Quality & Quantity

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-019-00901-w

Assessment of blockchain applications in travel and tourism

industry

Ali Ihsan Ozdemir1 · Ilker Murat Ar1 · Ismail Erol1

© Springer Nature B.V. 2019

Abstract
Blockchain technology (BCT) is a network-based system, which is developed to create
secure, smart and transparent distributed ledgers. Recently, BCT has been gaining more
importance among different industries including travel and tourism industry through new
tools such as smart contracts, decentralized applications and crypto currencies. However,
despite the growing importance of the subject, only a few researchers have done studies
with respect to blockchain applications in tourism and travel industry. Therefore, this study
aims to propose a blockchain basics criteria set that allows decision makers to compare
various distributed applications (DAPPs). The proposed blockchain basics criteria in this
research are as follows: blokchain governance model, blockchain platforms, type of con-
sensus, use of crypto currency, smart contract and tokens. Then, based on the proposed cri-
teria set, case analysis is employed by using secondary data obtained from four successful
DAPPs. However, note that this study does not seek to justify the selected DAPPs. Finally,
major issues regarding the BCT and the importance of the proposed criteria set are also
discussed. The findings may help lay the groundwork for future empirical studies.

Keywords Blockchain · Travel and tourism sector · DAPPs

1 Introduction

Travel and tourism industry is a key sector for economic development and job creation
along the world. In 2018, the sector’s total contribution to the global economy reached
8.8 trillion $ according to World Travel & tourism Council’s annual analysis (WTTC
2019). This analysis revealed that the sector accounted for 10.4% of global GDP, 10% of
total employment, 6.5% of total global exports and 27.2% of total global service exports

* Ali Ihsan Ozdemir

aliozdemir@ybu.edu.tr
Ilker Murat Ar
ilkerar@ybu.edu.tr
Ismail Erol
ierol@ybu.edu.tr
1
Business Administration Department, Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Esenboğa Campus,
Ankara, Turkey

13
Vol.:(0123456789)
 A. I. Ozdemir et al.

in 2018. In 2019, WTTC also forecasts point to a 3.6% expansion for Travel & Tourism,
faster than an expected global economy growth of 2.9%. Future growth for the sector will
be driven by continued visa relaxation and currency depreciations, both helping to attract
higher numbers of international visitors (WTTC 2019).
The tourism industry has changed dramatically since the Internet has allowed custom-
ers to search and book their travel products online. As a result, many companies, such as
Airbnb and Uber, move from traditional business models to consumer-to-consumer mod-
els. To meet customer needs, the tourism industry needed to combine money, technology
and knowledge to build new and innovative platforms (Colombo and Bagiio 2017).
Blockchain technology (BCT) as a new technology is forcing all sectors to be trans-
formed, including the tourism sector as well. Both practitioners and researchers are trying
to figure out new approaches to adapt these changes in travel and tourism industry in which
one of the most important issues is customer experience. By mean of social media, custom-
ers are able to share their thought and experience with their peers easily. This may cause
some problems such as false reviews or data privacy and frauds. To remedy these problems
BCTs can be used to solve these types of problems via its common characteristics such
as privacy, transparency, security and trust. Therefore, tourism currently leads in block-
chain investment in 2017 and expected to be in top three in 3 years (PwC 2017). Among
the emerging technologies surveyed by PwC (2017), hospitality and leisure are ready to
receive the largest share of investment in BCT.
Zsarnoczky (2018) argues that tourism industry will significantly change in the near
future with the help of digitalization, which will be caused by changing demands and
needs of consumers of travel and tourism products and services. He also argues that shar-
ing economy that forms the basis for blockchain is also visible in tourism sector. With the
increasing impact of sharing economy, tourism industry will start to focus more on con-
sumer experience, and digitalization will greatly impact tourism industry. Besides block-
chain, other digital applications such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality will be
implemented in the sector.
Given these theories and practices, we maintain that blockchain has a promising future
in tourism industry. However, tourism industry has been hesitant to employ BCT although
blockchain attracted global attention and its potential adoption revolutionized various
industries (e.g., banking, retail, healthcare, supply chain). Amadeus (2017) concludes that
currently there is no comprehensive application of BCT in tourism despite DAPPs. Since
the technology is still in its early development, it is plausible that tourism businesses will
start by applying it in the future. It can be argued that BCTs enable tourism companies to
manage transactions ranging from sales and operations through finance and administration
including external stakeholders.
Although several white papers have been published with respect to blockchain applica-
tions in tourism and travel industry, to the best of our knowledge, only few studies have
attempted to investigate blockchain basics criteria to evaluate DAPPs. To achieve that, one
of the main purposes of this study is to develop a criterion set to examine DAPPs in terms
of common blockchain basics in tourism industry. Secondly, it aims to examine the features
of DAPPs in tourism industry by analyzing their published whitepapers.
The remainder of this study is as follows: Sect. 2 provides background information and
a literature review on the blockchain technologies while Sect. 3 discusses the blockchain
studies in tourism industry and highlights the feasibility of blockchains in tourism. Then,
Sect. 4 introduces the blockchain use cases (DAPPs). Once Sect. 4 has presented the pro-
posed blockchain basics criteria to evaluate the selected DAPPs, Sects. 5 and 6 provide
information regarding the selected DAPPs and display a comparison of DAPPs in terms of

13
Assessment of blockchain applications in travel and tourism…

the proposed blockchain basics criteria, respectively. Finally, Sect. 7 discusses the findings
and offers some policy recommendations.

