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Can Blockchain Technology Help Promote New Tourism Destinations? The Example of Medical Tourism in Moldova
... To accomplish this, the involvement of a wide variety of stakeholders is required (e.g., venture capitalists, developers, startups, etc.) to handle scalability and interoperability issues [16]. Utilising the characteristics of the BT enterprises such as Apple is developed by their own application of financial services to satisfy customers' demands and trust [19]. Moreover, it transforms the way people deal with particular businesses [20]. ...
... A significant enhancement to Blockchain-based platforms is required to reduce the challenges that affect many businesses [21]. In the tourism industry, travelers can take advantage of using cryptocurrencies to be rewarded for their online review comments and loyalty programs [19]. This can enhance their experience effectively by collaborating among several destination marketing engagements related to operators, businesses, and travelers [22]. ...
... The key to BT is to create the trust factor in different financial transactions. The transactions are taking place without the interference of a third-party [19]. ...
Tourism products involve the transfer of money that is flowing to countries with partners or borders, which do not possess any relations surrounding their business environment. Suitable platforms must be generated by the tourism industry, which are beneficial to users when their demands are satisfied based on financial, technology, knowledge, and industry matters. Intermediaries are applied to alleviate different problems that are related to the non-fulfilment of contracts of existing users and service providers who are offering their services and represent a reliable third party. However, it is significant that intermediaries must be reliable when charges are incurred for any possible commission. Cryptocurrencies rely on blockchain technology to provide smoothness in money interchange without the need for reliable third parties. This interchange allows an increasing number of different new forms, which are related to different customer-to-customer transactions. The study attempts to provide an appropriate answer to the main research question, which is: 'Will the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies bring new types of customer-to-customer markets from a technological, organizational, and environmental perspective?'.
... Nakamoto (2008) eşten eşe elektronik para sistemininde yaşanan problemi "dijital para sisteminde para mükerrer olarak kullanılmadığının doğrulanmasının merkezi sistem olmadan nasıl yapılacağının bilinmemesi" olarak belirtmiştir. Çifte harcama problemi (double-spend problem) olarak bilinen bu problemi çözmek için 'açık anahtar şifreleme', 'dijital imza', 'hash' (bilgisayar terminolojisinde karma ya da özet anlamında kullanılır) ve 'iş kanıtı' olarak bilinen 'uzlaşma algoritması' kullanılarak blokzincir teknolojisi kullanılmıştır (Pilkington, 2017;Karaarslan and Akbaş, 2017). ...
... Facebook, Wikipedia, Ebay, Twitter, AirBnB gibi platformlar merkezi sistemler kullanmaktadırlar. Accenture (sigorta) ve Ripple (kripto para ödeme merkezi çözümleri) dağıtık ağ kullanmaktadırlar (Pilkington, 2017). Bankalar, zincir oteller gibi işletmeler merkezi ağ ile merkeze bağlıdırlar (Önder ve Treiblmaier, 2018). ...
... E-turizm ekosistemi hali hazırda çok karmaşık olan geleneksel rezervasyon sistemini daha da karmaşık hala getirdi. (Pilkington, 2017). Anushya (2019) turizm işletmelerinin yaşadığı bu sorunların başında ürünün bir başka hesaba transfer edilememesi/devredilememesi; yetersiz/hatalı bagaj takip sistemi; kimlik denetleme süreçlerinde yaşanan sıkıntılar, ödemelerde yaşanan güvenlik açıkları ve çifte rezervasyonlar olduğunu belirtmektedir. ...
The use of information and communication technologies in tourism is very old and well developed. Information and communication technology has enabled the establishment of distribution networks that enable tourism products to reach intermediary tourism enterprises. These distribution networks are under the central control of four major companies worldwide. Blockchain is a disruptive technology that will completely change the distribution network and business model in tourism businesses. The demand of the tourist for decentralized, secure, transparent and unmediated transactions reveals the necessity of changing the tourism infrastructure. However, the adoption and application of blockchain technology in tourism businesses have been rather slow. This article aims to examine the transition process from information and communication technology to blockchain technology in tourism management and blockchain applications in tourism. It is also to reveal that blockchain technology offers a wide variety of application opportunities in tourism businesses. In the research, the concept of blockchain in tourism was investigated in detail and in-depth by scanning the literature, one of the qualitative research methods. Document analysis was performed by scanning written documents containing the keywords "blockchain" and "tourism". The process of transition from information and communication technology to blockchain technology in tourism management has been evaluated chronologically. Blockchain technology applications and examples applied in tourism were examined. In the light of the findings of the literature, it is understood that blockchain technology will have an important place in solving the problems arising from insecurity, transparency and central system in tourism's complex and multi-mediated product distribution network. Tourism transactions will be able to move to a more transparent, open, secure and decentralized system using blockchain technology. On the other hand, the findings of the literature show that blockchain applications are being developed by technology firms; It shows that the infrastructures of tourism enterprises are insufficient to construct and implement such disruptive technologies. Universities play an important role in overcoming this problem. Technology transfer offices, blockchain research centres, tourism research centres and tourism enterprises can make a great contribution to tourism businesses by working together in the development of blockchain applications. As a result, business models to be restructured with blockchain technology will radically change the functioning and ecosystem of tourism for tourists, tourism workers and tourism operators.
Keywords: Blockchain Technology, Tourism Management, Information and Communication Technology, Decentralized, Transparent
... It has to be mentioned, however, that the classification in Table 2 is not disjunct and numerous overlaps exist, which result from the complexity and the presumed far-reaching implications of the technology. For example, an alternative classification might investigate impacts based on the type of tourism, such as health tourism or food tourism (Pilkington 2017;Willie 2019). In the following sections, I briefly discuss selected potential use cases and how blockchain technology can potentially transform them. ...
... Many existing loyalty programs create a lot of administrative overhead yet leave the benefits of participation rather unclear to customers. Most of the accumulated points are therefore never redeemed, and customers tend to selectively choose the programs which appeal most to them (Pilkington 2017). Since it is not clear when someone will redeem a point or mile, expenses sit in limbo, accrued but unable to be recognized (Irvin and Sullivan 2018). ...
