Travel NFTs and tourism NFTs are digital assets that offer a way for a tourist or traveler to connect more deeply with a destination.
NFTs – non-fungible tokens – have lately been exploding in popularity on the internet. In 2021 alone, trading in NFT marketplaces topped $17 billion.
At the same time, the travel and tourism industry has been slowly recovering from the pandemic.
NFTs are a one-of-a-kind digital item that are stored on the blockchain. Understandably, people may be skeptical about how this kind will have an impact on travel and tourism, especially in countries and destinations that are slow to embrace this uncertain technology.
As with any advance, there will always be early adopters. Whether NFTs are the Next Big Thing or just a momentary blip remains to be seen. What we can see now is that they are being implemented.
If successful, they could radically transform how travel and tourism work – and who benefits. There are many reasons for starting your own NFT travel project.
If you’d like to chat more about the possibilities one on one, feel free to drop me a line.
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There are many leading travel brands and companies that have already started their own NFT projects, and many other companies launching with business models based solely on NFTs.
This article is intended to be a resource for everyone involved in travel NFTs.
Below you will find all the currently announced travel NFT projects, categorized by:
- Conservation and Tourism NFTs
- Destinations and NFTs
- OTAs and NFTs
- Hotels and NFTs
- Airlines and NFTs
- Travel Tech and NFTs
- NFTs with Travel Benefits
- Cruises and NFTs
Conservation and Tourism NFTs
Unchained Elephants
The project in a sentence: Unchained Elephants is an NFT art project with the purpose of unchaining and rescuing working elephants in Thailand while building up an exclusive community of travelers.
The NFT’s purpose: These NFTs will grant the community access to discounts and exclusive access to the project’s partners in Phuket, Thailand, including an elephant orphanage. The money raised from the mint will be going to both help purchase/unchain a working elephant, to develop a travel club that empowers tourists to travel better, and raise awareness about elephant conservation.
Read more about the project: Read more about Unchained Elephants’ mission here.
Destinations and Travel NFTs
Nature Seychelles
The project in a sentence: At one point of the world’s rarest birds, the Seychelles magpie robin, these birds now exist on 5 of the Seychelles Islands; each of these NFTs is a representation of a living bird currently on Cousin Island.
The NFT’s purpose: These 59 tokens are intended to supplement the conservation budget that may have been lost as a result from declining tourism income, while also providing sustainable funding for the future – and promoting conservation by existing on the zero-carbon blockchain solutions of Porini Foundation.
Read more about the project: Read more about the Nature Collectibles initiative here.
Slovenia – I Feel sLOVEnia NFT
The project in a sentence: This is a promotional project launched for visitors to the Slovenian stand at BIT Milano 2022.
The NFT’s purpose: This 1,000 edition collection of NFTs is designed to promote tourism to two destinations in Slovenia: Ljubljana and Bled.
Read more about the project: Follow Slovenia’s NFT project here.
Portoroz and Piran
The project in a sentence: Building off of Slovenia’s forays into the NFT space, this destination in Slovenia developed an Istrian goat-themed series of NFTs available to users who complete several tourism-specific actions.
The NFT’s purpose: Given that these digital actions are tied to the idea of loyalty (newsletter sign-ups, playing a game, sharing on social media), they play into shaping Portoroz and Piran’s image as a digital and innovative destination.
Read more about the project: More information about the Portoroz and Piran NFT is available here.
Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board – DalmatiaNFT
The project in a sentence: Promoted by the Central Dalmatia Tourist Board, this is a limited release of 101 DalmatiaNFTs.
The NFT’s purpose: In addition to better accessing a savvier, digital tourist, the hope is to position Split-Dalmatia county “as a leader in technological innovations in tourism” so that they can better educate, share innovative interpretations of cultural heritage, and encourage guests to have a deeper experience of tangible and intangible heritage.
Read more about the project: The press release announcing DalmatiaNFTs, as well as the official website of the 101 DalmatiaNFTs.