2 Blockchain technology

In spite of the increasing interest in BCT, it can be argued that practitioners have a lack
of knowledge about its structure and how it functions. BCT is an open-sourced software
that allows the creation of a large, decentralized and secure database that contain records
arranged in a block structure (Roman-Belmonte et al. 2018). It mainly consists of three
components: block, ledger, and distributed system.
The blockchain is also a set of blocks that is comprised of record of the transactions.
Thus, transactions are collected inside blocks that are appended to the blockchain. Blocks
are chained together with cryptographic hashes (de Leon et al. 2017). Each block (except
the first) contains the hash of the previous block. The blockchain ensures integrity by
chaining blocks of transactions together in such a way that altering any block breaks the
link with the next block (Varma 2019). All the blocks together are called as the ledger.
Ledger is an auditable log of the entire transactions history. In the ledger, each transac-
tion is attached to a specific user code or pseudonym (Maxwell et al. 2017). BCT allows
all interested parties to maintain their own copy of the ledger that is therefore decentral-
ized and replicated without a central trusted institution to maintain the authorized record
(Varma 2019).
Ledger is stored in a distributed system that is a single platform whereby two or more
individual player work with each other. All players are capable of sending and receiving
messages to system, and each of them has his/her own identical copy of the ledger (Yeoh
2017). Distributed system eliminates the need for a central authority or intermediary to
process, validate or authenticate transactions.
The core operational principles of BCT can be designated as decentralization, transpar-
ency, equality, traceability, and accountability (Al-Saqaf and Seidler 2017). These princi-
ples can help increase the firm operational performance (Yu et al. 2019). That’s being said,
BCT has many specific advantages: (1) it creates trustworthy digital records (Lemieux
2016), (2) it provides increasing efficiency in transaction process (Holotiuk et al. 2019), (3)
it prevents duplicated or faked transactions (Hoy 2017), (4) it provides strong scalability
and interoperability between the intelligent and the physical worlds (Lu 2018), (5) it could
also implement business rules, such as transactions which could go on only where no less
two parties endorse them or where another transaction has been finished first (Yeoh 2017).
BCT literature can generally be classified into three categories. First category includes
literature review studies. These studies (Lu 2018; Ar et al. 2018; Hawlitschek et al. 2018;
Roman-Belmonte et al. 2018; Miau and Yang 2018; Casino et al. 2019) focus on the
blockchain-related perspectives and also present the BCT applications and future research
directions.
Studies in the second category present the potential BCT applications in various indus-
tries and operations and provide a roadmap for future research and practical applications.
Some of these industries and operations are library (Nicholson 2017; Coghill 2018), medi-
cine (Hoy 2017; Patel 2018; Chen et al. 2019), supply chain (Saberi et al. 2019; Kam-
ble et al. 2019), finance (Wang et al. 2018; Holotiuk et al. 2019; Varma 2019), smart city
(Kundu 2019), and education (Williams 2019). These studies in general describe what the

13
 A. I. Ozdemir et al.

BCT is, how it is being used and its potential future applications that may be of interest to
practitioners.
As to the studies in the third category, they focus on the BCT as a technical process.
They (Oh et al. 2017; Lin et al. 2017; Pãnescu and Manta 2018; Efendi et al. 2018; Zhang
and Lin 2018; Li et al. 2019; Yin et al. 2019) propose a trustable platform or technology
based on private or public blockchain systems.

3 Blockchain studies in tourism

Despite the increasing popularity of blockchain, there have been few investigations that
focus on blockchain and its applications in travel and tourism industry. Furthermore, little
research has been done to explore blockchain technology’s user-centered paradigm in ena-
bling various applications beyond tourism.
For instance, Onder and Treiblmaier (2018) have proposed three propositions about
blockchain in tourism industry. They are as follows: Proposition 1: new forms of evalua-
tions and review technologies will lead to trustworthy rating systems; Proposition 2: the
widespread adoption of crypto currencies will lead to new types of C2C markets, and Prop-
osition 3: BCT will lead to increased disintermediation in the tourism industry. They have
argued that answers to these propositions would bring a new look to tourism industry in
blockchain perspective.
Leung and Dickinger (2017) have analyzed how European travellers use Bitcoin as a
crypto currency to purchase travel products. This payment system offers a new level of
encryption safety and intervention-free operation. That is, the data handled in the system
cannot be modified in any way. Another huge benefit of the system is that the transactions
are realized without any intermediate agents, thus eliminating any additional transaction
costs. Brown et al. (2007) have dealt with online purchases and privacy concerns. Their
findings have showed that there is no negative relationship between privacy concerns and
purchasing behaviors in tourism industry, suggesting that when consumers purchase online
tourism products, they are not concerned about their data privacy. Moreover, Calvaresi
et al. (2019) investigate another important blockchain characteristic, which is trust. The
authors compare trust in blockchain with trust in tourism industry based on an extensive
literature review.
There are also studies that consider blockchain to eliminate certain public problems
with tourism. Pilkington and Crudu (2017) have worked on how blockchain can be used
for decreasing poverty in a problematic country like Moldova with tourism 2.0. They have
argued that due to the high corruption rate in Moldova, there is a need for trusted systems.
They explore blockchain technologies for both private and public sectors to find solutions
to their respective problems. Finally, the authors have presented that immutable nature of
blockchain can help alleviate poverty with tourism 2.0 by eliminating corruption problems
in Moldova.
Seigneur (2018)’s study is based on an application of blockchains in tourism indus-
try. The author has presented crypto-friendly smart tourism approach in Geneva. He has
argued that new technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies can be implemented
to augment tourism experience. He has also argued that such integration will help increase
overall income and wealth of the local people who provide tourism services.
In addition to Geneva, Dubai will launch tourism 2.0-blockchain marketplaces
according to URL 1 (2018). This marketplace will have B2B structure that will provide