... Online customer reviews are of utmost importance in the tourism industry, but their authenticity and reliability is often doubtful. The certification of reviews prior to storing them on the blockchain, which can be done by signing them with a private key, could increase the perceived credibility of online feedback (Pilkington 2017;Treiblmaier and Önder 2019). However, this does not necessarily guarantee the reliability of an individual review and comes with the drawback that unfair or biased reviews cannot be removed once posted (Nam et al. 2019). ...
Blockchain technology has the potential to substantially transform the tourism industry. Its salient features such as immutability, transparency, programmability, and decentralization allow for innovative ways to design customer relationships, enable novel organizational structures and processes, and facilitate new forms of interorganizational collaboration. In this chapter I first elaborate on the basic functioning of the blockchain and highlight those characteristics which are crucial for understanding the rest of the chapter. I equip scholars and practitioners not only with the knowledge needed to better comprehend blockchain technology and how to apply it in the context of the tourism industry, but also highlight shortcomings and important research topics. Furthermore, I investigate the disruptive potential of the blockchain on an economic level by discussing various ways in which it can alter existing market structures and potentially lead to the disintermediation of incumbents in the tourism industry and the emergence of new players. Economic theory is referenced to better understand how blockchain characteristics might shape the future of the tourism industry and who the main beneficiaries will be. I end the chapter with several suggestions for future research and expected future developments.
... Blockchain Technology and its possible applications in the tourism industry has been studied systematically Calverasi et al. (2019) in their work. However, the proposition of medical tourism (Pilkington 2017) and stakeholder viewpoint in terms of implementing the Blockchain Technology largely remains under focussed. ...
... understand the role of Blockchain Technology (Crosby 2016;Nakamoto 2008;Onder and Treiblmaier 2018;Pilkington 2017) in catering the challenges of disintermediation, transparency, trust, data immutability and efficacy for MT. Although there are quite a few research articles which talk about tourism and Blockchain Applications but most of them remain aloof from the stakeholder viewpoint (Calvaresi et al. 2019;Mettler 2016;Onder and Treiblmaier 2018;Pilkington 2017;Yli-Huumo et al. 2016). ...
... understand the role of Blockchain Technology (Crosby 2016;Nakamoto 2008;Onder and Treiblmaier 2018;Pilkington 2017) in catering the challenges of disintermediation, transparency, trust, data immutability and efficacy for MT. Although there are quite a few research articles which talk about tourism and Blockchain Applications but most of them remain aloof from the stakeholder viewpoint (Calvaresi et al. 2019;Mettler 2016;Onder and Treiblmaier 2018;Pilkington 2017;Yli-Huumo et al. 2016). The present dearth of literature is deficient in depth analysis of challenges of medical tourism system from the lens of stakeholders' viewpoint and then responding to these challenges through Blockchain in a systematic fashion. ...
Medical tourism (MT) is a promising industry that has shown significant growth in the past few decades. Patients often travel abroad to seek treatment, conventional and otherwise due to a myriad of reasons. The reasons include but are not limited to rising costs in their home country, experimental treatments only available abroad or better standards of care. However, MT has also created room for intermediaries to grow. These intermediaries are known as medical tourism facilitators (MTF), and as the name suggests, they provide patients services to make their experience easier and more convenient. MTFs often under deliver on their claims to the detriment of the patient. Given the varying legal jurisdiction, the sensitive nature of the healthcare process, and the arduous process of seeking and claiming settlements, most medical tourists are unlikely to pursue cases where they have been cheated. To understand the system of MT and the key issues faced by stakeholders, we used Value Focussed Thinking (VFT). VFT assists to arrive at the fundamental objectives that need to be addressed for mitigating these problems of MT. Based on the findings of VFT; we present a linkage or equivalence between the fundamental objectives for mitigating the problems of MT through Blockchain Technology. We present our findings on how Blockchain Technology can assist to increase disintermediation, transparency, and trust by bringing in aspects of optimizing time and efforts; optimizing expense required to settle disputes, automating disbursement of payments and enforcing mutually accepted agreements among other benefits.
... Applications can automate relatively minor and tedious tasks, such as programming a hotel room key (Pilkington, 2017), which, depending on the nature of the transaction, could be scaled up to include large and complex transactions. They could range from payments, purchases, salary payments (Boucher et al., 2017), to the issuance of rewards and points (Pilkington, 2017), and the management of supply chains (Boucher et al., 2017). All these applications will facilitate the implementation of smart cities and smart destinations when adopted on a larger scale. ...
... The management of records and rights closely relates to the development and use of smart contracts (Boucher et al., 2017), which has implications for medical tourism. In medical tourism related transactions, where travel is undertaken for medical purposes, having access to a patient's history in its entirety can provide more efficient treatmentespecially in an unknown/unfamiliar destination or environment (Pilkington, 2017). ...
... Through the properties associated with records management, smart cities could potentially benefit from an integrated identity management network. Moreover, the benefits brought by blockchain to records management can also benefit both domestic and international travel loyalty programmes (Ereiqat, 2017;Pilkington, 2017). Travellers can access their loyalty information easily and use token-based loyalty benefits anywhere in the world without exchange loss. ...
Blockchain is one of the latest network-based technologies, which will have significant impact on most industries including tourism. Even though blockchain technology is at the infancy stage of development, tools such as cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, and Decentralised Applications have begun to influence tourism transactions. This paper makes an attempt to highlight the key characteristics of blockchain technology in conjunction with the smart city/tourism framework while making propositions of how the technology would evolve and influence the industry. Major issues related to the technology as well as challenges are also discussed, including some misconceptions.
... Moreover, to date, no bibliometric studies have specifically investigated the role of blockchain technology within the tourism industry. The majority of existing research on blockchain implementation tends to be theoretical or conceptual in nature (Kwok & Koh, 2019;Nam et al., 2021;Pilkington, 2017;Rejeb & Karim, 2019;Treiblmaier, 2018;Treiblmaier & Önder, 2019;Tyan et al., 2021;Wahab et al., 2020). While previous studies have predominantly focused on the adoption of blockchain technology in supply chain management (Jardim et al., 2021;Queiroz & Wamba, 2019;Wong et al., 2020), they have largely overlooked the perspectives of tourists regarding the adoption and operation of blockchain systems. ...
