Crypto collapse will not kill blockchain, technology poised to revolutionise travel and tourism
Blockchain promises to solve several real-world problems, including making travel a more secure experience. It can find various applications in the travel, tourism, and hospitality sector, across its value chain.
The crypto collapse over the last weeks leading to the bankruptcy of has been brutal, sending alarm bells ringing across the globe, warning investors and regulators.
Regardless of the scandal surrounding crypto, and the need to completely distance from it, we should not give up on experimenting with core technology architectures such as blockchain and tokenisation to solve real-world problems.
Blockchain as a technology is already widely used in sectors such as finance, entertainment, health, and media. Over the next decade, it is poised to revolutionise many parts of our daily lives.
In simple terms, blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system. The digital record of transactions is decentralised, and the traceability and transparency, which blockchain provides, make the data incorruptible, irreversible, imperishable, and indestructible.
Blockchain in travel and tourism
Blockchain can have various applications in the travel, tourism, and hospitality sector across its value chain—from reservations, identity verification, and loyalty programmes to digital payments and inventory management. The technology could help governments and the private sector retain critical data and shape investment plans in the tourism sector. All this will make travel easier to access for everyone and provide a more secure and trustworthy way for people to travel.
Blockchain is promising for travellers, business, and governments alike as it can bring safety, transparency, and accountability to several critical touchpoints, apart from delivering a more seamless travel experience for the end consumer.
Increasing supply chain transparency
Blockchain facilitates an open and transparent supply chain that allows corporations and guests to track the origin of their products. Secondly, blockchain is also being implemented to guarantee a transparent booking platform, wherein there is a record of all the reservations.
So, guests can not only manage their bookings in a single place but can also book directly with suppliers. This eliminates intermediaries who charge high fees and therefore allows better savings for both suppliers and customers.
A good example of use of this technology is Sandblock, which helps users maximise points collected through loyalty programmes. Airbnb is another example of a company that uses Blockchain to strengthen its operational and service competencies.
Identification and seamless journey
Customer identification is crucial for the travel and tourism industry. Currently, travellers are required to produce identification at multiple stages. Blockchain has the potential to transform the verification process and guarantee passenger information authenticity.
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Baggage mishandling and loss is a common concern today, which can be reduced significantly using blockchain to identify and monitor luggage. For example, Webjet is using blockchain to reduce the likelihood of mistaken or lost booking, while Air New Zealand uses the technology to make the ticket sales process less complicated and help prevent over boarding.
Cultural preservation and sustainability
Blockchain is also a natural fit for preservation of cultural heritage by storing cultural records on decentralised databases. It can drive cultural tourism and boost revenue for host communities by partnering with local artisans to protect and revitalise artifacts, traditions, and art forms that are at risk of being lost and share them with a new conscious audience. The data is secured against any threats of conflicts, natural disasters, and urbanisation, and stored for perpetuity.
We can use the same system to ensure sustainability and avoid greenwashing because we can track the entire circular economy without any leakage or fraud. The possibilities of this technology in restoring trust are endless.
Use case in GCC
Blockchain works much better in some situations than others and there is no silver bullet or lifetime guarantees on offer. But it is increasingly gaining ground in the GCC region.
Blockchain is being implemented as a tool in many ongoing largescale construction projects to coordinate complex collaborations. This takes the form of converging fields as diverse as product design, which necessitates working closely with engineers, architects, designers, and suppliers, and logistics and transportation where you need to keep track of shipments and delivery.
With blockchain technology, all participants access a single version of information, which is secure, transparent, and traceable.
In another interesting implementation, there has been a recent push for organisations in the GCC to provide holistic well-being as well as training programmes to employees. However, participation rates are not necessarily as high as they could be, and blockchain is increasingly being used to ensure that employees, who stand to benefit, are actually benefitting.
Blockchain is still a nascent technology, which is not widely understood by everyone, and there are looming questions about its scalability as well actual application. The recent controversies are also not helping its cause.
However, this is no different from the early days of the internet when it was simply brushed off as a technology experiment with little use. The tech bubble of 2000 and significant frauds like Worldcom or Enron did not damage the eventual trajectory of the internet, and today we can’t imagine a world without it.
It is still too early to judge whether or not blockchain can change the world or make it green. However, going forward the question will be how blockchain will impact industries such as tourism and not if.
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Edited by Swetha Kannan
