity for tourism destinations to showcase their offerings and connect with potential visitors.
To capitalise on this, tech savvy businesses in the travel industry have begun deploying cutting edge omni-channel distribution management systems to efficiently manage cross-channel online sales, use unique tools like flexible occupancy rate management and allow for bulk pricing and restriction updates.
Technology has given the sector the ability to connect to, personalise and apply the increasing amount of data we have. Companies like ours can then take the insights we get to create products and services that benefit customers and hoteliers. All of this makes travelling easier, more cost effective and fun for everyone involved. In short, like so many aspects of life, technology is making travel in South Africa better.
Find out more about the future of technology at the Africa Tech Week Festival
With 27 years of experience in the independent luxury hospitality industry, Laurence Wall has worked alongside owners of hotels and boutique hotel groups in developing their businesses. Whether that is simply driving revenues and sales, improving operations, repositioning assets within the marketplace, overseeing development projects, increasing profitability, increasing EBITDA and liaising with Banks and Financial institutions, his broad experience is a perfect fit independent owner who wants to redefine and push their business to the next level.