NFTs + travel = 🤌

Welcome back. Do your friends also suddenly “have to go water their iguana” when you start talking about web3? We got you—they’re going to want to hear you out when you bring up a Mykonos getaway.

Today, we’re exploring a real-world NFT use case that could change traveling forever (we promise this is not one of those gimmicky “NFTs are entering industry X” stories). Fasten your seatbelts.

—Angelina

How NFTs Could Revolutionize the Way We Travel

Historically speaking, technological advances have typically changed the travel industry for the better:

• Between 1990 and 2007, internet adoption doubled the amount of airline passengers and the air travel industry subsequently grew from $250 billion to $510 billion.

• When e-ticketing services became mandatory for members of the International Air Transport Association in 2008, the number of annual travelers surpassed the 4.5 billion mark and the industry ballooned in value to $870 billion.

Those expansions in the travel industry didn’t just mean meatier profits for travel companies. Better tech also resulted in a more seamless experience for travelers, from security lines to same-day flight changes.

But…anyone who’s experienced the chaos at European airports lately knows that the evolution of tech-enabled travel is still a work in progress. The move to web3 is the next big tech advancement that will benefit travelers (and businesses’ balance sheets). Let’s explore what the future could look like.

Use case 1: NFTickets

Tokenizing travel tickets is a win/win for both travelers and companies. Here’s why:

The upside for travelers: Can’t make a flight? Auction off your boarding pass on the secondary market. Need to change travel dates? Offer a premium to anyone who’s willing to trade tickets with you. Want to surprise your fiancé? Send an NFT ticket to Paris to their wallet.

The ability to auction, trade, swap, and transfer tickets from wallet to wallet gives travelers more control over how they manage their travel passes. Tokenizing tickets also allows for more flexibility in travel planning—you don’t have to worry about sunk costs if you can find a last-minute buyer for your ticket.

The upside for businesses: More cha-ching without the extra work.

The NFT minting process includes the creation of a programmable smart contract. This allows travel companies like airlines to program a royalty fee into each NFT ticket. Every time a boarding pass is resold in the secondary market, the airline collects a percentage of the sale.

All that extra cash could be put to good use––like bringing back free complimentary snacks or expanding legroom (airlines, if you’re reading this, please do both).

Use case 2: Nifty passports

We can use apps to meet a date. Or order Ben & Jerry’s when that date doesn’t go as planned. We can use web3 to totally modernize investing and personal finance. We can use digital technology in so many ways that make life less complicated.

And yet? When we travel, we still rely on little paper booklets to identify ourselves. In that sense, passports are an archaic remnant of the pre-smartphone era.

It’s not just that physical passports are old-school—they can also become a huge source of stress. Everyone who’s lost a passport on foreign soil knows exactly what we mean…

The solution? Turn passports into NFTs.

NFTs are non-fungible, meaning they’re unique and basically impossible to manipulate. Combine that technology with someone’s individual biometrics and you have a super secure method of authentication and verification. And since they’re stored on the blockchain, passport NFTs are easy to recover (even if you lose your phone).

The idea isn’t far fetched either. South Korea recently announced that it’s launching a blockchain ID for all of its citizens, and this little European country adopted an NFT vaccine passport to reflect and track Covid vaccination status.

Use case 3: Tokenized memories

In the age of Instagram, traveling is just as much about posting pics of your trip as it is about exploring new places. Whether it’s for the flex or to share memories, those pictures currently have little value other than sentimental.

Here’s where tokenizing travel memorabilia comes into play. Digital NFT souvenirs would not only serve as a blockchain-based travel log, they could also boost local tourism industries.

Restaurants, landmarks, and museums might offer NFTs to visitors, some more rare and valuable than others. Collecting them would contribute to a traveler’s digital reputation, which might become a tradeable commodity in and of itself. The possibilities are endless: travel competitions, NFT scavenger hunts, loyalty reward programs...you name it.

Big picture

Embracing NFTs is a window of opportunity for the travel industry to make business more profitable and—most importantly—make things a lot easier and more fun for us travelers. While the hype around monkey JPEGs will come and go, the underlying NFT technology is here to stay.

Travel is just one vertical in which NFTs have a practical use case, but their ability to represent real-world ownership on a blockchain also lends itself to real estate, medical records, and supply chain transparency—adding a new layer of security that current online data storage can’t provide.

And that’s what you need on your radar this weekend in crypto. If you had to choose between NFTickets, NFT passports, or tokenized souvenirs, which one would you like to see first? Hit that reply button. Catch you on Tuesday!