Jeju Island, a southern island in South Korea, is one of the most popular tourist destinations for Koreans and has about 15 million visitors annually. It now requires those visitors to use a decentralized identity (DID) blockchain technology based app that claims to offer private, secure COVID-19 contact tracing. An August 19 announcement said that Jeju Province had reached an agreement with South Korean blockchain company ICONLOOP to introduce the system. Starting this week, visitors will be required to download the Zzeung mobile app when arriving on the Island and verify their identity using a Korean telecom service. A verifiable …

Online travel booking platform Travala.com has added one million new homes across 195 countries to its site with the release of a designated home bookings section called ‘Homes’. Holiday homes and apartments can be booked with over 30 different cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), and Travala.com’s native coin AVA. Travala.com’s new Homes booking section. Source: Travala.com The Travala Blog announced that the addition of Homes “marks Travala.com’s entry into one of the fastest growing verticals of the travel industry.” In Booking Holdings’ first quarter earnings call, execs revealed that there is a trend towards domestic bookings …

Enterprise-focused blockchain company ShareRing has launched a blockchain based contact tracing solution it will offer to 2.6 million hotel and activity providers that currently use one of the company’s services. The anonymous e-passport app hopes to solve the privacy issues facing similar tracing apps. ShareRing’s app, which focuses on tourism’s $9 trillion tourism industry, allows users to upload important documentation, such as e-visa on arrival (eVOA), passport information, travel insurance, flight and accommodation bookings and a negative COVID-19 test result. When a user of the app subsequently tests positive to the virus, the app will anonymously send the necessary information …

Travala.com has recently added an additional 600,000 hotels to its crypto-powered online travel platform thanks to a recent partnership with booking giant, Agoda. Travala’s CEO, Juan Otero, told Cointelegraph that the number of properties on the platform has now reached over 2.2 million in total. He claimed: “We can safely say we are the world's largest blockchain-based online travel agency by number of accommodation options available with over 2,200,000 options to book covering 90,124 destinations.” Agoda is a travel industry giant that — according to company data website Owler — employs over 4,300 people and has a yearly revenue of …

Cryptocurrency travel platform Travala.com saw the number of rooms booked through its platform grow sharply after a recent integration with booking giant Expedia. According to Travala.com CEO Juan Otero, the firm’s booking revenue increased by 75% in the two weeks after partnering with Expedia. The overall number of bookings grew by 68% over the same period. Otero explained that the portion of bookings paid for with crypto assets has also sharply increased: “We’re also seeing a sharp increase in the number of bookings paid with cryptocurrencies, particularly in the native AVA token as the preferred crypto payment option after Bitcoin. …

Expedia now allows its over 700,000 accommodations to be booked with cryptocurrency through crypto travel platform Travala.com. According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph by Travala.com on July 6, the firm added over 700,000 accommodations to its crypto-powered travel platform’s already over 2 million options available in 230 countries. Senior Vice President at Expedia Group Alfonso Paredes said that the company aims to scale up Travala.com’s business faster than it did expand so far. Furthermore, he said that the firm also recognizes innovation and the importance of allowing users to choose their preferred payment method. This is the result of …

The word “blockchain” is no longer perceived as something exotic and super innovative, partly because large companies have found various uses for this technology and customers have begun to understand how it works. On the other hand, the growing adoption and awareness of blockchain has led to the fact that since 2017, many projects have used the technology solely for marketing purposes. The tourism industry is no exception. Some of the initiatives related to the use of blockchain for traveling failed to materialize, with some cases proving that the majority of decentralized travel projects had nothing to do with the …

According to a June 1 announcement, Travala.com also saw its monthly revenue increase by 205% in May compared to April. Still, while the platform is seeing more traction compared to April, May also saw a 60% decrease in room nights booked compared to March. Travala.com sees bookings surge as travel restrictions are lifted Juan Otero, Travala.com’s CEO, told Cointelegraph that the platform is seeing more use as the rest of the travel industry. He explained that domestic travel is seeing growth as the restrictions are being lifted. He said: “We’re fortunate to see our users coming back as soon as …

Hotel booking service Travala.com and flight booking website TravelByBit — both of which accept cryptocurrencies as payment — announced a merger of their platforms. According to an announcement on May 20, Travala.com and TravelByBit will merge to become a platform allowing users to book from over 2 million hotels and 600 airlines. An initiative backed by Binance Both the companies are backed by the leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. The exchange’s CEO Changpeng Zhao praised the firms as he believes they are able to provide a state-of-the-art travel booking service for the crypto community. Travala.com currently supports payments in fiat and …

On Feb. 27, Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency payments provider Crypto.com announced a partnership with cryptocurrency-friendly travel booking platform Travala.com. The deal will see Crypto.com’s payment app integrated onto Travala.com website, providing a streamlined gateway for bookings to be made on the platform. Previously, customers needed to manually complete transfers using their wallet when seeking to make purchases using cryptocurrencies. The companies emphasize that Crypto.com Pay’s 1 million users can now access 2 million accommodations in 230 countries. Travala.com customers can use Crypto.com Pay to make payments in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), and Crypto.com’s CRO token. Travala.com now …

Crypto-friendly hotel booking giant Travala now accepts payment from a controversial cryptocurrency leader. On Jan. 10, Travala announced that Tether (USDT) is now a valid form of payment at its two million linked properties. Travala CEO Matt Luczynski said: “Part of our mission is to provide our users with a wide choice of the most well known and used cryptocurrencies so it made perfect sense for us to integrate USDT as a payment option on Travala.com.” In addition to Tether, Travala also accepts payments of Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, Binance Coin, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, and Cardano, as well as its …

Thailand, one of the most-visited countries in the world, will soon apply blockchain to its Electronic Visa On Arrival (eVOA). Thailand’s new blockchain-powered eVOA system intends to speed up and protect the digital visa application process and will soon be available for five million visitors from 20 countries. eVOA operator partners with Australian travel firm for the blockchain-enabled service The upcoming eVOA feature is a joint effort of Australian travel company ShareRing and Gateway Services, an entity that owns the license to process eVOA for Thailand, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Dec. 19. According to the …