... Previous studies have explored and identified the causes and impediments to blockchain technology adoption, as well as demonstrated cause-effect correlations, which contribute to avoiding failures in its implementation (Sharma et al., 2021). Pilkington (2017) examined the application of blockchain technology in Moldova's medical tourism sector, discussing its practical implications for supply chain management, customer reviews, and heritage protection within the context of medical tourism. Mofokeng and Matima (2018) investigated the adoption of blockchain technology in virtual environments for digital tourism marketing, revealing that its application in virtual reality (VR)-based tourism could positively impact the industry. ...
The integration of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies has significantly transformed the tourism industry. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of I4.0 technologies in this sector. However, there is limited evidence on how specific I4.0 technologies, such as blockchain, support the tourism industry, particularly in the post-pandemic era. This review seeks to provide insights into emerging research trends that incorporate blockchain technology into the tourism sector. To achieve this, a systematic literature network analysis (SLNA) was conducted, combining a systematic literature review (SLR) with bibliometric analysis. The analysis was based on a corpus of 163 studies published from 2017 to 2024, sourced from the Scopus database, and was carried out using the Biblioshiny tool in R-studio. The findings indicate that blockchain technology has gained popularity in recent years, with most research focusing on developed economies, while there is a notable gap in studies from emerging and developing economies. Tourism practitioners should consider the results of this study from multiple perspectives to enhance their current and future operations and strategies. This study introduces several novel areas, particularly concerning methodology and research context. The innovative SLNA approach was used to review blockchain applications in the tourism industry, though the study was limited to this sector. Future research could explore related topics, such as cryptography, ecosystems, and technology adoption, which are still developing in this and other fields.
... Many existing loyalty programs create significant administrative overhead while providing unclear benefits to customers. This ambiguity often results in a large portion of accumulated points never being redeemed, leading customers to selectively choose programs that most appeal to them (Pilkington, 2017). Additionally, the uncertainty of when points or miles will be redeemed means expenses sit in limbo, accrued but unable to be recognized (Irvin and Sullivan, 2018). ...
... Blockchain technology can enhance the credibility of online feedback by certifying reviews before storing them on the blockchain. Reviews can be signed with a private key to verify their authenticity (Pilkington, 2017;Treiblmaier and Önder, 2019). However, this approach does not necessarily ensure the reliability of individual reviews and introduces the challenge of managing unfair or biased reviews, which cannot be removed once posted (Nam et al., 2019). ...
Blockchain technology is poised to revolutionize the tourism industry by leveraging its core features-immutability, transparency, programmability, and decentralization. This research ferrets into how blockchain can reshape customer relationships, organizational structures, and interorganizational collaborations in tourism. It provides a comprehensive understanding of anticipated future of the tourism industry with blockchain integration. Economic theory suggests that blockchain can shift the balance of power in the tourism industry. By reducing the need for intermediaries and enabling direct interactions, blockchain can empower both service providers and customers, potentially leading to more competitive and customer-centric mar-150 ket dynamics. Blockchain technology has the potential to substantially transform the tourism industry by enhancing transparency, efficiency, and collaboration. By understanding its fundamental characteristics and potential in the tourism industry can better prepare for and leverage blockchain to create innovative solutions and gain a competitive edge.
... A growing number of tourism companies (e.g. mostly travel organizations such as LockChain) are starting to place greater emphasis on the adoption and implementation of blockchain systems (Pilkington, 2017). This operational change has also caught the attention of various academic communities (e.g. ...
... There are various papers in the existing literature in context of blockchain technology that focus on tourism marketing (Antoniadis et al., 2020;Coita & Ban, 2020), destination (Nam et al., 2021;Tyan et al., 2020;Pilkington, 2017), overall tourism industry (Rana et al., 2022;Valeri & Baggio, 2021;Kwok & Koh, 2019;Önder & Treiblmaier, 2018) and potential use cases in tourism (Önder & Gunter, 2022;Balasubramanian et al., 2022;Treiblmaier, 2020;Kizildag et al., 2019). However, given that the blockchain is a broad technology that begins with a 1.0 digital currency and progresses to a 3.0 digital society (Huang et al., 2020), Treiblmaier (2022) proposed that applications be focused on to better comprehend its impact on tourism. ...
Blockchain technology, as a distributed digital ledger, enables users to control their credentials without being breached by third parties. From a tourism perspective, it allows tourists to pass through checkpoints and/or bookings without waiting and
having to go through third-party transactions. Hence, this paper aims to discuss traditional identity management (IdM) system challenges and what blockchain might offer as a counterpoint to conventional travel experiences within the tourism domain. We have tried to identify challenges, issues, and implementation areas of IdM in the tourism industry domain
... With all of these challenges in mind, the medical tourism industry is primed to become a principal beneficiary of blockchain technology. In line with Pilkington [34], the use of blockchain in medical tourism can enhance patient trust through improved information transparency. Using blockchain technology in consumer-facing applications will allow potential medical tourists to make reasonable and well-informed decisions. ...
... Therefore, patients' medical records on a blockchain are secured, encrypted and have authentication mechanisms that preserve the integrity of medical information. These capabilities have already caught the attention of policymakers who consider technology as an enabler for health tourism [34]. ...
Medical tourism has witnessed significant growth over the last decade. This nascent sector creates a new tourist class with access to affordable healthcare services by combining healthcare services with tourism and hospitality. Information technology is an essential factor, which can enable the growth of medical tourism. Technology enables the search process for information about the available services, costs, hospitality, tourism and post-treatment options. However, these technologies are primarily legacy systems and lack interoperability. Several questions arise, including the potential patient-tourist ability to verify crucial factors such as the quality of care and the credentials of the medical professionals and medical facilities. Moreover, questions arise regarding patient-doctor trust, procedure and risk transparency‚ medical record privacy and other health-related hazards in specific procedures. In this conceptual paper, we investigate the potential benefits of Blockchain technology to address some of the open questions in medical tourism. We conclude that Blockchain technology can benefit medical tourism, and we lay the foundation for future research.
