Being stuck at home for almost two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people around the world are eager to experience new cities, countries and cultures. The flexibility of working from home now allows travelers to plan around a less home-bound lifestyle. However, age-old problems, including delayed or canceled transportation, lost luggage and check-in mixups, continue to trouble the travel industry, which is expected to tap $850 billion in revenue by the end of 2023.
People rightly have high expectations for their travel experience, including low cost, better security, transparency and personalisation. These demands can be met with the help of peer-to-peer (P2P) connections, decentralized networks, fast transactions and interoperable systems that enable seamless data exchange.
Global online travel market size 2021 vs. 2027. Source: Renub Research
That's why the travel industry needs blockchain solutions. The transparent, scalable and secure nature of blockchain technology can reduce costs, increase efficiency and foster collaboration to provide a more streamlined and personalised experience for travellers.
However, current blockchain networks fail to meet the needs of the highly-specialized nature of the travel industry, which works with fragmented processes across multiple stakeholders and where trust and regulatory compliance are crucial. A uniquely-designed blockchain is needed today to act as a layer 1 infrastructure to address the specific requirements of the travel industry.
Industry pioneers joined forces for efficiency
Seeing how blockchain can improve the current travel experience for all parties, industry pioneers, stakeholders and Web3 professionals come together to launch an inclusive blockchain ecosystem named Camino Network to pave the way for innovation in the multi-billion dollar industry. Supported by the travel giants like TUI, Lufthansa, Miles & More and Eurowings, Camino Network lays the groundwork for an entire ecosystem of Web3 travel apps and services.
Built on Avalanche’s technical base, Camino’s blockchain is tailored specifically for the travel ecosystem. The project leverages the next-generation capabilities of this technology to bring efficiency, security and innovation to the travel industry with the aim to provide better, more personalized experiences for travelers around the world.
Cutting down transaction costs by using blockchain helps with reducing fees for both businesses and users. A number of key players from the travel industry announced their backing for the Camino Network, with over 80 of them directly supporting the infrastructure by acting as initial validators of the blockchain.
NFTs and digital wallets for personalized travel experience
Despite being an essential need for travelers, updating hotel and accommodation info needs constant effort with legacy infrastructures. The information flow is bound by multiple bilateral contracts and interfaces, commonly resulting in outdated info for guests. Camino uses blockchain for more streamlined data management across all parties with nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
While NFTs are mainly known as digital collectibles in the Web3 space, the travel industry presents immense potential to go beyond one use case and introduce actual utility. Similarly, the travel industry can benefit from the flexibility and reliability of NFTs for many legs or a travel experience, making it an ideal match. With NFTs, it becomes possible to produce hotel or other key travel info as a unique digital token, where the info is stored in a decentralized manner. The crucial info NFT contains can be automatically updated whenever new information becomes available, keeping the latest version of data for all parties involved. With better management tools and systems developed for the Web3 era, the Camino Network enables all stakeholders in the industry to benefit from a secure and transparent ecosystem.
NFTs can also help with the tokenization of assets of inventory, potentially bringing a new marketplace where everything about the travel experience can be sold and exchanged for a much wider range of personalization. An NFT can act as digital ownership proof for travel-related assets, from flight tickets to hotel rooms and loyalty points, introducing a new level of reliability to the industry by solving fraud and payment risks. It also takes the stress out of last-minute decisions, a common headache for both customers and airlines, by making it easy to resell any tickets for both customers and airlines. Camino Network can serve as the basis for an NFT-based voucher platform to remove manual and lengthy processes from redeeming travel coupons with smart contracts. With a broad range of use cases, NFTs will provide new revenue streams and pave the way for new business models within the travel industry.
The next chapter of travel is taking off
To provide a safe and secure environment for Web3 developers, over 200,000 lines of code written for the Camino blockchain were audited by prominent cybersecurity service provider Hexens. The team also launched a hacker bounty hunt for the Camino Network to prove its reliability.
Web3 developers and travel companies who aim to transform the industry have already started working on the Camino Network for a wide range of decentralized apps. The Camino Network invites everyone — both from the travel industry and the Web3 space — to join hands to prepare an age-old industry for the next generation of travelers.
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