13
Assessment of blockchain applications in travel and tourism…

opportunities for hotel and tour operator connection. Dubai is planning to speed up digi-
talization process and attract new tourism start-ups. Similarly, Kwok and Koh (2018) have
focused on the tourism development by adopting BCT among tourism stakeholders in
small island economies.
Finally, Nam et al. (2019) have examined multiple cases based on blockchain technolo-
gies implemented in smart cities and smart tourism. They have highlighted the key char-
acteristics of BCT in combination with the smart city/tourism framework while making
propositions in how the technology would evolve and influence the tourism industry. They
also have identified numerous common characteristics related to BCT: (1) low costs as
a primary benefit of using blockchain, (2) integration of coins/tokens into their business
model for more effective currency exchange, loyalty, and/or reward for reviews, and (3)
development of travel platforms by firms to build their own eco-system.

4 Blockchain basics

In this section, we developed blockchain basics criteria set by analyzing the Blockchain
literature and white papers regarding tourism. Then, as pointed out in the first section, we
will employ this criteria set to examine various DAPPs projects in travel and tourism sec-
tor. Table 1 displays titles, descriptions and references of this blockchain basics criteria set.
Since examining DAPPs in terms of certain criteria calls for more in depth understand-
ing of the criteria, we will further elaborate on them below:
Blockchain governance model Governance refers to all processes of governing, whether
by a government, market or network, through the laws, norms, or power. Blockchain can
disrupt traditional governance structures of all kinds and challenge the way we currently
think about governance (BlockchainHub 2017). Blockchain governance models define the
rules by which the assets managed in the ledger are created and how the ledger is main-
tained. Three broad categories of governance model exist in Blockchain literature. They
are public, permissioned or private blockchains (Travelport 2018; HTNG 2018).
Blockchain platforms/ecosystems Blockchain platforms allow for rapid prototyping,
development and deployment of new decentralized blockchain applications (Baliga 2016).
These blockchain platforms are mostly open sourced and available for most to participate
and use. Each of these blockchain platforms is designed with specific goals, which dictate
its features. Should a company decide they want to develop a blockchain application, they
have to select the right blockchain platform for their case. Not every blockchain platform
offers the same features (due to different goals), which are required for a specific case (Ver-
kleij 2018). There are many existing implementations of blockchain technology, some tied
to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum and others, such as HyperLedger Fabric,
simply provide blockchain services (Nocturus 2018; HTNG 2018).
Type of consensus One key design consideration for blockchains is to decide which con-
sensus algorithm to use. The algorithm that they use to decide which blocks to add is called
a consensus algorithm. Because the blockchain is decentralized, there is no single point
of failure or control (Nocturus 2018; HTNG 2018). Since the field of crypto economics is
quite new, we will very likely to see more consensus mechanisms evolve over time (Block-
chainHub 2017). Most common types are: Proof of Work (PoW), Proof of Stake (PoS);
Delegeted Proof of Stake (DPoS), Proof of Born (PoB), Proof of Authority (PoA).
Use of cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency is a digital form of money often associated with
blockchains’ use as a cryptocurrency, i.e., whether the consensus algorithm and smart contract

13
13

Table 1 Blockchain basics criteria set

Criteria Description References

Blockchain governance model
Blockchain platforms/ecosystems There are many existing implementations of blockchain technology, some of which
Type of consensus
Use of cryptocurrency
Smart contract
Tokens
Governance models define the rules by which the assets managed in the ledger are Travelport (2018), HTNG (2018)
created and how the ledger is maintained. Three broad categories of governance
model exist public, permissioned or private
Nocturus (2018), HTNG (2018)
are tied to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum and others, such as
HyperLedger Fabric, simply provide blockchain services
One key design consideration for blockchains is which consensus algorithm to use. Nocturus (2018), HTNG (2018)
The algorithm that they use to decide which blocks to add is call a consensus algo-
rithm. Because the blockchain is decentralized, there is no single point of failure or
control
A cryptocurrency is a digital form of money often associated with blockchains. use Nam et al. (2019), Nocturus (2018), HTNG (2018)
cryptocurrency, i.e., whether the consensus algorithm and smart contract operations
depend on an artificial currency or not
Basically smart contracts are small programs that execute on all nodes of the network, Nam et al. (2019), Nocturus (2018), HTNG (2018)
used to impose terms of a transaction
Tokens are created on existing blockchains. With the creation and facilitation of smart King (2018)
contracts, Ethereum is the most common blockchain token platform

