Leveraging Entrepreneurship and Digital Innovation in Higher Education to Revitalise Namibia’s Hospitality & Tourism Sector Post-COVID-19 Era

Abstract

Sustainability has become a major theme in the literature on international travel in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic. With their well-known vast value chains, hospitality and tourism (H&T) education institutions are being pressured to adopt entrepreneurship and virtual learning to keep up with changing educational contexts. This paper looks at the role of entrepreneurship and digitization in furthering sustainable hospitality and tourism education as the country attempts to recover and rebuild its economy. The paper examines the future of hospitality and tourism education with a focus on entrepreneurship and digital innovation in Namibia's post-COVID-19 era. Qualitative research methods, including key informant interviews and triangulation, were employed to gather data until a saturation level was reached after conducting 20 interviews in Windhoek, Namibia. The results highlight the need to enhance natural, ecological and cultural sustainability through entrepreneurship-focused education to revive the sector and ensure its long-term resilience. Tourism-driven economic development's ability to promote regional regeneration must be covered in hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship education. Sustainable tourism education may play a significant role in reviving the sector and ensuring its long-term resilience by leveraging entrepreneurship and digitalization. Online learning resources, conventional classroom techniques, and incubation initiatives will probably all be used in the education of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurs in the future. Recognising the complexities of the sector, where some talents cannot be fully digitalised, stable internet connectivity, government backing, and academia's capacity to satisfy changing student demands are all essential for the implementation of digitalization to be successful. Based on the study's findings, academics must become more knowledgeable and skilled in order to keep up with trends, such as artificial intelligence, to promote sustainable entrepreneurship in tourism education. The paper concludes that a resilient and sustainable future for the sector in the digital era will be shaped broadly by leveraging entrepreneurship and digital innovation transition.