How does Crypto affect the travel industry?

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Byline: Hannah Parker

Did you know, as a crypto investor and user, you can use your crypto to travel the world? That’s right! This is a largely unknown fact among both frequent travellers and crypto investors. Over the past few years, we have seen cryptocurrencies become more accepted and popularised in a wide variety of industries.

The crypto industry is ever-changing and expanding,innovating new forms of highly secure and encrypted technological/digital systems, which can be used in various industries to enhance security measures and helps simplify technological processes in a way that makes peoples’ lives easier With the rules and regulations constantly being updated to regulate the crypto industry and help protect investors and enforce the law, more are becoming confident in the security of cryptocurrencies in general. Bitcoin Trader, a credible crypto news site, gives in-depth insight and guides on cryptocurrencies. The site also provides insightful opinions, market analysis, and regulatory updates, and will be monitoring this relatively new introduction of digital currencies into the travel industry.

With that being said, the travel industry is one of the most rigid industries in the world that has become relatively crypto-friendly. This is evident in some airlines and hotels now accepting crypto as a form of payment. In January 2022, the CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, conducted a survey on Twitter where he asked the company’s followers what they thought should be launched this year. Being able to pay for bookings in cryptocurrency was one of the top results. The above-mentioned findings corroborate with another study which found that 22% of American travellers now want to pay for travel through crypto. 

Cryptocurrencies are steadily taking over global markets and having an immense influence over them. As the world evolves, businesses and various other institutions also need to adapt and follow the trends to remain relevant and accommodate a variety of customers with different preferred payment methods, which will positively affect the business through the influx of income. To survive, companies must be versatile without compromising on their core values. In this economy, business versatility and adaptability look like and include accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment for products and services. Thankfully, based on the above-mentioned studies, several companies are seeing the value of this and are jumping on the bandwagon without wasting time.  

Travel Sites that Accept Digital Currency as a Payment Option:

1. Expedia  is an American-based online travel agency that uses its website and mobile application to book airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruise ships, and vacation packages and now allows customers to pay for these services using Bitcoin. Expedia partnered with Coinbase to process the bitcoin payments, which will convert the bitcoins back into U.S. dollars. Coinbase, which powers 1.3 million consumer wallets and supports 32,000 merchants, makes it easy to buy and sell bitcoin, securely store bitcoin in the cloud, and accept bitcoin as payment and receive funds in U.S. dollars. To purchase hotel reservations, customers simply indicate bitcoin as their method of payment and then follow a few steps to safely and securely complete each transaction.
2. Bitcoin Travel: Bitcoin has its own travel site that works similarly to Expedia. The site allows a customer to filter their search with places, stops, dates, times, airports, and airfares.
3. CheapAir: This site is known to advertise incredibly low fees for airlines, hotels, and car bookings. One can pay with digital currency without a credit card and just their Bitcoin credentials.
4. Destinia: mBTC and Bitcoin are the currencies of choice with this travel site. The site also has a mobile app which can be found on the Google Play Store. Travellers can search for flights, hotels, cars, trains, skis, airport lounges, buses in Latin America, and airport transfers and further allowing one to enter budget parameters and organize full  
5. EasyJet.

Airlines that Accept Crypto Payment:

• AirBaltic – Book flights around the Baltics, Russia and Europe with cryptocurrency.
• Vueling – Vueling will become the first low-cost airline in Europe to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method. This service will be available at the beginning of 2023 at www.vueling.com and for individuals only.
• American Airlines
• Delta
• Air Canada
• Alaska Airlines, Spirit
• United, Allegiant Airlines
• Southwest 
• JetBlue

How to Book Flights Using Crypto:

There are three easy ways to buy plane tickets with crypto:

• Buy airline gift cards from your crypto wallet to use on plane tickets.
• Use the BitPay Card to spend crypto like cash. Buy tickets with any airline that accepts Mastercard.
• Book directly with airlines or agencies that accept crypto payments.It is evident that cryptocurrencies are impacting global markets and entire industries through the technology and encryptions used. The world is also revolutionising and turning digital; thus, the technology used for crypto is beneficial. As the world and its industries evolve and adapt to the ongoing new trends, technologies, and systems, it is essential for businesses to be versatile, fluid, and flexible enough to adapt and accommodate all their customers who come with different payment options, including crypto. This has the potential to bring a huge influx of income and revolutionises the systems and processes of different industries into becoming more digital. With that said, investing in crypto is essential. As seen, it is not just about investing and trading digital currencies but making use of those currencies in other spheres of our lives.