A. I. Ozdemir et al.
Assessment of blockchain applications in travel and tourism…

operations depend on an artificial currency or not (Nam et al. 2019; Nocturus 2018; HTNG
2018). Cryptocurrency consists of virtual coins that can be exchanged like a traditional cur-
rency with the exception that they are not controlled by governments and financial institutions.
When an exchange is made, it is completely transparently registered in the Blockchain net-
work (Cancelas 2018). Cryptocurrency is also supported by a peer-to-peer system that allows
a direct payment transaction. Additionally, it uses Internet that makes it fast and efficient, and
it also trusts on cryptography to make its transactions highly secure (Baur et al. 2015). There
is a variety of cryptocurrencies, such as Litecoin, Ethereum, Dash etc.
Smart contracts There are many different theoretical definitions of smart contracts. Simply
put, smart contracts are small programs that execute on all nodes of the network, which is used
to impose terms of a transaction (Nam et al. 2019; Nocturus 2018; HTNG 2018). A smart
contract is a computer code that runs on a blockchain containing a set of rules under which the
parties to that smart contract agree to interact with each other, and it facilitates, verifies, and
enforces the negotiation or execution of an agreement or transaction (BlockchainHub 2017).
In general, smart contracts are contracts that are handled using blockchain technology. As a
result, intermediaries (e.g., notaries, banks or other companies) can be eliminated and costs
reduced and processing times can be shortened (Cancelas 2018).
Tokens Tokens are created on existing blockchains. With the creation and facilitation of
smart contracts, Ethereum is the most common blockchain token platform. There are other
platforms as well: such as, NEO, Waves, Lisk, and Stratis. Tokens that are built on the
Ethereum platform are called as ERC-20 and NEO based tokens called as NEP-5 tokens. Any
DAPPs can make their own custom token on one of these platforms. In DAPPs, tokens will
depend on the application itself. In some cases, while tokens are used for voting rights, they
are also employed for transactions on DAPP, or to reward the users (King 2018).

5 DAPPs and the selected cases

DAPPs allow individuals to interact with blockchain technologies on a more regular and
familiar basis such as through smartphones or browsers (Nam et al. 2019). As DAPPs have
the potential to make blockchain easy to use, various types of business models are developed
and integrated with blockchain technology for consumers. Tourism related businesses are not
an exception since companies could develop their own DAPPs to better connect/interact with
their customers (Coldwell 2016).
In this study, DAPPs such as, Nocturus, SmartTrip, Further and GOeuroka, have been
selected for comparison purposes. Note that our goal is not to corroborate these applications.
Rather, this research is aimed at better comprehending the state of the art, not the justification
of their blockchain business model. Therefore, Nocturus, SmartTrip, Further and GOeuroka
have been randomly picked in order to perform this comparison in terms of the proposed cri-
teria set.
Information about these DAPPs, based on their websites and whitepapers (Nocturus 2018;
SmartTrip 2018; Further 2018; GOeuroka 2017), is demonstrated in Table 2.

13
 Table 2 General information about the cases
13

DAPP General information and business model Blockchain approach

Nocturus Nocturus can combine technology with hotel management and build software Nocturus can control the costs directly. Because Nocturus will not be building
that not only innovates, but also solves real business problems that hotel on an existing network, all participants in its network will run as nodes in the
chains may face. It currently has offices in two locations. Their main office is system, though Nocturus will initially provide cloud-hosted nodes to bootstrap
in Miami, Florida, and development office is located in Suzhou, China the network
In travel and tourism industry, OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) domination Nocturus has based its implementation on Hyperledger Fabric, an open source
occurs since access to the data sources required to do online booking is blockchain framework. Nocturus has also its own smart contract tools inside
excessively expensive and complex, limiting the ability of startup companies its blockchain systems. It uses two different cryptocurrencies: NoctCash as an
to enter the market. Nocturus’ goal is to leverage the power of the blockchain internal currency and NoctTokens as initial coin offering coins
to break this paradigm and lower the barrier of entry for new companies to To verify transactions and to add a new block, Nocturus uses proof-of-stake
enter the hotel booking market. As a result of blockchain usage by enabling method, which randomly selects a block to add to the chain based on the
competition in the OTA market, Nocturus aims to lower the fees charged by relative stake of the node attempting to add it, with nodes with larger stakes
OTA’s, increase profit of hotels and lower costs for travelers having a higher chance of being selected
Nocturus built a middleware software based on blockchain technology to for
hotels, by mean that hotels will be allowed to list their rooms as a stock,
a third party OTA will be allowed to search and display these rooms and
finally booking and payment will be done. This blockchain-based ledger will
be distributed and open to all actors
Smart trip The Smart Trip Platform is designed as the ultimate solution to the issues Blockchain technology of Smart Trip is based on two main components: A
plaguing both travellers and travel service providers. It is an ecosystem that distributed blockchain-powered network and a set of smart contracts
allows all users to connect directly; plan trips efficiently and quickly, save All services will be based on a smart contract. Once a user books a service, the
money, and participate in a dynamic community necessary amount of money from their wallet is deposited. When the service
The Smart Trip Platform has many different features. One of them is allowing has been delivered and confirmed by the parties, the money in TripCash for-
users to plan a trip from scratch, without having to switch between lots of mat will automatically and instantly be paid to the service provider
different resources, books, and websites. In the Trip Planner, one may find All internal payments within the platform will be carried out using TripCash-
transportation schedules, accommodation options, vehicle rentals, excur- official platform’s tokens. Users will be able to store both TripCash and a
sions, trekking guides, and much more. Users will be able to build and itiner- wide range of cryptocurrencies in their individual platform’s wallets, instantly
ary and plan it on the map, buy transport tickets, and book places to stay. The exchanging between various cryptocurrencies
system will provide tips on the most popular attractions and local cultures,

