At the end of 2019, a new crisis emerged in the world - COVID-19 - which literally devastated the tourism industry worldwide. In order to try to minimise the spread of COVID-19, the government implemented a strict national lockdown, but this unfortunately had a negative impact on many sectors within the tourism industry. In the light of this, many scholars argued that technology such as virtual reality (VR), would contribute to the recovery of tourism. This article considers this phenomenon by filling a gap in the literature regarding the role of VR in the tourism industry in the global South by focusing on South Africa. The key question that arises, namely can VR save tourism in South Africa in the wake of COVID-19? To address this question, the study uses three methodological approaches: case studies, a conceptual research method and open-ended interviews. The results from the study showed that VR offers tourism numerous benefits, but at the same time poses a threat to the industry. Despite this, the study concludes that VR cannot save the tourism industry in South Africa currently as it faces certain critical obstacles in this context.

Victoria-Ann Verkerk

African Journal of Hospitality Tourism and Leisure

​AJHTL is a proudly African, independent, privately owned multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal, not aligned to any institution which is published quarterly.  We encourage academic debate and are fully electronic and dedicated to increasing the depth of research across a range of related disciplines with the primary objective of promoting research.  New researchers are especially welcome to submit articles to us for consideration.  Our articles are read by scholars, students and industry globally.   Only authors may submit a paper for review and only original research is considered for publication. Articles that have been either published elsewhere or which are  currently considered for publication elsewhere, must not be submitted for reviewing.  A journal publication might take from about one month up to one nine months to appear.    The reviewing process is competitive with less than 69% of papers considered finally being accepted for publication.  Authors must be certain that their paper meets the academic standards of rigorous scholarly research.  Authors must have reviewed and cited the critical and recent English references that relate to the research paper.  Where other language references are used these must be translated. Articles must be English language edited by authors prior to submission to the journal.

The African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure (AJHTL) is a proudly African, independent, privately owned multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal, published quarterly and not aligned with any institution. We encourage academic debate and are fully electronic, dedicated to enhancing the depth of research across a range of related disciplines, with the primary objective of promoting research. New researchers are especially welcome to submit articles for consideration. Our articles are read by scholars, students, and industry professionals globally. Only authors may submit papers for review, and only original research is considered for publication. Articles that have been published elsewhere or are currently under consideration for publication elsewhere must not be submitted for review. Publication in the journal may take from about one month to nine months. The review process is competitive, with less than 69% of submitted papers ultimately accepted for publication. Authors must ensure that their papers meet the rigorous academic standards of scholarly research. Authors must have reviewed and cited critical and recent English references related to their research paper. Where references in other languages are used, they must be translated. Articles must be edited for English language by the authors prior to submission to the journal.

非洲酒店、旅游与休闲杂志（African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure）是一份自豪的非洲独立私营多学科同行评审期刊，季度出版，不隶属于任何机构。我们鼓励学术辩论，完全电子化，致力于在相关学科范围内增加研究深度，主要目标是促进研究。我们特别欢迎新研究者向我们提交文章以供考虑。我们的文章被全球的学者、学生和行业人士阅读。只有作者可以提交论文进行审查，且仅考虑原创研究的发表。已在其他地方发表或正在其他地方考虑发表的文章不得提交审查。期刊出版可能需要从一个月到九个月不等。审查过程竞争激烈，最终被接受发表的论文比例低于69%。作者必须确保他们的论文符合严格学术研究的标准，并已审查和引用与研究论文相关的关键和最新的英文参考文献。如果使用其他语言的参考文献，必须进行翻译。文章必须在提交给期刊之前由作者进行英文语言编辑。

Virtual Reality: Saving Tourism in South Africa?

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