Blockchain + the Travel Industry = A Surprisingly Good Combo

Article source, here.

TL;DR

• Travel agents, airlines, hotels, trains, busses, ferries, tour services...they all use their own individual systems and databases.

• Which means behind the scenes there's a mess of duct-taped-together integrations attempting to link everything up.

• One solution? Create a unified system, accessible to anyone, that runs on the blockchain.

• That’s what Camino aims to do. It’s like a family calendar - but instead of a shared schedule for a household, it's for an entire industry.

• The result: a smoother user experience for customers and businesses alike. Let’s hope they can pull it off!

Full Story

Looking for a lethal dose of marketing spin? Say. No. More:

What if we told you that there's a 'consortium  blockchain ' known as Camino, that's looking to 'revolutionize the travel industry'?

(Boooo! What does that even mean!?).

And yeah, we're being kind of harsh here. Not because it's a bad idea, but because it's a GREAT idea that's getting lost in translation.

So let's clear things up! We're going to break this down into three parts: problem, solution, and result.

Here's the problem...

Travel agents, airlines, hotels, trains, busses, ferries, tour services...they all use their own individual systems and databases.

Which means behind the scenes there's a mess of duct-taped-together integrations attempting to link everything up.

Maybe your travel agent has access to all of your preferred airline booking databases, but not your preferred hotel chain - so you have to book that separately...

And that trip across Europe? That's going to require a few different bus and rail services - all with their own siloed booking databases.

Good luck calculating terminal transfer times, potential delays, and time zone changes when you self-book!

Here's the solution...

One unified system, accessible to anyone, that runs on the blockchain.

It's like that time your mom started a family calendar - but instead of a shared schedule for a household, it's for an entire industry.

'One database to rule them all,' if you will.

Here's the result...

A better user experience. Like, WAY better.

Want to book your air travel, accommodation, train / bus / ferry trips, local experiences, destination tours all in one place - and have them automatically compiled into a single itinerary?

This kind of open and unified system makes that possible.

As for businesses, it's a better way to compete. Want to see which services travelers are buying in real-time, and automatically adjust your offer to win out over your competition?

You now have access to the data needed to do so.

Here's the big hurdle Camino needs to jump for this to all work:

Network effects.

It's cool that blockchain technology makes this possible - but just because it's possible, doesn't mean it's a lock.

All of these different travel providers need to opt-in for it to be valuable to customers and businesses alike.

If Camino can't offer a smoother user experience, alongside a massive range of options - everyone's just going to stick with the Expedia's of the world.

Let's hope they can pull it off!