A. I. Ozdemir et al.
including details that cannot be found in standard guidebooks
 Table 2 (continued)

Assessment of blockchain applications in travel and tourism…

DAPP General information and business model Blockchain approach

Further Further’s disruption starts with Autonomous Smart Travel Ecosystem where Further’s blockchain will provide a real-time solution for billing, settlement,
any asset provider from small to large, Airline to Hotel or Tour Provider and payment problems. It aims to create scalable and efficient platform, to
would be able to create their own assets, create their own modifiable services achieve that it is necessary to increase transaction sizes per second more than
and publish them using their own smart contract and get real time payment traditional blockchains. For this purpose Further decided to use pre-selected
throughout the system using blockchain and cryptocurrencies nodes consensus for verification
Further is aiming to achieve real-time settlement between all interacting par- Further divides all the peers in the system depending on their capabilities. The
ties, decentralizing the process of settlement, reducing the amount of money common functionality of the nodes will execute operations. Well-known nodes
kept or blocked in deposit or safety accounts, cost reduction on payments, are asset issuing and rule defining nodes. Institutions with the conditions
and simultaneous cross-border payments specified by the system will be well known nodes with authentication
In order to achieve above aims, Further introduces Smart Travel Record (STR) Aton, Further Network’s token, is the money that runs Further Ecosystem. STR
which is a smart token holding key data about the travel. STR is a contract and Aton will live on the chain and it will be a secure, private network and
carrying data of flight ticket, hotel reservation with terms and conditions. withhold the operational load targeted within the network, considering the
STR has sub models such as Smart Passenger Record for airline tickets using cryptocurrency transfers as well
blockchain technologies and Smart Guest Record for hospitality related
smart tokens
13
 Table 2 (continued)
13

DAPP General information and business model Blockchain approach

GOEureka GOeureka is a travel tech company utilizing blockchain technology to build a The GOeureka platform utilizes the widely-used Ethereum blockchain. Ethere-
hotel booking platform. Users of GOeureka are able to book hotel rooms for um’s smart contracts provide multiple language implementations that will
a range of different countries around the world as it has opened up access to facilitate future integration. An audit of all transactions on the platform will be
200,000 properties worldwide kept on the blockchain each time the smart contract is executed
Its mission is to decentralize the hotel booking sector and deliver greater All transactions on the GOeureka App operate on GO’s smart contract. The
transparency by allowing hotels to directly connect with their customers. smart contract acts as a communication layer between the platform and the
By reducing the financial commitments of hotels to third-party booking blockchain. All transaction data will be sent to the smart contract to execute
platforms, GOeureka’s vision is to enable hotels to focus more resources on its terms, and the transaction will be stored in the blockchain. This removes
providing better intrinsic value and services to travellers around the globe the need for a middleman and facilitates lower transaction costs throughout the
In response to the growing power of OTAs, GOeureka is dedicated to becom- platform
ing an unbiased and transparent technology partner for hotels by providing a The GO Token is a digital token or virtual currency designed to facilitate
commission-free online booking platform that leverages blockchain technol- transactions on the GOeureka platform for the purchase of room nights, hotel
ogy to transform traditional loyalty programs and deliver increasing value to services, and other internal processes and payments within the GOeureka
all consumers infrastructure
The GOeureka platform includes the following: (1) website with booking
and payment functionalities, (2) a centralized database and server to store
Personal Identity Information, and (3) utilize Ethereum blockchain and smart
contract to generate decentralized GO Tokens and execute payout requests

A. I. Ozdemir et al.
Assessment of blockchain applications in travel and tourism…

6 Comparison of the DAPPs

In this section, the selected DAPPs are compared in terms of the proposed blockchain
basics criteria set. The following evaluation is based on the information given in several
white papers, and the findings are summarized in Table 3.
In terms of Blockchain Govarnance Model, all DAPPs (Nocturus, SmartTrip and Fur-
ther) are permissioned except GoEureka, which is private. As to Blockchain Platforms, as
Further and Nocturus are built on HyperledgerFabric, Goeureka and SmarTrip are con-
structed on Ethereum and BigChainDB, respectively.
Although Nocturus specifies that its consensus type is Proof of Stake, the rest desig-
nates that their consensus types are not common in the literature. Based on the information
in their whitepapers, the following findings have been obtained: since GoEureka has its
central database (and approves new entrance to the system as a central authority), it can be
concluded that it uses Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus. SmartTrip and Further specify
that their consensus methods are quorum of selected nodes and Consensus of pre-selected
nodes, respectively. Therefore, we can conclude that both DAPPs use Delegated Proof of
Stakes (DPoS) consensus type.
As for cryptocurrency, out of four DAPPs, GoEureka and SmartTrip employ traditional
cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum; however, Nocturus and Further use their
own currencies, which are NoctCash and Aton, respectively. NoctCash is fixed with a
fiat currency like USD or others at the beginning of a transaction. Further has developed
its own cryptocurrency “Aton” which is built on Stellar platform, which is different than
the rest. Moreover, we have observed that all DAPPs have smart contracts and have their
own tokens based on Ethereum with the exception that Further’s token (Aton) uses Stellar
platform.