... Идентификаторите на самоличност съдържат криптографски защитени кодове и позволяват проверка без да се предоставя лична информация (Dogru et Онлайн отзивите са от първостепенно значение за клиентите в туризма, но тяхната автентчиност и надеждност често е под въпрос. Сертифицирането на отзиви, преди съхраняването им в блокчейн, чрез подпис с частен ключ, може да повиши доверието в публикуваната онлайн обратна връзка (Treiblmaier & Önder, 2019;Pilkington, 2017). Но това не гарантира напълно надеждността на клиентските отзиви и е възможно нелоялни или предубедени мнения да не могат да бъдат премахнати след публикуване (Nam et al., 2019). ...
... Съществуващите програми за лоялност създават допълнителни административни разходи, а ползите не са особено ясни за клиентите. Голяма част от натрупаните точки не се осребрявата, а потребителите са склонни да избират програми, които ги привличат най-много (Pilkington, 2017). Тъй като не е ясно кога клиентът ще откупи точка или миля, разходите остават неизвестни и се натрупват, но не могат да бъдат признати (Irvin & Sullivan, 2018). ...
Blockchain technology is in the early stage of its development, but there's consensus about its potential. The technology is at an inflection point, with momentum shifting from "blockchain tourism" and exploration to the building of practical business applications. Tourism industry and blockchain have the possibility to become a powerful combination as the technology can bring safety and transparency of transactions. This article aims to examine the features of blockchain as an innovative technology and to present its more important advantages and applied aspects in the field of tourism. There are a growing number of emerging disruptors across travel industry, challenging traditional business models with the use of blockchain. Given some of the blockchain technology's characteristics and possibilities, this article is pointed towards important applications within the tourism. Въведение Блокчейн, известна още като блокова верига, е сравнително нова технология, която революционизира ежедневието на хората, дори начина, по който те пътуват и организират туристически обиколки и ваканции. През последното десетилетие блокчейн е интересна и надеждна технологична иновация, поради своя голям потенциал да промени драстично вариантите, по които се съхраняват, използват данни и други източници на информация, включително и в туристическия сектор. Технологията подобрява сигурността на сделките и гарантира тяхната прозрачност, затова компаниите в туристическата индустрия все по-често експериментират с нея. Блокчейн може да се справи с липсата на доверие и да е достоверна, без да е необходимо да се вярва на някого. Значителният потенциал и перспективите пред блоковата верига в туризма и пътуванията определят актуалността на настоящата разработка. Предмет на изследване в статията са същностните характеристики на блокчейн технологията и нейните особености. Обект на проучване са предимствата и възможностите за приложение на блоковата верига в туристическата индустрия. Поставената научно-изследователска цел в статията е: на основата на анализиране на особеностите на блокчейн като иновативна технология, да се представят по-важните й преимущества и приложни сфери в туризма и пътуванията. Синтезирани са данни от глобално изследване на Deloitte относно нагласите към блоковата верига и е направена обща характеристика на реализирани туристически проекти на основата на технологията. 1. Същност и особености на блокчейн технологията Появата на блоковата верига или веригата от блокове, по-известна в транслитерирания вариант от английски език блокчейн (blockchain) предизвика вниманието и интереса на предприемачите в цял свят, в т.ч. и на тези, в сферата на туризма. Технологията е популярна с въвеждането на криптовалутите и по-специално на биткойн. Най-кратко, веригата от блокове от бази данни може да се дефинира като протокол за предаване, верифициране и съхраняване на данни. Тя не е администрирана от централен сървър, а е мрежа от равноправни (peer-to-peer, Р2Р) участници, в която децентрализирани възли съхраняват копия на цялата блокова верига. Концепцията на блокчейн технологията, първоначално описана като верига от "блокове", принадлежи на американските
... The main feature is a distributed ledger or shared ledger, which means all transactions conducted on blockchain as well as ownership status of assets are available to all blockchain members (Dogru et al., 2018). Blockchain is a secure system since all transactions also have to be verified by a consensus of blockchain members (Pilkington, 2017). The system is also efficient since transactions can be conducted in private, thus removing the need of third parties such as banks or other financial intermediaries. ...
... Leung and Dickinger (2017) investigate the use of Bitcoin and intention to use it for travel product shopping and reveal that among European travelers the use of Bitcoin for travel product shopping is not yet common, although participants are inclined to use Bitcoin for restaurant and food delivery. Pilkington (2017) argues that blockchain technology can be used in online customer reviews, smart contracts, blockchain-based travel portals, processing of online payments for hotel bookings, and supply chain management. Ö nder and Treiblmaier (2018) propose that (1) blockchain can create better online evaluations and review technologies, which lead to trustworthy rating systems; (2) cryptocurrency adoption can create new customer-to-customer markets; and (3) blockchain can lead to disintermediation in the tourism industry via new forms of online intermediaries which are blockchain-based, open-source, and decentralized (e.g. ...
Recently, blockchain and cryptocurrencies have become topics of discussion in both research and industry. Iansiti and Lakhani perceive blockchain as a foundational technology rather than a disruptive one, since potentially new economic and social systems can be based on blockchain. Therefore, understanding blockchain and contemplating its impact on the tourism and hospitality industry is essential. The tourism and hospitality industry has to focus not on the technology itself but on how it can be used for the benefit of consumers and suppliers, while at the same time creating new tourism products or systems. The purpose of this study is to explore and identify use cases for blockchain for the tourism and hospitality industry. In addition, an outlook on potential future blockchain applications given the current COVID-19 pandemic is provided.
... With all of these challenges in mind, the medical tourism industry is primed to become a principal beneficiary of blockchain technology. In line with Pilkington (2017), the use of blockchain in medical tourism can enhance patient trust and information transparency. Using blockchain technology allows potential medical tourists to make reasonable and well-informed decisions. ...
