Why the luxury tourism industry is latching onto Blockchain technology

@the_news_21

Mumbai: With the number of global crypto-millionaires increasing to more than 100,000 in 2021, there is a sizeable interest displayed by this ever-growing community in using their crypto gains to indulge in new experiences.

The travel and tourism industry stands to benefit the most from this growing class of investors who want to fulfil travelling desires with highly personalized services enabled through the use of popular cryptocurrencies as legal tender.

Moreover, with millennials representing more than per content of the global luxury market potential and content of the crypto investor community by volume, brands, and services involved in the global luxury tourism market are increasingly adopting crypto today.

In a bid to attract this growing class of investors and to make their systems more efficient, travel firms are augmenting efforts to adopt Blockchain technology that lies at the core of crypto assets.

As a technology, Blockchain will enable tourism-focused companies to facilitate crypto transactions in place of services, create efficient loyalty programs that reward their users, and even tokenize physical assets such as resort spaces in the form of Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs).

In fact, with the rise of the Metaverse, Blockchain technology will be instrumental in converting popular and niche travel destinations into their digital avatars. The possibilities are endless and are the primary reason why many luxury tourism players are jumping onto the crypto bandwagon.

Recently, global platform LynKey, that powers luxury resort and vacation property with blockchain and AI technology, today announced a project for tokenizing and offering NFT solutions of over $8 billion for travel and tourism using smart contracts to digitize luxury resorts and properties at multiple destinations, offering them over its blockchain-powered token marketplace and ecosystem, seeking to tokenize all aspects of property development — purchases, leases, land use, and related tourism entertainment — in an international blockchain-powered ecosystem.

“Using NFTs with AI data-driven protocol sets, the company is revolutionizing the travel destination and entertainment space with the smart tour. Lynley connects the global audience with a blockchain-powered platform and a token that empowers an ecosystem with time-sharing, and reward solutions at premium luxury tourist spots”, says Dinis Guarda, founder and non-executive Chairman Lynley.

Cindy Tran, Co-Founder, and Chairperson of LynKey said despite globalization, challenges in the tourism and travel industry persist and that blockchain and NFT technology can address and resolve these issues.

“Most global travellers or property buyers have to deal with local currencies, lack of transparency in buying or leasing property and timeshares, and losing money to high exchange fees or worse.

Furthermore, travellers cannot personalize their travel experiences, modify, sell, or cancel their ‘trips’. Planning to travel or searching to lease property may be digital, but the rest of the process certainly is far from seamless or perfect with conventional models of tourism and travel. A consolidated marketplace and token solution will solve many of these issues,” she said.

As global vaccination coverage improves by the day and the intent for travel increases proportionately, the global luxury tourism industry is set to witness high double-digit growth rates in the foreseeable future.

Companies that are Blockchain and crypto ready will no doubt be in a better position to capitalize on the increased demand from crypto users along with the traditional travel community.

Additionally, with most cryptocurrencies amid an epic bull run, companies can earn even more from crypto-based payments by capital appreciation on the underlying assets. In summary, faster and borderless transaction ability, more lucrative reward mechanisms, and a growing younger consumer class are just a few of the reasons why this trend is here to stay.

Raj Kapoor, Founder – India Blockchain Alliance and Chief Growth Officer at Chainsense LTD said as blockchain technology progresses there is increased interest in digital securities from the real estate and luxury tourism sector and the deal sizes and pipeline have grown exponentially over the past year.

“I believe that there’s huge potential for technology to enable new business models in the real estate ecosystem that lower operational costs and increase liquidity.

Platforms can now optimize timesharing, prepaid leasing, or licensing of property-based experiences geared towards tourism while offering an exclusive reward system for its users thereby connecting a global audience with a blockchain-powered platform and tokens that empowers an ecosystem with time-sharing, and reward solutions at premium luxury tourist spots.”

Telos, a decentralized blockchain built by developers for developers to power Web 3.0 and Telos Kitchen DAO LLC, which operates as a block producer on the Telos blockchain has collectively purchased 35.84 acres of real estate in Laramie River Ranch, Wyoming with block rewards received from the network for an equivalent value of $25,000, seeking to automate many functions of real estate by making the process quicker by removing intermediaries and providing the technology needed to store and process the data, while leaving it easily accessible and immutable.