The tourism and the hospitality sectors have been challenged to integrate e-solutions to speed up recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stakeholders in the hospitality industry said this during the Pesapal Caffè Sessions held on Thursday. 

Over the last decade, digitalization has revolutionized the tourism and hospitality industry. Advances in technology and innovations have spurred a transformation in the sector and redefined how the travel and hospitality sectors operate. 

Travelling today is more affordable, accessible and convenient than ever before because of technological advances.

Pollmans Group Head of Operations and Tourism Influencer Mohammed Hersi said more business and leisure travellers are going online to make their travel plans and the industry must change their business models to meet the emerging trends.

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“You must be able to conduct business without physical contact. Technology enables easier and seamless ways of doing business,” Hersi said. 

Amongst the areas that have seen significant transformation are payments and reservations. Today, the hospitality and tourism industries are at the forefront of cashless payments, with a broad range of merchants facing customers who demand fast and minimal friction services. 

Pesapal Founder Agosta Liko said merchants need innovative solutions to stand out in the competitive market.

“These merchants need innovative payment solutions to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive market. Our solutions enable payments from anywhere in the world and reduce the complexity of cross-border transactions,” Liko said. 

“When we built the Pesapal payment platform, our focus was developing a solution that would enable seamless process integration for customers and players in the hospitality and tourism industry. We listen to our customers and merchants to simplify their experiences.” 

Following the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, more business and leisure travellers are going online to make their travel plans. From finding the next destination to getting reviews and making bookings, it’s all gone digital.

To keep up with these fresh developments, stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality sectors are adapting and engaging with their customers online and making their user journey as simple as possible.

This includes ensuring they can conveniently and securely make and pay for their hotel bookings. 

Tandaza Africa Founder Charity Githinji said the travel and hospitality industry must adopt sustainable online business models to attract travellers.

“As an industry, the travel and hospitality sector, we have had to adopt sustainable business models to attract both local and international travellers. This means adopting online solutions,” Githinji said. 

Pesapal payment gateway solutions combine the best of these three worlds. The solution enables industry players to deliver an increasingly seamless customer experience while ensuring that payment is never detrimental to consumer pleasure for booking or enjoying leisure activities. 

Pesapal has a variety of solutions for the hospitality and tourism sector. These include Reserve Port, Invoicing, Payment Links, and Ticket Sasa. 

Pesapal Caffé Sessions is an initiative by Pesapal targeting professionals in various sectors. The aim is to connect individuals, share learnings and transfer knowledge with a key focus on the digital economy.