Digitalisation as Potential Tool for Post-COVID-19 Tourism Recovery and Resilience in South Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a health disaster. However, its socio-economic impact has been equally disastrous. The stringent response mechanisms adopted by countries to curb the spread of the virus enormously affected tourism. Focusing on three sectors of the South African tourism industry and drawing on critical document analysis, this chapter explores digitalisation as a recovery mechanism following the COVID-19 pandemic in three sectors: food and beverages, transportation, and accommodation sectors in Africa. The sources utilised were selected in grey and academic literature using COVID-19, tourism, hospitality digitalisation, recovery, resilience, and South Africa as keywords. The chapter shows that COVID-19 ignited enormous socio-economic challenges for the tourism industry, with businesses plunging into debt and liquidity crises, with some having to close either temporarily or permanently due to a lack of demand. In addition to government stimulus packages, the chapter recommends rapid technology integration to fast-track recovery and ensure resilience.