... Therefore, patients' medical records on a blockchain are secured, encrypted and have authentication mechanisms which preserve the integrity of medical information. These capabilities have already caught the attention of policymakers who consider the technology as an enabler for health tourism (Pilkington, 2017). ...
Medical tourism has witnessed significant growth over the last decade. By combining healthcare services with tourism and hospitality, this nascent sector creates a new tourist class with access to affordable healthcare services. Information technology is an essential factor, which can enable the growth of medical tourism. Technology enables the search process for information about the available services, costs, hospitality, tourism and post-treatment options. However, these technologies are primarily legacy systems and lack interoperability. Several questions arise, including the ability of the potential patient-tourist to verify crucial factors such as the quality of care and the credentials of the medical professionals and medical facilities. Moreover, questions arise regarding patient-doctor trust, procedure and risk transparency‚ medical record privacy and other health-related hazards in specific procedures. In this conceptual paper, we investigate the potential benefits of Blockchain technology to address some of the open questions in medical tourism. We conclude that Blockchain technology can benefit medical tourism, and we lay the foundation for future research.
... With all of these challenges in mind, the medical tourism industry is primed to become a principal beneficiary of blockchain technology. In line with Pilkington (2017), the use of blockchain in medical tourism can enhance patient trust and information transparency. Using blockchain technology allows potential medical tourists to make reasonable and well-informed decisions. ...
... Therefore, patients' medical records on a blockchain are secured, encrypted and have authentication mechanisms which preserve the integrity of medical information. These capabilities have already caught the attention of policymakers who consider the technology as an enabler for health tourism (Pilkington, 2017). ...
Medical tourism has witnessed significant growth over the last decade. By combining healthcare services with tourism and hospitality, this nascent sector creates a new tourist class with access to affordable healthcare services. Information technology is an essential factor, which can enable the growth of medical tourism. Technology enables the search process for information about the available services, costs, hospitality, tourism and post-treatment options. However, these technologies are primarily legacy systems and lack interoperability. Several questions arise, including the ability of the potential patient-tourist to verify crucial factors such as the quality of care and the credentials of the medical professionals and medical facilities. Moreover, questions arise regarding patient-doctor trust, procedure and risk transparency‚ medical record privacy and other health-related hazards in specific procedures. In this conceptual paper, we investigate the potential benefits of Blockchain technology to address some of the open questions in medical tourism. We conclude that Blockchain technology can benefit medical tourism, and we lay the foundation for future research.
... Teletıp platformları, hastaların kendi evlerinin rahatlığında alanında uzman danışmalarına olanak tanıyarak, maliyetli ve zaman alıcı uluslararası seyahat ihtiyacını ortadan kaldırmaktadır. Bu, hastaların tedavi seçenekleri hakkında bilinçli kararlar almasına yardımcı olmakta ve dünya çapındaki sağlık hizmeti sağlayıcıları arasındaki iş birliğini teşvik etmektedir (Pilkington, 2017). ...
... Blockchain can help eliminate the weakness of this industry by making it decentralized, transaction immutability, resiliency against cyberattacks and fault tolerance and permission-less, promoting the formation of multi-center guest operations and customer service and weakly intermediated loyalty programs and review and rating systems. The hospitality and tourism sector is now emphasizing on the implementation of blockchain systems (Pilkington et al., 2017). The technology and sustainability connect in tourism has created scope of research in the sector (Sigala, 2018). ...
The paper discusses the scope and impact of blockchain technology-BCT adoption in travel and tourism. Based on a review of literature and the few adoptions of Block chain technology in hospitality and tourism the paper reflects that BCT truly captures benefits and enhances the effectiveness of this technology and growth potential of hospitality and tourism industry. Starting with fundamental understanding of blockchain framework and systematic structure, functioning and scope of a blockchain system the paper discusses the critical factors, potential drivers and challenges of its adoption in the hospitality and tourism industry. The paper highlights the scope and use of blockchain in tourism and hospitality industry. In the post Covid time there exist big dilemmas in tourism and hospitality industry dealing with the disruption in its value chain which requires blockchain technology to smoothen its value network. Further, more empirical work is required in this regard to strengthen the hospitality and tourism industry. The paper suggests research gaps and directions for possible future studies that facilitate strengthening, sustainability and feasibility of supply chain in hospitality and tourism industry. Blockchain technology has definite potential to strengthen, sustain the competencies and transform the hospitality and tourism industry. The applicability of blockchain in hospitality and tourism industry embarks up its salient features like transparency, anonymity; integrity, decentralization etc., enable more secure end to end customer management systems. An interaction within the supply chain structures facilitates customer movement with tourism and hospitality physical kiosks.
... Several examples and studies have emerged in recent years regarding the specific use of cryptocurrencies in tourism. One such example pertains to Moldova, where the application of blockchain technology was examined to promote tourism, particularly health tourism (Pilkington, 2017). Although Moldova is still relatively unknown in this area, the study suggests that the application of blockchain technology could provide new momentum. ...
This study examined the role of cryptocurrencies in tourism and their acceptance across EU regions, with particular attention to the digital transformation precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis focuses on the relationship between cryptocurrency acceptance points and the intensity of tourism, highlighting that the acceptance of cryptocurrencies is significantly correlated with tourism services. The literature review highlighted that Web 3.0, especially blockchain technology and decentralized applications, opens new possibilities in tourism, including secure and transparent transactions, and more personalized travel experiences. The research investigated cryptocurrency acceptance points and the intensity of tourism within the EU. The study illuminates that the acceptance of cryptocurrencies significantly correlates with tourism services. The data and methodology demonstrated the analysis methods for examining the relationship between cryptocurrency acceptance points and tourism intensity, including the use of clustering neural networks and Eurostat data utilization. The results showed a positive correlation between the number of cryptocurrency acceptance points and tourism intensity in the EU, affirming the research hypothesis. According to the regression analysis results, each additional cryptocurrency acceptance point is associated with an increase in tourism intensity. The significance of the research lies in highlighting the growing role of digital payment solutions, especially cryptocurrencies, in tourism, and their potential impacts on the EU economy. The analysis supports that the intertwining of tourism and digital financial technologies opens new opportunities in the sector for both providers and tourists.
