Blockchain could be great for the travel industry

Source: Atlas. The panel on Blockchain in the travel industry.

Travel industry players are increasingly convinced that Blockchain technology might disrupt and disintermediate the industry.

The current industry, valued at over US$8 trillion, is highly centralised, with a few powerful intermediary platforms such as Booking.com, Expedia and Tripadvisor controlling the marketplace and dictating the terms of business. While these platforms have brought about efficiencies through economies of scale, some argue that they stifle innovation and use their lead positions to maximise profits, marginalising travel service providers and consumers.

A panel discussion in Singapore on Blockchain organised by Atlas, a travel ecosystem and decentralised platform, notes that there are advantages to Blockchain for travel. James McBride, founder of Nihi Hotels, said that marrying crypto and the evolving industry "would be a dynamic force, to make more transparent the entire economic process and value creation process within the travel industry".

Zan Wu, CEO of Atlas said, "With the emergence of cryptocurrency and Blockchain technology, an opportunity presents itself to create a new global travel ecosystem that incentivise content creation, transactions and consent-based data sharing and redistribute economic benefits fairly to consumers and businesses."

Explore:

Watch the panel discussions online

Here's what panelists think:

- DingAn Fei, Managing Partner of Ledger Capital

- Jonathan Ha, Founder/CEO, Red Pulse

- James McBride, founder of Nihi Hotels

- HongZhuang Lim, CEO of XSQ Capital