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The travel and tourism industries are big economic drivers globally and there’s incredible upside potential in the industry for stakeholders going forward. In 2017, the travel industry grew had grown by $2.3 trillion in 10 years starting 2007, and economists predict that the industry will grow by another $3.5 trillion through 2027.
Despite the impressive growth and upward potential of the travel and tourism industry, the industry still suffers from a fixation of traditional systems and processes. These traditional methods are however ineffective and inefficient; thereby, making it hard for the industry to actualize its full potential. This piece examines three blockchain startups challenging veteran Wall Street travel companies.
The travel industry is stuck in an ancient order
The travel industry is being basseted by different challenges, chief of which is the last of reliable information. To begin with, it is very hard to find concise and reliable travel information online because the Internet is more or less a dumping ground. A simple Google search for “the best hotels in Amsterdam” yielded 4.53 million hits and the first four hits were ads. (see image below)
Travelers are then forced to waste valuable time sifting through the information overload to find relevant information. A great deal of time and energy is trying to separate dubious online recommendations, hype, and the often unavoidable marketing pitch from reliably objective reviews. Unfortunately, travelers don’t get much respite from travel agencies which often provide limited information at an expensive price.
Cool Cousin VS Trip Advisor
Cool Cousin, is a blockchain solution challenging TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) in its space. TripAdvisor is known as a provider of hotel and restaurant reviews, accommodation bookings and other travel-related content. TripAdvisor is a particularly interesting stock (see chart below).
In the last one year, the trading price of TripAdvisor has declined 18.6% but its revenue has increased by 18.01% in the same period. An increase in revenue suggests that Trip advisor has finding ways to unlock value from its product and services; however, the decline in the stock price suggests that investors don’t quite agree
Probably one of the reasons that investors are not enthused by TripAdvisor is that its business model is not particularly unique and other competitors in its market seem to have better USPs. For instance, YELP Inc (NYSE:YELP), a company that connects people with local businesses seems to be facing better than TripAdvisor in terms of revenue and price appreciation.
Whereas the trading price of TripAdvisor has declined by 19.7% in the last one year, the price of Yelp has gained 16.57% in the same period.
Cool Cousin might however be more appealing to investors because it is setting up shop as a source of information for travelers who want heads up from a trusted insider that understands their tastes. When you want to travel, your best shot at getting honest, reliable, experiential information is to reach out to a friend/family member that lives in your destination. ‘
Cool Cousin simply connects travelers with like-minded locals called Cousins. You can trust your “Cousin” to provide you with boots-on-the-ground information on accommodation, commuting, best times to visit, current events, and personal interest among others.
More interesting is the fact Cool Cousin is riding the blockchain and cryptocurrency wave with an open-source cryptographic token called CUZ. The token will help Cool Cousin avoid the trap of centralization that often makes it impossible for review platforms to maintain their neutrality and affordability while scaling. The CUZ token will serve as a tool for incentivizing community participants to ensure the sustainable flow of authentic and trustworthy travel information.
Bitair (BTCA)
Bitair is another interesting startup using blockchain technology to solve a big problem for the travel industry. Bitair wants to solve the payment problem for the travel industry with cryptocurrency tokens that can be used to pay for travel and tourism related services such as booking airline ticket, making reservations and accessing other related services. Bitair’s payment solution delivers transparency and immutability to reduce instance of fraud, theft of financial information, and chargebacks.
The fact that Bitair is built on Blockchain also ensures faster transactions for instant settlement and clearance. Bitair also eliminates third party intermediaries and the overhead cost that they transfer to travelers; hence, travelers can expect to pay lower transaction costs when they use Bitair.
Bitair’s token made its debut on December 17 with a price of $0.01283 and it jumped more than 50% to to $0.2943 by December 20. However, the token has suffered some decline in line with the general cryptocurrency market to trade around $0.003896 as seen in the chart above.
Travelflex (TRF)
Travelflex is another blockchain startup intent of revolutionizing the travel and tourism industry by fixing some of the problems associated with payments. The travel industry has benefitted immensely from the information highway that the Internet provides. Now, people can easily book flights, hotels, tours, and even book virtual tours of their destinations. The payment side of the travel business has however remained stuck in a spot with cash and credit cards.
Unfortunately, when you travel with cash, you’ll need to look for a place to convert your cash to the local currency (with a high spread) or result to doing metal FX calculations every time you spend money. Traveling with a credit card is not particularly better because the local ATM might not accept your card and you could still pay high gees when you do find a compatible ATM.
Travelfex is fixing the payment problem for the travel industry using blockchain technology to revive the ancient travelers check. Travelflex coins enable travelers to exchange their coins for the local currency at realtime currency rates in participating Travelflex exchanges in major travel hubs globally. With Travelflex, people don’t have to worry about carrying cash when they travel, and you don’t have to worry about currency conversion fees when you use foreign ATMs.
When Travelflex debuted in the cryptocurrency markets on January 31, it started trading at a price of $0.2055. The price then jumped to a high of $0.3366 as a testament to its ability to disrupt the markets. However, the coin has been caught in the crosshairs of the negativity surrounding cryptocurrency and it is trading around $0.1229 as seen in the chart above.
