Blockchain is a concept that’s been talked about by the travel industry for the past few years, not least by a number of startups.
But some industry figures will evangelise about it, whilst others (such as Steve Hafner, CEO of Kayak) dismiss it entirely.
Most are somewhere in the middle - claiming they know what it does, or that they think they should know what it does.
While Blockchain has been successfully deployed in other industries – such as the banking industry – its concept remains foreign to travel technology.
During his keynote talk at The Phocuswright Conference, however, analyst Norm Rose says the key to understanding Blockchain’s place in the travel sector is to view it, not as the "magic bullet" that industry experts mistakenly believe it is, but as the building blocks of a larger database management tool.
The basis of Blockchain technology is, of course, that it maintains a continually growing list of records (which are called blocks).
Another way to look at Blockchain, says Rose, is to think of it as a virtual ledger.
There are two types of Blockchain technology that are pertinent to the travel tech industry: permission blockchain, and permissionless blockchain.
Blockchain is also the technology upon which all cryptocurrency – like Bitcoin and Etherium – is built.
Permission Blockchain, which is private, shows all the user information (meaning, it isn’t anonymous). Because of the lack of anonymity, permission is required for users to have a copy of the ledger and participate in confirming transactions.
On the other hand, permissionless Blockchain is more public, and keeps the user information anonymous.
Each user has a copy of the ledger and participates in confirming transactions, but all of the data contained therein is anonymous.
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Examples of Blockchain being used in travel can be found in such companies as the TUI Group, Innfinity, Webjet, and Tripcoin.
Rose say its application falls somewhere between over-hyped and disruptively revolutionary. While Blockchains won’t put travel brands out of business, it could force them to adjust their business model.
Disruptive nature of the technology aside, "if we can harness the power of blockchain, we can have our own Linux", says Rose.