... In the early stages of research, numerous researchers have discussed the potential applications of BCT in the tourism industry. These potential uses include the implementation of cryptocurrency (Filimonau and Naumova, 2020;Kizildag et al., 2019;Nakamoto, 2008), decentralization of the hotel and tourism industry (Filimonau and Naumova, 2020;Rejeb et al., 2019;Treiblmaier et al., 2021), use of smart contracts (Filimonau and Naumova, 2020;Pilkington, 2017), verified rating and review systems (Kizildag et al., 2019), and loyalty plans (Sharma et al., 2020;Treiblmaier and Petrozhitskaya, 2023). Most of these studies are conceptual. ...
Digital marketers are becoming increasingly aware of people's online consumer experiences owing to the increasing popularity of online consumption. Exceptional online consumer experiences and memorable encounters are crucial. Although the use of cryptocurrency payments has become a new area for online website business growth, research on the experiential attributes of online travel websites supporting cryptocurrency payments is still lacking. The current research utilized text analytics and sentiment analysis to analyze reviews from seven online travel websites that accept cryptocurrency payments. This study identified 17 online experience topics and examine their relationship with ratings. Thereafter, perform emotional analysis in the comments. This research aimed to clarify the experiential aspects and emotional responses associated with online travel websites that accept cryptocurrency payments, ultimately contributing to a profound understanding of consumer experiences in this domain. Result provides new insights into the online experiences of online travel websites that accept cryptocurrency payments and contributes to theoretical and practical implications in this field.
... Rather, it has arguably grown into a disruptive technology which wide-ranging effects on our lives, often compared to the revolution(s) triggered by Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. There now exists an emerging symbiotic relationship between blockchain and Web 3.0 (Pilkington, 2017). Moreover, the nature of the disruption under scrutiny is simultaneously social, economic, technological, and legal. ...
This chapter examines the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the tourism sector in the Republic of Moldova, a poorly researched, yet promising, post-soviet country sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine. A SWOT analysis is presented in the first part, suggesting promising strategic orientations for the sector. Secondly, we assess the impact of the pandemic both in the short and medium run. Drawing on emerging technologies, such as blockchain, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence, some innovative digital solutions are sketched out, in order to enhance tourism attractiveness in a post-COVID-19 world.
... Numerous Internet booking agencies dominate the travel sector, acting as mediators between customers and services such as hotels, boat and helicopter charter companies, and leisure services, among others. A minimum 15% commission is charged by agencies for their services, increasing the price of the product for both the customer and the service provider (Pilkington, 2017). In a system of decentralized booking markets, these intermediaries are no longer required, and tourism service providers communicate directly with the traveling public. ...
Tourism is crucial to people’s everyday life and the global economy. However, despite its significance, the conventional tourism business confronts significant development obstacles. Consequently, incorporating digital technology into the traditional tourism business in order to further cut costs and increase efficiency is regarded as an absolute necessity. As a nascent technology, blockchain has the potential to revolutionize the tourism sector since it provides a secure platform connecting the tourism business and its customers (employees and tourists). Through this endeavor, a comprehensive literature assessment on blockchain technology in smart tourism will be conducted. In addition, the Internet of Things (IoT) and large-scale analytics can be utilized to enhance the tourist experience. It is important to note that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry’s issues were more standardized. Therefore, the conventional tourism business should be swiftly modernized. From the perspective of smart tourism, blockchain can serve as a platform that reliably and efficiently connects travelers with tourism products.KeywordsBlockchainSmart tourismTourism industryInnovative platformsTourist experienceData analyticsJEL ClassificationO32O33Z32L86
... By relying on transparency and smart contracts, privacy and trust concerns of individual users can be addressed, which are the aspects that are becoming increasingly relevant to the new userbase. Among the numerous blockchain use cases in the domain of smart cities and smart environments, scholars identified different loyalty programs in the fields such as tourism, shared vehicle services, payments, etc. (Pilkington 2017;Nam et al. 2019), or in a broader context, a loyalty platform which enables collaborative loyalty program that connects companies, smart city organizations, government, and consumers into a single network (Bogdanović et al. 1367). ...
The subject of this article is to analyze the users’ attitude towards new, 5G-enabled smart living services before their commercial launch. The goal is to offer a framework for the analysis and evaluation of influential factors in the early adoption of 5G residential services. Additionally, the paper examines how mobile operators can leverage their existing infrastructure and services to boost the acceptance of both 5G as a technology and the provided smart-living services. To ascertain the potential impact that mobile operators can have on the adoption of such services, loyalty programs were taken into account as a separate factor in the acceptance study. The study was conducted in Serbia in the form of a survey. The analysis of the results yielded some notable conclusions such as trust in technology playing the leading role in influencing the behavior intention, while loyalty programs showed that they can influence attitudes towards individual smart living services. The presented results can be used to shape any future implementation of 5G-based services in Serbia, or any other country whose 5G infrastructure and services for the residential customer segment are yet to be established.
... Innovative technologies such as blockchain can enable the continued growth of health tourism. Blockchain technology could allow the introduction of decentralized travel solutions and better management of electronic health record systems, help create smart medical devices, and assist medical certificates in the issuance of tamperproof (Pilkington, 2017). ...
Essential developments in health tourism indicate that technology is critical to the current health system. The digital age makes life easier by providing fast accessibility, easy usability, and integrating new technological equipment into routine life. Developments in the field of digitalization in health tourism initially focused on e-Health technologies, which use information and communication technologies to improve existing communication processes, such as electronic health records. Managers and employees need to be prepared for the profound transformation brought about by technology. While it is essential for companies to evaluate investments in technologies through cost-benefit analysis, employees need to understand that they should focus on developing their own skills (corporate training, online courses, completing university degrees, etc.) rather than complaining about robots being replaced. For this reason, the study's primary purpose is to reveal the reflections on using new generation technologies in health tourism.
