The adoption of digital technologies by women-owned tourism micro enterprises.

<p> </p><div><p>Thapelo, Mametja The adoption of digital technologies by women-owned tourism micro enterprises. </p></div><div><p>Winner –University of Johannesburg<br> VYT local competition (2021) </p></div><div><p> </p><div><p>Transcript: <br></p><p><br></p></div><p></p></div> <p>Digitalisation is the method of arranging social life and businesses around digital tools. Digitalisation has allowed both small and large businesses to attract wide markets. Travelers used to spend days making reservations for travel and accommodation. Nowadays, digital technology has made it possible for tourists to travel and book accommodation in real-time with little effort. Tourists are now more encouraged than ever to travel because of the huge range of tourist information. However, the emergence of COVID-19 has interrupted global travel and forced many businesses to close. But there is hope that digitalisation will revive the industry. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which women-owned tourism micro enterprises have adopted digital technologies. The study also seeks to explore the limiting and enabling conditions of adopting such technologies. Women make up 70 percent of the tourism labour in South Africa and majority own tourism micro enterprises. As such understanding their participation in the digitalisation of tourism is key to unlocking their opportunities in the mainstream tourism economy.</p>