OTAs and NFTs
Travala & Travel Tigers
The project in a sentence: This collection of 1,000 NFTs, called Travel Tigers, is meant to unlock a number of benefits, including Travala’s Smart Diamond Membership.
The NFT’s purpose: Announced benefits include a Maldives giveaway, loyalty rewards, and bonuses for ambassadors based on booking commissions. A larger list of bonuses is available here.
Read more about the project: Learn more about the Travel Tigers here.
Hotels and NFTs
Galileo NFT Experience
The project in a sentence: Launching in Bali, the Galileo NFT was launched as a way of selling discounted hotel vouchers to help offset the dramatic impact of the pandemic on tourism revenues.
The NFT’s purpose: For travelers, they have the chance to buy travel up to 90% off and redeem it within a set period of time while tourism providers can enjoy immediate benefits, thereby reducing seasonality.
Read more about the project: Galileo NFT Experiences website and Galileo Travel Futures Club.
Marriott Bonvoy
The project in a sentence: A collaboration between Marriott Bonvoy and three digital artists (TXREK, JVY, and Erick Nicolay) with digital pieces created that interpet travel from the artists’ experiences, with a focus on travel’s impact on the human spirit.
The NFT’s purpose: Three winners received these one-of-a-kind NFTs, along with 200,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
Read more about the project: Read about how these NFT collaborations fit into Marriott Bonvoy’s Power of Travel campaign.
Airlines and NFTs
airBaltic & Planies
The project in a sentence: airBaltic is launching an NFT collection of 10,000 unique cartoon aircraft designs called Planies.
The NFT’s purpose: This is a way of digitizing the airBaltic loyalty club, reduce costs, provide expanded on-board entertainment options for kids, ultimately paving the way for crypto tokenization in the future.
Read more about the project: The Planies official website.
Travel Tech and NFTs
TravelX, Air Europa & NFTickets
The project in a sentence: This NFT has been developed by TravelX, a blockchain-based distribution protocol that promises “a secure, decentralized, frictionless, efficient, transparent, and profitable Travel Industry.”
The NFT’s purpose: The first NFTickets minted were connected with a flight from Madrid to Miami; beyond the journey each NFT comes with a commissioned piece of art. Their goal is to provide travelers with a fusion of art, travel, and technology.
Read more about the project: NFTickets’ official website.
Travelmyth NFTs
The project: Travelmyth NFTs are a digital collectible that prove that you stayed in a hotel from a specific Travelmyth collection.
The NFT’s purpose: The plan for Travelmyth NFTs is to unlock discounts, priority/exclusive access, freebies, access to raffles, and more.
Read more about the project: Travelmyth NFT’s official site.
NFTs with Travel Benefits
Lucky Ape Travel Club
The project: This collection of 10,000 NFTs is designed to grow a community (both online and in the real world), and each NFT serves as access to that community.
The NFT’s purpose: The Lucky Ape Travel Club NFT will supposedly grant access to boutique hotels in Belize, Turkey, USA, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia, among other benefits.
Read more about the project: The Lucky Ape Travel Club’s official site.
Cruises and NFTs
Celebrity Cruises & Peacemakers Sunset
The project: In collaboration with artist Rubem Robierb, the cruise line Celebrity Cruises will release five NFT motion art pieces that are variations on an NFT that will be found onboard a new ship, the Celebrity Beyond.
The NFT’s purpose: Those holding the Peacemakers Sunset NFTs will receive domestic roundtrip airfare to the naming ceremony and sailing of a new Celebrity Cruises’ ship.
Read more about the project: The press release announcing Peacemakers Sunset.
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The Future Of Travel NFTs and Tourism NFTs
As more projects get announced, I will update the list and the categories as necessary. While some of these are one-off projects that seem most interested in having a “first ever” label attached to their name, others seem quite interested in committing to more development.
I’ll leave it to you to decide which is which – and if you’re interested in developing some for your destination, I’d be happy to help
