Tourism has become increasingly interactive with the advent of the Internet, enabling travelers to effortlessly design their trips without relying on traditional travel agencies. This shift has greatly enhanced the tourism experience. Now, blockchain technology is set to further revolutionize the travel industry, transforming the customer journey fundamentally.
Over the past decade, several tech giants have dramatically reshaped accommodation, transportation, and tourism experiences. By prioritizing cutting-edge app development and assembling top-tier tech talent, these companies have sparked a revolution. They’ve demonstrated that technology is not merely a tool but a foundational element for success in the travel sector.
Additionally, as travelers navigate the complexities of international journeys, securing medical insurance for a Schengen visa has become a crucial step, ensuring that they meet visa requirements and are protected during their travels.
While often labeled as platforms for the “sharing economy,” this description of many travel tech companies is somewhat misleading. Although the idea of peers sharing value is appealing, these businesses thrive by aggregating resources and services rather than genuinely sharing them.
Their success stems from concentrating and centralizing control, which also involves collecting data for commercial use. These were the initial disruptors, but blockchain technology is now poised to disrupt the disruptors.
The Next Generation of Travel and Tourism?
At its core, blockchain is an open-source code accessible to anyone, allowing the creation of new tools for online transactions. Its flexibility makes it a spark for innovative applications and untapped potential across various areas. Imagine a decentralized alternative to centralized travel aggregators: a platform run as a cooperative, owned and managed by its users.
For instance, a blockchain-based accommodation aggregator could search for all available listings and show only those meeting the desired criteria. Transactions would be recorded on the blockchain, creating a permanent and transparent record of each interaction. This boosts user reputation and identity through positive reviews, cutting out the need for middlemen to verify trustworthiness.
With blockchain’s unique qualities—transparency, decentralization, and immutability—it can promote a more secure, customer-focused, and open marketplace for consumers and businesses.
But bringing blockchain into tourism raises several questions and challenges, like disrupting established business models of intermediary companies (e.g., OTAs), changing demand patterns, managing data, and technology adoption in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Blockchain’s rise could decentralize services and reduce the power of current middlemen.
Blockchain tech is gaining steam in the tourism world, with companies like TUI weaving it into booking and payment systems and backing related startups. Platforms like Travel Chain and Flight Delay are using blockchain to improve data exchange and automate insurance processes, showing its growing role in boosting the travel ecosystem.
Implementing blockchain in tourism can potentially cut costs and benefit both tourists and service providers in the field.
Increasing Investments in Blockchain Technology
A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) points out the tourism industry, especially the leisure and hospitality sectors, as key winners from rising blockchain investments. These advancements in blockchain solutions are set to significantly impact the future of travel and tourism, reshaping how things work.
The World Travel & Tourism Council predicts a promising decade ahead, with travel and tourism GDP expected to grow by an average of 5.8% annually from 2022 to 2032, outpacing the overall economic growth rate of 2.7% per year. Investing in this sector is critical for boosting future growth prospects.
Blockchain solutions can drive digitalization, automation, cutting out intermediaries, and create intelligent environments, making the travel experience more efficient and seamless.
Building a comprehensive global database with information on travel market suppliers, users, and tourism experiences would revolutionize the industry. Blockchain-based databases would be accessible not just to large companies but also to small and medium-sized enterprises, further democratizing what the Internet started decades ago.
The impact of blockchain tech is real, with several businesses already shaking up key parts of the industry’s supply chain. However, companies now face the challenge of getting to grips with and implementing these new technologies at a rapid pace.