Design Thinking as a Strategic Lever in Promoting Tourism in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Introduction

The South African tourism industry is seen as having the greatest potential for economic growth and job creation out of all industry classifications, and it concentrates on the wider economic advantages that tourism expenditure has on economic activity, investment, and job creation chances. A highly diverse sector like tourism has the potential to benefit the economies of its primary and interdependent stakeholders. This idea was supported by Stark (2019), who noted that the tourism sector has a broad value chain and, as a result, not only has the ability to create jobs, but also to foster entrepreneurship since the sector interacts with other stakeholders and businesses. If the tourism industry is to significantly contribute to South Africa's economic growth and assist the sector reclaim its former grandeur, it must create innovative projects. South Africa will need to cooperate to accomplish this if it is to profit from these increasing visitor numbers and gain a sizable portion of this market share. ‘We must do more’, said President Ramaphosa (State Of The Nation Address, 2019). Although KwaZulu-Natal's tourist sector is expanding (Phili, 2021), there are still a multitude of challenges to be resolved before the region can win back investors' confidence and meet national and international aspirations for travel and tourism. It is widely believed that more can be done through joint private-public sector initiatives to boost the city's tourism position and maintain its reputation as “South Africa's playground.” (Phili, 2021).

In South Africa, the tourism sector is regarded as the most important potential engine of economic growth and job creation (among all industry classifications), with a focus on the broader economic benefits of tourism expenditure on economic activity, investment, and job creation opportunities (PWC, 2020). The emergence of the coronavirus had a devastating impact on the tourism sector globally, as well as in South Africa. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has infected the African economy, with many African countries taking bold quarantine and lockdown measures to contain COVID-19's spread, albeit at the expense of deteriorating health systems and a painful economic crisis or recession. A significant portion of the South African workforce benefited from government retention initiatives and decreased hours, but job losses remain a risk in the absence of a complete recovery in travel and tourism. Smith (2021) asserts that, considering direct, indirect, and induced consequences, one out of every four new jobs created prior to the epidemic were related to travel and tourism. Creating jobs for the unemployed while simultaneously ensuring that workers are qualified for future employment is South Africa's most urgent problem.

South Africa needs a solution to deal with these national issues. According to previous research (Munyai, 2016; Ordonez et al., 2017; Akay and Demirel, 2018; Hernandez-Ramirez, 2018; Ivanova and Vodenova, 2018; Tu, Liu and Wu, 2018; Dam and Siang, 2019; Yilmaz, 2021; Jamal, Kircher and Donaldson, 2021), design thinking is a problem-solving tool that will help South Africa overcome its current difficulties. South Africa has had a considerable rise in unemployment over the past year, along with a steep decline in growth. The wealth gap is widening and poverty is rising (State Of The Nation Address, 2021). In addition, South Africa's unemployment rate has risen to an all-time high of 30.8% and is still rising (State Of The Nation Address, 2021). There must be a coordinated effort to address any issues that may limit the economy's development (Mahlakoana, 2019) because the tourism sector is one of 18 sectors in the South African economy that are regarded as “holy grails” for their potential to create jobs.