... According to Oberoi and Kansra (2019), advancement of both individual and provider-related determinants such as technological intervention, hospital selection, creating additional electronic support facility, adequate medical health experts, E-infrastructure, certification and accessibility could induce the medical tourists to visit a destination, which is benign for the economy from both medical and destination viewpoints. According to Pilkington (2017) and Rejeb et al. (2019), "adoption of blockchain technology can benefit medical tourism by promoting decentralized travel solutions and also better manage electronic health records". ...
Medical tourism attracts medical vacationers by promoting its uniform vacation ease, healthcare know-how, proficiency, and comprehensible amenities. With the upsurge in COVID-19 cases and no therapeutic treatment, non-pharmaceutical intrusions are the utmost priority. Unprecedented travel limitations and homestay restrictions are posing a huge economic burden to the tourism industry. The present study aims to identify determinants inciting sustainable e-medical tourism post COVID-19 pandemic. The study is advanced from the theoretical outlook, systematically determining and scrutinizing the prior literature to discuss the determinants which encourage e-medical tourism. The results of the study highlight that resource and management assistance, electronic supporting facilities, demand issues, technological intervention, and situational glitches act as major aspects of perseverance of e-medical tourism. An apparent limitation of the present study is the absence of contributions based on empirical data.
... The tourist must now filter more information and determine the holiday they want, and they also have to feel safe. At this point, blockchain technology will have an essential place in solving the problems of this complex and multi-mediated system of tourism (Pilkington 2017). One of the main problems experienced by the tourism industry is that the product cannot be transferred to another account, so there is an insufficient/faulty baggage tracking system (Rashideh 2020). ...
The sharing economy is a socio-economic system that has changed the meaning of sharing around the world. Similarly, blockchain technology has changed the way of doing business online. Trust was once the main problem in doing business online, while cutting out the middleman was another contentious issue, but the new Generation Z (Gen Z) wants to share more freely and securely. Blockchain is a disruptive technology and Gen Z is the future driver of the economy. Blockchain technology has enabled transactions to be decentralized, secure, and transparent in the sharing economy. Gen Z will be more comfortable with decentralized sharing economy business models in the future. In this chapter, the future of the sharing economy will be discussed under the disruptive technology of blockchain and Gen Z’s needs. The first part of the chapter will focus on Gen Z’s sharing economy perspective. The second part will cover the sharing economy’s transformation into digitalization. The third part will examine the details of blockchain technology and smart contracts. The fourth part is about blockchain technology working systems and models with smart contracts. Finally, the conclusion part of this chapter will deliver an overall evaluation of the integration of blockchain with smart contracts into the sharing economy, with the decentralized sharing economy’s benefits and future effects being discussed.
... Many recent blockchain studies have pointed out the emergence of blockchain applications in large-scale business cases, such as the tourism industry [3][4][5]. Blockchain [6] was proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto and is also known as decentralized ledger technology. Each network member owns a copy of a shared ledger where all content is tamper-proof through a digital signature. ...
The tourism industry can significantly benefit from the blockchain since its implementation can build trust among stakeholders and improve customer satisfaction. However, most of the existing tourism-specified blockchain platforms are single-chains that provide business support for enterprises without guaranteeing transaction information privacy. Besides, these platforms are specified to a single use case and lack interoperability with other platforms to support heterogenous tourism services. This paper aims to address this issue by introducing a multi-chain architecture that utilizes multiple blockchains to enhance processing capability and provide various business services for the tourism industry. The proposed multi-chain architecture improves the interoperability between the activities in different chains by providing functional requirements in practical applications and supports the inter-ledger application. In addition, the private blockchain will be made available to allow users to access the network through central authorization. It also increases the transaction processing capability by distributing multiple tasks across the chains for large-scale applications. To demonstrate the usability and efficiency of the developed approach, a case study on hotel booking is conducted using the blockchain frameworks Winding Tree and Hyperledger Fabric. A comprehensive evaluation experiment is conducted, and the results show the significance of the proposed system.
... There were contrasts between the members engaged with the investigation, with almost 80% being male [16]. Most are utilized in specialized, research and counseling occupations and assume various parts inside their associations, for example, being on the top managerial staff; in the improvement of instruction/imaginative arrangements; a CEO at a counseling firm; a ranking director; and a partner or full teacher and college analyst. ...
Disintermediation of the travel industry in the modern area has the most powerful and successful innovation, obviously with the assistance of Blockchain innovation. The market structure has changed since the appearance of online travel planners. Determined to improve the system for the travel industry that as of now depends on this blockchain innovation, for which the reason for this paper was made, a subjective strategy with semi-organized meetings appears to be appropriate to decide the ideal use to draw out the fundamental capability of this blockchain innovation for the business. the travel industry as per specialists. From the consequences of meetings led just as from the aftereffects of considering the impact of blockchain on business, it tends to be inferred that blockchain innovation is a fitting new advance as far as restricting and forbidding new go betweens in the entrance of the travel industry, subsequently it will prompt the vanishing of go-betweens from the travel industry market and an increment in the framework straightforward that everybody knows.
... Innovative technology such as blockchain can enable the continuous growth of medical tourism. Ref [13] states that blockchain technology can allow promotion of decentralized travel solutions and better management of electronic health record systems, help create smarter medical devices, and assist to issue tamperproof medical certificates. Ref [14] study the potential of blockchain technology to protect healthcare data hosted in a cloud-based environment. ...
The paper discusses the benefits of blockchain technology for medical tourism. The major focus is placed on pre-procedure and post-procedure of medical tourism. The authors argue that blockchain technology can facilitate several stages of medical tourism by enabling disintermediation, allowing cryptocurrency payments, ensuring secure data sharing and privacy, and empowering trusted review systems. With regard to COVID-19 pandemic, the paper outlines the current challenges of the medical tourism industry and prop oses the opportunities for blockchain technology use. The paper attempts to provide important insights regarding the positive implications of blockchain technology use within the medical tourism industry as well as to further advance the current knowledge about blockchain technology’s effects for medical tourism.