7 Discussion and conclusion

To begin with, note that this research does not seek to justify the selected DAPPs. Instead,
it seeks to investigate to perceive their alternative structures and technologies, not the
corroboration of their blockchain frameworks. Note also that this investigation is mainly
aimed at developing a criteria set to perform such an evaluation. That’s being said, we
argue that the most crucial output of this study is the proposed blockchain basics criteria
set that enables researchers and decision makers to assess blockchain applications. Based
on our analyses of the current research, that set contains criteria such as blokchain govern-
ance model, blockchain platforms, type of consensus, use of crypto currency, use of smart
contract and use of tokens.
We argue that being able to perform such evaluations is invaluable in order to com-
prehend and improve current blockchain applications. For example, identifying blockchain
governance model applied to blockchain is crucial since it helps to find out its characteris-
tics, such as its anonymity, immutability, efficiency, transparency and data integrity (Travel
Port 2018). Secondly, blockchain platform preference may impact such performance indi-
cators as scalability, transaction speed and energy consumption (URL 2 2018). Therefore,
note that decision makers may base their platform selection on such criteria before they
finalize their decisions. Thirdly, type of consensus may provide information with respect
to energy efficiency, decentralization level, security level, cost structure and scalability of

13
13

Table 3 Characteristics of DAPPs in terms of blockchain basics

Blockchain basics Nocturus SmartTrip Further GOeureka

Blockchain governance model Permissioned Permissioned Permissioned Private

Blockchain platforms/ecosystems HyperLedger fabric BigChainDB HyperLedger fabric Ethereum
Type of consensus Proof of stake (PoS) Delegated proof of stake (DPoS) Delegated proof of stake (DPoS) Proof of authority (PoA)
Use of cryptocurrency NoctCash (a fixed value Fiat/own debit card/cryptocurrancy Fiat/Aton Fiat/CreditCard cryptocurrancy
with fiat moneys)
Smart contract Yes Yes Yes Yes
Tokens NoctTokens TripCash Aton Go tokens

A. I. Ozdemir et al.
Assessment of blockchain applications in travel and tourism…

applications (URL 3 2018). It is imperative that practitioners examine consensus alterna-

tives in terms of similar criteria before they make their final decisions on them. Use of
cryptocurrency is also crucial since Sovbetov (2018) states that efficiency of cryptocur-
rency is determined by its transaction cost, reward system, mining difficulty, coins circu-
lation and rule changes. As to smart contracts, their existence has major implications for
businesses as they can facilitate greater disintermediation (Onder and Treiblmaier 2018).
Further, their implementations lay the groundwork for the development of Decentralized
Autonomous Organizations (Boucher et al. 2017). Lastly, Nam et al. (2019) have proposed
that the incentives provided by cryptocurrencies/tokens will be a major determinant to
facilitate its adoption by travellers and other stakeholders. That is, the larger and the more
attractive the incentives, the faster the adoption of blockchain technology.
Note that Blockchain is still an emerging technology, and the standards and variations
of blockchain are still being evolved. Therefore, it may be argued that the recent block-
chain technology is only feasible for certain applications at least until the advent of new
advancements. However, Dogru et al. (2018) states that as more hospitality businesses
adopt blockchain technology, stakeholders in the hospitality industry will collectively ben-
efit from its use. Furthermore, Rebrisoreanu et al. (2018) maintains that blockchain tech-
nology becomes a key catalyst in delivering public goods. A pertinent question in this con-
text would be whether blockchain is more appropriate than all other previous technologies.
In conclusion, we argue that there is certainly a potential for more successful blockchain
applications in tourism industry; however, more systematic research is needed to have a big
impact on the development process. There is abundant room for further progress in deter-
mining optimum framework, technologies and tools for blockchain applications in tourism
industry.

References
Al-Saqaf, W., Seidler, N.: Blockchain technology for social impact: opportunities and challenges ahead. J.
Cyber Policy 2(3), 338–354 (2017)
Amadeus: Blockchain: harnessing its potential in travel (2017). https://amadeus.com/en/insights/research-
report/blockchain-harnessing-its-potential-in-travel. Accessed 25 Mar 2019
Ar, İ.M., Erol, İ., Özdemir, A.İ.: Blockchain based supply chain systems: a review and future research direc-
tion. In: 12th International NCM Conferences Ankara, Turkey, 11–12 September 2018, pp. 40–44
(2018)
Baliga, A.: The blockchain landscape. Persistent systems (2016). https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c826/
b333dfb04e3053a7c2cb3b881bff1d952942.pdf Accessed 13 Apr 2019
Baur, W.A., Bühler, J., Bick, M., Bonorden S.C.: Cryptocurrencies as a disruption? Empirical findings on
user adoption and future potential of bitcoin and co. In: Conference on e-Business, e-Services and
e-Society, pp. 63–80 (2015)
BlockchainHub: Blockchain: a beginners guide (2017). https://blockchainhub.net/blockchain-technology/.
Accessed 25 Mar 2019
Boucher, P., Nascimento, S., Kritikos, M.: How blockchain technology could change our lives: In-depth
analysis. European Parliamentary Research Service, Scientific Foresight Unit (STFO), PE 591.948
(2017)
Brown, M., Muchira, R., Gottlieb, U.: Privacy concerns and the purchasing of travel services online. Inf.
Technol. Tour. 9(1), 15–25 (2007)
Calvaresi, D., Leis, M., Dubovitskaya, A., Schegg, R., Schumacher, M.: Trust in tourism via blockchain
technology: results from a systematic review. In: Pesonen, J., Neidhardt, J. (eds.) Information and
Communication Technologies in Tourism 2019, pp. 304–317. Springer, Berlin (2019)

