Cryptocurrencies have been quite the disruptor in the world of finance. In terms of cryptocurrencies and the way in which they are perceived, the overall suspicion and prejudice towards crypto have definitely decreased dramatically in the past few years. With a more receptive audience to cater to, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and many altcoins are also finding new avenues to develop use-cases and the travel industry seems to be an emerging segment that is well suited for innovation.
In a recent podcast, Travala CEO Juan Otero and Travelbybit CEO Caleb Yeoh discussed how crypto adoption within the travel industry is likely to see a surge as many cryptocurrencies develop nice use-cases that may, in turn, be extremely beneficial for the travel and tourism industry. While the sector has taken a serious hit in the last few months due to the pandemic, Yeoh argued that crypto’s ability to transcend beyond borders still have solid utilitarian value, he noted,
“With this technology, anyone from anywhere around the world can receive payments regardless of borders. And without the risk of chargeback fraud. So it really makes a lot of sense for crypto to have a strong use case in the travel sector.”
On May 20, Travala and TravelbyBit announced the merger – a move that was meant to solidify both the Binance backed firms’ presence in the crypto-supported travel industry. Travala CEO – Juan Otero noted that in the current environment, this move fuels, not just crypto adoption, but flags off the growing role of decentralized online booking platforms, he said,
“We want to push for adoption and how we want to take that control away from the centralized online travel booking platforms. So it kind of made sense to join forces and consolidate and build something a lot bigger and better.”
Source: Pew Research
A recent report by Pew Research highlighted how smartphone usage has grown substantially in emerging markets. This aids in crypto adoption particularly when it’s come its travel-oriented use-cases, making cryptocurrencies easily accessible.
Otero noted that for the industry these innovations may end-up being extremely beneficial as blockchain-based technology and crypto support may be vital to the travel industry, he added,
“In terms of users being able to pay with crypto you can pay with Bitcoin and a number of other digital assets, but we also implement blockchain technology as a whole to fill those gaps in the industry and to give more confidence to the user.”
