Players in the tourism and hospitality sector have been advised to adopt contactless payments and digitization in order to bolster digital transformation in the industry.
The call was made at an event held at Serena hotel under the theme ‘Adapt and Thrive’ to discuss ways that the industry can harness technology to grow.
Speaking at the event, Bradford Ochieng, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), reiterated the power of technology in transforming the sector at all touch points.
“As an economy, are we digitally ready? We need to build confidence in the sector in terms of security and make it safe enough for all customers. As we preach digitalization, there is a need to expand the infrastructure across the country to facilitate the use of technology and inclusivity at all customer touch points,” he urged.
“Pesapal has been in the market for quite a while now. Within the tourism industry, hotels and restaurants make up a big portion of the business in terms of income generation, revenue, and employment. Also, it greatly influences customers’ experiences from booking, payments, and other service delivery. It’s our pleasure that we have a regional local company pioneering this. As government, this is what we encourage because it benefits everyone,” he said.
The engagement was organized by Pesapal, a leading payment solutions provider.
Speaking at the same event, Emmy Rono from Pesapal urged stakeholders to promote e-payments and embrace digital systems at all touch points to deliver seamless services to their customers.
She further explained that digital payments have the potential to transform the economy.
“Thirteen years ago, we started in the hospitality sector because we saw a digital gap, especially in travel. We listen to our customers and then come up with solutions that enable them to receive payments or digitalize their systems. We have grown over the years to offer services to businesses in other sectors such as retail and e-commerce,” she said.
“We started with online payments systems that we offered to tour operators. We built our Reserveport – our online booking engine – that is integrated into payments; VISA, Mastercard, and mobile money solutions to facilitate consumers to go cashless. We also have POS machines which we have distributed across retail sectors – fuel, hotels, restaurants, and tour operators to make sure the customers that need to make payment through machines can do that. We have both the online and offline customers covered within our products,” she added.
She noted that Pesapal has been at the forefront of the Digital Payments revolution in Africa for over a decade.
It is committed to providing an integrated and advanced payment experience which will offers solutions that meet its customers’ day-to-day needs.
Uganda has witnessed growth in electronic payments.
In a report released by the Bank of Uganda, electronic fund transfers grew by 13.73 per cent signaling a shift to new technology-based payments.