The tourism and the hospitality sectors have been challenged to integrate e-solutions to accelerate recovery from the Covid-19 effects on the economy. This was said by stakeholders in the hospitality industry during the Pesapal Caffè Sessions held on Thursday, November 18, 2021.
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.
“Due to technological advances, travelling today is more affordable, accessible and convenient than ever before. 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,” Pollmans Group Head of Operations and Tourism influencer Mohammed Hersi said.
“You must be able to conduct business without physical contact. Technology enables easier and seamless ways of doing business.”
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 frictionless services.
“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,” Pesapal Founder Agosta 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 Covid-19 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 new 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.
“As an industry, the travel and hospitality sector, we have had to adopt sustainable business models to attract both local and international travellers, this meant adopting online solutions,” Tandaza Africa Founder Charity Githinji said.
Among the companies enabling digital payments include Pesapal, whose 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 ReservePort, 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.
Read: Pesapal cashes in on digital wallet payments in East Africa
