TECHNOLOGY

How the tech industry is assisting small tourism businesses

In just under two years, South Africa’s travel and tourism industry was almost utterly decimated as travel ground to a complete halt, people were quarantined indoors, and businesses had to shut their doors as the Covid-19 pandemic swept through the country.

By Tshepo Matlou, head of marketing and communications at Jurni.

Lockdown restrictions and other necessary health and safety measures implemented by the national government inevitably resulted in the industry losing billions in revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs since the beginning of the pandemic, small businesses in the sector bearing the brunt of the impact. In South Africa, where small businesses make up around 80 per cent of the tourism industry which injects billions to the economy and generates more than 1.5 million indirect and 740,000 direct jobs, one of the country’s most important sectors is on the brink.

But it’s not all doom and gloom.

The disruptive impact of Covid-19 has had an unexpected side effect. It has accelerated digital transformation, driving innovation forward, which will redefine the industry for many years to come. Suddenly, the tourism sector has been thrust face first into the digital future as emerging technologies are enabling small businesses to tackle the specific challenges they’re faced with, facilitating not only recovery but also growth.

While local businesses had begun to tentatively dip their toes into digital tools through means such as establishing a presence on social media before the pandemic, the current crisis presents a unique opportunity for small businesses in the tourism sector to leverage powerful new technologies to become stronger and more profitable in the post-pandemic economy.

One of the biggest challenges that small businesses in the sector face lies in connecting with and reaching customers. Before digital technologies penetrated so much of our daily lives, planning a trip, finding a place to stay and the activities available to you while on vacation required direct local knowledge. Travellers needed to look through guidebooks, brochures, and do a lot of investigative legwork. But, today, nearly everyone has a small computer in the form of a smartphone in their pocket, which has made access to information so much easier. Now, all anyone has to do is perform an online search to find accommodation, restaurant, and travel experience information in any area.

The drawback for small businesses is that they often have less or no visibility in the digital world in comparison to larger, more well-known companies. As such, they struggle to connect to travellers who would be interested in what they have to offer as they are unrecorded, ungraded, and located in township and rural areas. It is here that technology has a big role to play as an enabler in the tourism space.

Jurni is looking to tackle this challenge and provide small and medium accommodation facilities with new opportunities through its online platform which allows travellers to find and book their stays in highly localised areas. By using its back-end system of data collected on local businesses through various industry representative bodies and business owners, Jurni aims to lift the veil of ‘invisibility’ surrounding small businesses and matching them directly with the right market.

Jurni’s booking tool offers a simple, mobile-enabled booking system which enables customers and intermediaries to book and pay for accommodation and experiences and is accompanied by a mobile-ready business management application which allows the small business proprietor to manage inventory, pricing, payments and more, putting control into the hands of local businesses.

Today, people are itching to travel again and the tourism industry may expect a massive travel boom in the near future. The forthcoming influx of travellers offers a valuable opportunity for SMMEs in the industry to recoup the losses suffered at the height of the pandemic and propel their growth. But SMMEs will lose out on the ability to take advantage of this surge in travel if travellers don’t know their business exists, or any information related to the business such as availability and costs. Jurni is committed to enabling the growth of entrepreneurs and local small businesses in the industry by using technology to remove obstacles to their success.

Innovative technologies are already generating, personalising, and delivering new products, services and experiences in the travel and tourism industry as digital transformation continues to push the industry onto new and sometimes unpredictable pathways. For small, local businesses, technology has particularly important implications. Technology is increasingly helping SMMEs innovate, respond quickly to market challenges and leverage new opportunities.

Who is Tshepo Matlou?

Tshepo Matlou heads Marketing and Communications for Jurni in South Africa. He graduated with a masters in leadership and management, diploma in marketing, digital marketing, management advanced programme and advanced public management development programme amongst other qualifications. He is an internationally accredited executive coach.

He is passionate about empowering people and their businesses using technology and transferring of skills in digital marketing which support businesses to stay relevant online. He has acquired over 18 years of management and executive experience in multiple sectors within South Africa.

Jurni is a Travel and Tourism Data Management Company which implements National Tourism Visitor Information Systems by ensuring that relevant technology solutions are built to meet industry needs with the ultimate goal of collecting and showcasing meaningful travel and tourism data.