Towards Inclusive Digitalisation in Small Hospitality and Tourism Enterprises

Digital tools have been integral to business operations, including the tourism and hospitality industry. This assertion is demonstrated by rapid and widespread technology adoption and integration in global tourism. While studies exploring the status and benefits of technology integration in enterprises abound, some gaps remain in ensuring enterprises’ inclusive adoption of technology. This chapter closes this gap by exploring strategies which may be used to promote technology adoption and integration by small hospitality and tourism enterprises. The objective of the study is to identify digitalisation challenges by small hospitality and tourism businesses and explore the strategies which may be used to promote inclusive technology adoption and integration by small tourism enterprises globally. This is a conceptual chapter which draws from existing knowledge and practical examples to highlight how technology adoption can be promoted. The chapter also incorporates the sectorial expertise of the authors to propose how the digitalisation process in tourism enterprises can be fast-tracked. The chapter concludes that the major key holder in promoting technology adoption and integration by enterprises should be national governments. The chapter recommends that governments roll out digital infrastructure to make it affordable for enterprises of different economic categories to adopt and utilise digital technologies.