13
 A. I. Ozdemir et al.

Cancelas, A.: What we can expect from blockchain in tourism industry (2018). https://www.wearemarke
ting.com/blog/what-we-can-expect-from-blockchain-in-the-tourism-industry.html. Accessed 05 Apr
2019
Casino, F., Dasaklis, T.K., Patsakis, C.: A systematic literature review of blockchain-based applications:
current status, classification and open issues. Telemat. Inform. 36, 55–81 (2019)
Chen, Y., Ding, S., Xu, Z., Zheng, H., Yang, S.: Blockchain-based medical records secure storage and medical
service framework. J. Med. Syst. 43, 5 (2019)
Coghill, J.G.: Blockchain and its implications for libraries. J. Electron. Resour. Med. Libr. 15(2), 66–70 (2018)
Coldwell, W.: 10 of the best travel apps…that you’ll actually use (2016). https://www.theguardian.com/trave
l/2016/jan/02/10-best-travel-appsfree-paid-for. Accessed 06 Apr 2019
Colombo, E., Bagiio, R.: Tourism distribution channels. In: Scott, N., De Martino, M., Van Niekerk, M. (eds.)
Knowledge Transfer to and Within Tourism (Bridging Tourism Theory and Practice), vol. 8, pp. 289–301.
Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley (2017)
de Leon, D.C., Stalick, A.Q., Jillepalli, A.A., Haney, M.A., Sheldon, F.T.: Blockchain: properties and miscon-
ceptions. Asia Pac. J. Innov. Entrep. 11(3), 286–300 (2017)
Dogru, T., Mody, M., Leonardi, C.: Blockchain technology & its implications for the Hospitality Industry. Bos-
ton Hospitality Review, Winter, pp 1–12 (2018). https://www.bu.edu/bhr/files/2018/02/Blockchain-Techn
ology-and-its-Implications-for-the-Hospitality-Industry.pdf. Accessed 01 Apr 2019
Efendi, S., Siregar, B., Pranoto, H.: Concept designs of patient information security using e-health sensor shield
platform on blockchain infrastructure. In: Proceedings of MICoMS 2017. Emerald Reach Proceedings
Series, vol. 1, pp. 641–646. Emerald Publishing Limited (2018)
Further: Autonomus smart travel system. Further white paper (2018). https://further.network/whitepaper/white
paper-latest-en.pdf. Accessed 20 Jan 2019
GoEureka: GoEureka: next-gen solution shaping the future online hotel booking. GoEureka white paper (2017).
https://goeureka.io/whitepaper. Accessed 25 Mar 2019
Hawlitschek, F., Notheisen, B., Teubner, T.: The limits of trust-free systems: a literature review on blockchain
technology and trust in the sharing economy. Electron. Commer. Res. Appl. 29, 50–63 (2018)
Holotiuk, F., Pisani, F., Moormann, J.: Radicalness of blockchain: an assessment based on its impact on the
payments industry. Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2019.15743
41. (in press)
Hoy, M.B.: An introduction to the blockchain and its implications for libraries and medicine. Med. Ref. Serv. Q.
36(3), 273–279 (2017)
HTNG: Hospitality technology next generation, blockchain for hospitality Version 1.0 (2018). https://www.
htng.org/news/423291/Blockchain-for-Hospitality-White-Paper-Published-by-HTNG.htm. Accessed 29
Mar 2019
Kamble, S., Gunasekaran, A., Arha, H.: Understanding the blockchain technology adoption in supply chains-
Indian context. Int. J. Prod. Res. 57(7), 2009–2033 (2019)
King, R.: Token vs coin: what’s the difference? (2018). https://www.bitdegree.org/tutorials/token-vs-
coin/#Token_vs_Coin_What_is_a_Coin. Accessed 11 Apr 2019
Kundu, D.: Blockchain and trust in a smart city. Environ. Urban. ASIA 10(1), 31–43 (2019)
Kwok, A.O.J., Koh, S.G.M.: Is blockchain technology a watershed for tourism development? Curr. Issues Tour.
(2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2018.1513460. (in press)
Lemieux, V.L.: Trusting records: is blockchain technology the answer? Rec. Manag. J. 26(2), 110–139 (2016)
Leung, D., Dickinger, A.: Use of bitcoin in online travel product shopping: the European perspective. In: Infor-
mation and Communication Technologies in Tourism, pp. 741–754 (2017)
Li, Z., Liu, X., Wang, W.M., Barenji, A.V., Huang, G.Q.: CKshare: secured cloud-based knowledge-sharing
blockchain for injection mold redesign. Enterp. Inf. Syst. 13(1), 1–33 (2019)
Lin, J., Shen, Z., Miao, C., Liu, S.: Using blockchain to build trusted LoRaWAN sharing server. Int. J. Crowd
Sci. 1(3), 270–280 (2017)
Lu, Y.: Blockchain and the related issues: a review of current research topics. J. Manag. Anal. 5(4), 231–255
(2018)
Maxwell, D., Speed, C., Pscherts, L.: Story blocks: reimagining narrative through the blockchain. Converg. Int.
J. Res. New Media Technol. 23(1), 79–97 (2017)
Miau, S., Yang, J.-M.: Bibliometrics-based evaluation of the blockchain research trend: 2008–March 2017.
Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag. 30(9), 1029–1045 (2018)
Nam, K., Dutt, C.S., Chathoth, P., Khan, M.S.: Blockchain technology for smart city and smart tourism: latest
trends and challenges. Asia Pac. J. Tour. Res. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2019.1585376. (in
press)
Nicholson, J.: The Library as a facilitator: how bitcoin and block chain technology can aid developing nations.
Ser. Libr. 73(3–4), 357–364 (2017)
Nocturus: Nocturus: bringing the blockchain to hotels. A white paper (2018). https://international.nocturus.
com/wpcontent/uploads/2018/02/NocturusWhitepaperV1.1.pdf. Accessed 25 Mar 2019
13
Assessment of blockchain applications in travel and tourism…

