Expedia now allows its over 700,000 accommodations to be booked with cryptocurrency through crypto travel platform Travala.com. According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph by Travala.com on July 6, the firm added over 700,000 accommodations to its crypto-powered travel platform’s already over 2 million options available in 230 countries. Senior Vice President at Expedia Group Alfonso Paredes said that the company aims to scale up Travala.com’s business faster than it did expand so far. Furthermore, he said that the firm also recognizes innovation and the importance of allowing users to choose their preferred payment method. This is the result of …
The word “blockchain” is no longer perceived as something exotic and super innovative, partly because large companies have found various uses for this technology and customers have begun to understand how it works. On the other hand, the growing adoption and awareness of blockchain has led to the fact that since 2017, many projects have used the technology solely for marketing purposes. The tourism industry is no exception. Some of the initiatives related to the use of blockchain for traveling failed to materialize, with some cases proving that the majority of decentralized travel projects had nothing to do with the …
Thailand, one of the most-visited countries in the world, will soon apply blockchain to its Electronic Visa On Arrival (eVOA). Thailand’s new blockchain-powered eVOA system intends to speed up and protect the digital visa application process and will soon be available for five million visitors from 20 countries. eVOA operator partners with Australian travel firm for the blockchain-enabled service The upcoming eVOA feature is a joint effort of Australian travel company ShareRing and Gateway Services, an entity that owns the license to process eVOA for Thailand, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Dec. 19. According to the …
German airline Hahn Air claims to be the first airline company to issue tickets on a blockchain, the firm announced in a press release on Nov. 18. The ticket sale using blockchain technology was made possible through Hahn Air’s collaboration with a decentralized platform for the travel industry, Winding Tree. Frederick Nowotny, head of sales engineering at Hahn Air, Maksim Izmaylov, the founder of Winding Tree, and Davide Montali, CIO at Winding Tree, became the first passengers to use blockchain-booked tickets. Commenting on the product, Nowotny said the goal of the company is to “investigate and monitor the opportunities this …
The travel industry is still growing at an unprecedented pace, now making up the second-fastest-growing industry. Success in this industry is defined by user comfort and the ability to participate in experiences in a cost-effective manner. Unfortunately, the industry still faces a few barriers before it is able to address all consumer concerns. As it currently stands, the industry itself is broken out into flights, car rentals, hotels and tours, among other factors, each of which may be plagued with large commissions and additional fees, a long chain of intermediaries, bad reviews, overbooking and other human errors that affect the …