SA hosts AI and Sustainable Tourism Innovation Hackathon
The hackathon is intended to help drive innovation, create jobs and ensure inclusive growth, aligning with global trends in tourism development and the G20's focus on AI, data governance and innovation for sustainable development.
Sipho Ngomane, chief director for Tourism Skills and Human Resources Development at the department of tourism, notes that tourism is a vital economic sector both globally and in SA, contributing to job creation, poverty alleviation and sustainable development. In 2023, tourism contributed 8.2% to SA's GDP. The World Travel & Tourism Council estimates that travel and tourism will contribute 8.9% to the GDP in 2025 and that this figure could potentially rise to more than 10% by 2030.
SA's 2025 G20 presidency, themed Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability, includes a task force on AI, data governance and innovation. Developed and driven by the department of tourism, the hackathon aims to find ways to grow the tourism sector by prioritising people-centred AI and innovation to support travel and tourism startups and SMMEs. Globally, digitalisation, including AI, is transforming the industry and enhancing accessibility for travellers.
The primary goal of the hackathon is to develop AI solutions that enhance the tourism experience, promote sustainability and benefit society
Sipho Ngomane
'The primary goal of the hackathon is to develop AI solutions that enhance the tourism experience, promote sustainability and benefit society,' says Ngomane. 'The key objectives of the initiative are bridging the digital gap, cultivating youth talent, fostering collaboration, generating innovative AI solutions and promoting accessibility, sustainability and inclusivity in tourism.'
The hackathon is open to youth, specifically final year or postgraduate students, developers, designers, engineers and tech enthusiasts passionate about ethical AI, digitalisation and tourism.
'We invited each institution of higher learning offering tourism and hospitality programmes to put forward two students to participate in the hackathon. Industry representatives from the likes of the Tourism Business Council of SA are also participating in the initiative,' says Ngomane.
Hackathon participants are encouraged to form teams and adhere to ethical coding principles, including avoiding plagiarism, using open-source libraries responsibly and developing AI solutions that are unbiased and transparent.
The hackathon focuses on three key themes:
Smart tourism and AI solutions: developing AI-driven personalised travel assistants, chatbots, voice-activated guides, augmented reality (AR) apps and blockchain-based digital passports.
Community-based tourism and rural inclusion: creating digital platforms to connect tourists with township and rural experiences, online booking systems, virtual reality (VR) tours of hidden gems and financial inclusion solutions for small operators.
Heritage and cultural tourism innovation: crafting digital storytelling platforms, interactive digital maps of historical landmarks and AR/VR experiences for historical sites.
The hackathon is being delivered in four phases. Phase one commenced in May 2025 and saw the preselection of participants from 18 institutions of higher learning in Joburg, partnering with the Middle East Africa-SA Game Changers at the Future Leaders Challenge event.
Phase two started in June and included a competition and selection of proposed solutions by participants in Cape Town. The final hackathon, to be held in Mpumalanga in September, alongside the G20 tourism working group ministerial meeting, will include mentorship, project submission, presentations and judging.
Phase four takes place after the hackathon and will involve accelerating winning teams through a technology roadmap, a commercialisation plan, funding for development and exposure to support networks.
Ngomane says projects will be judged on innovation, feasibility, impact on the sector, user experience, alignment with people-centred principles and presentation. 'We hope to see ideas leveraging technology and AI that will enable the tourism sector to grow and employ more people. Prizes will include financial incentives, tech gadgets, mentorship opportunities and features in tourism events,' he says.
This hackathon, he adds, represents a significant step for SA in harnessing technology to build a more inclusive, sustainable and innovative tourism industry, employing more people and, ultimately, growing the economy.
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