Oh, S.-C., Kim, M.-S., Park, Y., Roh, G.-T., Lee, C.-W.: Implementation of blockchain-based energy trading
system. Asia Pac. J. Innov. Entrep. 11(3), 322–334 (2017)
Onder, I., Treiblmaier, H.: Blockchain and tourism: three research propositions. Ann. Tour. Res. 72, 180–182
(2018)
Pãnescu, A.-T., Manta, V.: Smart contracts for research data rights management over the ethereum blockchain
network. Sci. Technol. Libr. 37(3), 235–245 (2018)
Patel, V.: A framework for secure and decentralized sharing of medical imaging data via blockchain consensus.
Health Inform. J. (2018). https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458218769699. (in press)
Pilkington, M., Crudu, R.: Blockchain and bitcoin as a way to lift a country out of poverty—tourism 2.0 and
e-governance in the Republic of Moldova. Int. J. Internet Technol. Secur. Trans. 7(2), 115–143 (2017)
PwC: 2017 Global digital IQ survey: blockchain (2017). http://usblogs.pwc.com/emerging-technology/2017-
digital-iq-blockchain/. Accessed 10 Apr 2019
Rebrisoreanu, M., Rus, C., Leba, M., Ionica, A.: Exploring the possibilities of blockchain use in a smart city.
Int. J. Syst. Appl. Eng. Dev. 12, 164–167 (2018)
Roman-Belmonte, J.M., De la Corte-Rodriguez, H., Rodriguez-Merchan, E.C.: How blockchain technology can
change medicine. Postgrad. Med. 130(4), 420–427 (2018)
Saberi, S., Kouhizadeh, M., Sarkis, J., Shen, L.: Blockchain technology and its relationships to sustainable sup-
ply chain management. Int. J. Prod. Res. 57(7), 2117–2135 (2019)
Seigneur, J.-M.: Towards Geneva crypto-friendly smart tourism. In: etats généraux du tourisme, Geneve (2018).
https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:103406. Accessed 04 May 2019
SmartTrip: A blockchain enabled ecosystem that connects travelers and travel service providers to create unfor-
gettable trips. SmarTrip Platform white paper (2018). www.smarttripplatform.io. Accessed 25 Mar 2019
Sovbetov, Y.: Factors influencing cryptocurrency prices: evidence from bitcoin, ethereum, dash, litcoin, and
monero. J. Econ. Financ. Anal. 2(2), 1–27 (2018)
Travelport: Blockchain and distributed ledger technology at Travelport, A Travelport white paper (2018). https
://www.travelport.com/sites/default/files/travelport-blockchain-whitepaper.pdf. Accessed 29 Mar 2019
URL 1: Dubai launches Tourism 2.0 blockchain marketplace. Arabian business (2018). https://www.arabianbus
iness.com/travel-hospitality/394502-dubai-launches-tourism-20-blockchain-marketplace. Accessed 09
May 2019
URL 2: Medium (2018). https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-choose-a-blockchain-platform-for-your-business-
c966faf37e81. Accessed 01 Apr 2019
URL 3: 101Blockchains (2018). https://101blockchains.com/consensus-algorithms-blockchain/-8. Accessed 01
Apr 2019
Varma, J.R.: Blockchain in finance. J. Decis. Mak. 44(1), 1–11 (2019)
Verkleij, J.R.Q.: A decision support system for blockchain platform selection. Master thesis in Utrecht Univer-
sity (2018)
Wang, R., Lin, Z., Luo, H.: Blockchain, bank credit and SME financing. Qual. Quant. 53(3), 1127–1140 (2018)
WTTC: World Travel and Tourism Council, Global Economic Impact and Trends (2019). https://www.wttc.org/
economic-impact/country-analysis/. Accessed 01 Apr 2019
Williams, P.: Does competency-based education with blockchain signal a new mission for universities? J. High.
Educ. Policy Manag. 41(1), 104–117 (2019)
Yin, H.H.S., Langenheldt, K., Harlev, M., Mukkamala, R.R., Vatrapu, R.: Regulating cryptocurrencies: a super-
vised machine learning approach to de-anonymizing the bitcoin blockchain. J. Manag. Inf. Syst. 36(1),
37–73 (2019)
Yeoh, P.: Regulatory issues in blockchain technology. J. Financ. Regul. Compliance 25(2), 196–208 (2017)
Yu, C., Zhang, L.Z., Zhao, W., Zhang, S.: A blockchain-based service composition architecture in cloud manu-
facturing. Int. J. Comput. Integr. Manuf. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/0951192x.2019.1571234. (in
press)
Zhang, A., Lin, X.: Towards secure and privacy-preserving data sharing in e-health systems via consortium
blockchain. J. Med. Syst. 42, 140 (2018)
Zsarnoczky, M.: The digital future of the tourism & hospitality industry. Boston Hospitality Review, Spring,
pp. 1–10 (2018). https://www.bu.edu/bhr/files/2018/06/The-Digital-Future-of-the-Tourism-and-Hospitalit
y-Industry.pdf. Accessed 01 Apr 2019

Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
institutional affiliations.

13