What to Do with All that Bitcoin? Book a Flight!

What to do with all that strangely amassing crypto currency? Before it disappears at the hands of crytopirates, gets locked into oblivion due to a lost pass key code, or turns to air in some strange speculation glitch, go ahead and use it to finance your next very cool and very luxurious vacation.

Travala.com, a cryptocurrency-friendly online travel agency (OTA), has announced a direct integration of flights on its platform, streamlining booking of air travel on the site as global vaccination rollouts are leading to a steady rise in air travel. Now users can experience fast results when searching for flights on Travala.com, and then use unconventional payment methods to procure those tickets, whether major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) or AVA, the company’s native token — plus access Travala.com’s loyalty and rewards program.

As countries around the world continue vaccinating citizens, consumers are showing signs they are increasingly comfortable with the safety of travel, which is reflected in a steady rise in global air traffic over the past few weeks. In the U.S., the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) saw a pandemic-record 1.57 million people screened through its checkpoints last Sunday, and the agency has seen more than one million travelers pass through its security checkpoints daily since March 11th. Additionally, U.S. domestic and international flight bookings for summer travel are steadily rising, U.S. air carriers are upping capacities, and airfares in China are recovering to pre-pandemic levels.

Meanwhile, following a record year for digital currencies in which BTC hit multiple all-time highs generating strong returns, more people than ever before — an estimated 106 million globally today, up from 73 million last June — are holding cryptocurrency, and more merchants are accepting it for everyday transactions, including for travel. This February, Travala.com saw over $1 million in revenue, a 187 percent increase from February 2020. Additionally, 68 percent of all travel on its platform last month was booked via cryptocurrencies, indicating a growing appetite among consumers to spend crypto on real-world goods and services.

The announcement of a direct flights integration streamlines the flight booking process for users as air travel is picking up, enabling users to pay for flights with over 40 leading cryptocurrencies supported by Travala.com. The platform, which sees approximately 70 percent of all travel booked via cryptocurrencies, integrated flights following its 2020 merger with Binance-backed TravelbyBit, allowing users to instantly search and book over 600 airlines worldwide including American Airlines, Delta, Lufthansa, China Southern Airlines, Emirates, British Airways and Qantas.

Travala.com also recently partnered with Viator to add 400,000 experiences to the platform. The tours and activities segment, estimated to be worth over $150 billion, represents 10% of the global travel market and is the third-largest travel segment in the travel industry after flights and accommodation. The segment is also one of the fastest growing in the industry.

Travala.com has grown from a small start-up founded in 2017 to the world’s leading blockchain-based travel booking service. Having evolved from an ambitious vision – to decentralize travel through global accessibility, censorship-resistant transactions, and community ownership – Travala.com now operates as a globally distributed team of seasoned travel, fintech, and blockchain industry experts.