A qualitative inquiry of the adoption, economic impact, and implications of virtual tourism to game parks within Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces of South Africa

Abstract

Technological advances in tourism have led to the introduction of virtual tourism which experienced a global surge during the Covid-19 pandemic. The exploratory study, which is informed by both the business and theoretical contribution and anchored on the Dynamic Capabilities Theory, sought to establish how game reserves in Africa, and especially within South Africa, have sensed and seized the opportunity and how they have transformed, in addition to establishing the sustainability of virtual tourism. The results from the 13 interviews indicate that virtual tourism is a nascent offering in Africa mostly benefiting the private sector with minimal public sector participation. Virtual tourism has led to business remodelling by agile game reserves positioning for the opportunity. Dynamic capabilities have created economic scaling for game reserves that have successfully implemented it either alone or in partnership with independent service providers. Further, virtual tourism has been determined as a sustainable form of tourism. The researcher drew attention to the research contribution of the research, advice to management, and advancing recommendations for further research into the concept of virtual tourism