Johannesburg, 28 Nov 2013
With international tourist arrivals in South Africa growing by 10.2% year-on-year to 9.2 million in 2012 and foreign tourists spending a total of R76.4 billion in the country last year, it is imperative that the local leisure and hospitality sector 'beef up' its payment technologies in order to take advantage of the expected spending boom ahead of the peak summer tourism season.
This is according to Abdool Saib, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at FastNet - South Africa's leading wireless point of sale (POS) data service provider, who says the increase in transactions from tourists experienced over the summer tourist season places more stress on the payment systems of leisure and hospitality venues. "As a result, there is a greater need to have reliable payment system communications to speed up transactions and ultimately reap the benefits of the increased purchases."
In addition to this, adherence to international security standards when dealing with international travellers is vital, says Saib. "With the increase in data breaches, consumers have become savvier when it comes to the security of their credit or debit card data while making payments, and many may even ask whether the system is payment card industry (PCI/DSS) compliant, which is an internationally-recognised standard. As a result, it is important for merchants to heighten their security awareness to avoid customers walking away from potential sales."
A significant amount of businesses operating in the leisure and hospitality sector in South Africa are still using outdated technology that can be especially detrimental to sales volumes during the busy tourist season, says Saib. "Businesses that use deployments utilising 3G technology are much happier with the service and experience faster transaction times, which helps to reduce sales processing time, employee and customer stress, as well as long queues during increased transaction periods."
Saib says many businesses have the impression that 3G technology is too expensive for their operation, but fail to realise that the use of older technologies and the negative impact on their business could cost much more than a 3G communication service.
The tourism industry plays a significant role in boosting South Africa's fragile economy, says Saib. "In 2012, the tourism industry contributed R315.4 billion or 9.8% of GDP, and also created 1.3 million jobs. Spending by tourists is vital and it is imperative that the leisure and hospitality take full advantage of this period to stimulate maximum sales."
Some leisure and hospitality venues take more business in this period than the rest of the year combined, Saib says. "As a result, it is imperative that those operating in the leisure and hospitality sector look at implementing new technology systems ahead of the tourist season influx, in order to cope with the jump in transaction volumes to really benefit from the boost.
"Local leisure and hospitality businesses that are still reliant on old communication technology should look at upgrading their current service now, in order to better handle the jump in transaction volumes anticipated this tourist season," concludes Saib.
Notes to editor
Statistics SA
In a recent independent FastNet customer survey conducted by Ask Africa, 96% of customers were happier with the quality and service of the FastNet 3G product called ProPOS Gold compared to older technology.
Travel and tourism economic impact South Africa 2013 report for the World Travel and Tourism Council