China Has Recovered from the Coronavirus Pandemic’s Impact
Travala.com, the online travel agency backed by the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has launched a Chinese-language version of its website. The company also assembled a regional customer support team and began marketing to travelers in China starting Thursday, September 17.
CEO Juan Otero said the company aims to capitalize on the opportunity to serve domestic travelers and hotel guests in one of the few travel markets that has stabilized globally.
Otero noted that other major markets, including Europe and the United States, may need another three to four months to recover, “while in China the recovery is happening now and very quickly.”
China has shown several strong signs of recovery following the pandemic. Domestic flight bookings have returned to pre-coronavirus levels, and hotels in Macau are already receiving reservations for the upcoming Golden Week holidays.
Otero described China as “one of the largest domestic travel markets in the world, alongside the United States, and also one of the fastest-growing markets.” To better serve local customers, Travala.com will begin accepting payments via the Chinese payment giant WeChat Pay, adding it to the platform’s existing range of cryptocurrency payment options.
Recently, Travala.com announced plans to use the Binance Chain to decentralize all of its services. According to Otero, the move will enable users to deal directly with property owners in the future, highlighting the blockchain’s potential to reduce intermediaries.
“With this decentralized model, accommodation seekers will be able to book stays without the need for an intermediary. In other words, people looking to rent an apartment, a bedroom, or a hotel room will be able to transact directly with owners,” he explained.
Travala.com’s priority is to launch the decentralized accommodation booking system. Once that is complete, the company plans to develop a decentralized review service. All submitted reviews will be stored on the blockchain to ensure they cannot be removed or altered after being posted.
Otero added that, as an additional precaution against fake reviews, Travala.com will allow reviews only from users who actually visited a given property and booked through the platform. The company will also use tokenized incentives and acknowledges that some parts of its business may not be suitable for full migration to the blockchain.
“Realistically, we will need to phase in which aspects of the business go on-chain. As we move closer to implementing certain features, we will evaluate the trade-offs between being on-chain and off-chain,” he said.