... Since a data in a block is both confirmed by all computers on the network and cannot be changed, its accuracy and reliability are very high. Pilkington (2017), states that since some CRM firms collect customer comments about businesses over the blockchain system, the accuracy, transparency and reliability of the information is high. 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 ...
Problems arising from the intermediary role of fiat money and confirmation mechanisms in the exchange of goods and services and the crises in the fiat money-based financial system have led to the search for alternatives. It has revealed the organized barter system at the end of these searches. However, the fact that there are some problems in the organized barter system in general and in Turkey prevents the system from spreading and using it effectively throughout Turkey. The age of digitalization and the newly developing blockchain technology have required a level up in the barter system. The aim of this study is to reveal how a new barter system can solve the problems, taking into account the latest developments. In this way, it is to ensure that the barter system is used more effectively and widely in Turkey. In this context, the Blockchain Barter (BB) system, which has not intermediary but is much safer confrmation mechanism and allows trading without using fat money, is offered as a suggestion. The method of the study is literature review. Using the information obtained here, the BB system for problem solving was developed and demonstrated on a sample application. In addition, the relative advantages and disadvantages of fat money, barter and BB systems were compared. As a result, it has been understood that the proposed BB system solves many problems and is quite superior to other systems. It is believed that the study will shed light on new BB system research to be developed in terms of software.
... • Tourism sharing economy: (i) resources for sale, rental or co-usage (Hawlitschek, Notheisen, & Teubner, 2018); (ii) online platforms for sharing housing (Nasarre-Aznar, 2018); (iii) online taxi-hailing platform (Zhang, Zhong, & Tian, 2017). • Well-being/health/medical tourism: management of electronic health record (HER) (Pilkington, 2017). • Sustainable tourism development goals: Regional tourism market (Dudin et al., 2017), tourism as a poverty decrease (Pilkington, Crudu, & Grant, 2017). ...
The aim of this study is to offer some suggestions to both the tourism industry and the practitioners in terms of making wine tourism and wine supply chain more transparent and traceable. From this point of view, in the current study, in which the blockchain technology in wine supply chain is examined, first the technology of block chain has comprehensively been assessed, and later the operational principles of blockchain technology are discussed. Afterwards, the blockchain technology was attempted to be integrated into wine tourism and wine supply chain. Hence, a new model was proposed. In this respect, the outputs that can be obtained via the use of blockchain technology in wine tourism and wine supply chain are revealed in this study.
... Until now, there is little research in blockchain-related to tourism. As one of the first, Pilkington (2017) studied the fields of application in Moldova and identified cryptocurrencies, customer reviews, blockchain-based donations for heritage conservation, business model disintermediation and supply chain management. According to Willie (2019), blockchain technology has already been adopted in the hospitality industry for strategic and practical objectives, where most of all higher operational effectiveness, efficiencies and overall profitability will be increased. ...
The blockchain technology has witnessed growing interest since cryptocurrencies became popular in 2016. Not only through payment issues, but the tourism sector is also likely to be affected by the blockchain in terms of front- and back-stage processes. As the blockchain could replace traditional intermediaries, the structure of the tourism sector in the future has been discussed widely in the news. This article aims to conceptually examine the implications of blockchain along the value system in the tourism industry in order to identify its potential benefits. To address this, the methodology follows a content analysis of 175 news articles on the topic of blockchain and tourism, which are analysed through a qualitative news analysis and the method of GABEK®. The results imply blockchain applications along with the whole tourism value system, while it became apparent that traveling is streamlined through the transformation of time-intensive back-stage processes and thus offers extra value for travellers. Through its novelty in the academic discourse, the paper makes obstacles and regulations a subject of discussion, too.
... Increasing demand in terms of quantity and quality can be considered the reason for this [3]. The laws and regulations of different countries indicate this [58]. However, it is very difficult to accurately define the types of tourism and the types of communications, information systems, and various services, other than from economic, social, and cultural perspectives [59]. ...
Today, medical tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry around the world. Medical tourism can contribute to the sustainable development and economic dynamism of countries. Therefore, in this study, we prioritize the world’s leading countries in medical tourism for Iranians. First, five main criteria and 20 sub-criteria were selected, which are the reasons for choosing a country as a medical tourism destination. In this paper a combined fuzzy SWARA-PROMETHEE approach was used to prioritize tourism destinations. The acronym PROMETHEE stands for Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation method and represents an useful MCDA (Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis) tool. On the other hand, SWARA acronym means Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis. The criteria were weighted using the fuzzy SWARA approach. In the following, using the PROMETHEE approach, we prioritized eight countries as tourism destinations, then we identified criteria related to sustainability of medical tourism destinations and prioritized medical tourism destinations using these criteria as the contributions of this paper. The weights obtained for criteria “Abilities of skilled staff,” “Applied medical equipment,” “Marketing capability,” “Type of service provided,” and “Application of information and communications technology” were 0.176, 0.232, 0.108, 0.395, and 0.089, respectively. The results show that medical tourism destination priorities for Iranians are India (Phi = 0.1396), Malaysia (Phi = 0.1128), Panama (Phi = 0.0976), Mexico (Phi = 0.0790), Singapore (Phi = 0.0096), Taiwan (Phi = −0.0442), Brazil (Phi = −0.1747), and Costa Rica (Phi = −0.2196), respectively. Negative Phi values indicate below average performance of those countries and positive Phi values indicate above average performance of those criteria. The results indicate that countries with negative Phi values should be strengthened relative to the improvement of some criteria.
... Agistri, a Greek island, also started using bitcoin to kick start its local tourism industry in the midst of the 2015 political and fiscal crisis (Kelly, 2015). Others include United Arab Emirates, Moldova, a top destination for medical tourism (Pilkington, 2017), and even the head of Russia's Federal Agency for Tourism expressed his support in late 2017 for blockchain technology to improve Russian tourism after Vladimir Putin's endorsement of blockchain. 4 ...
Purpose
Blockchain is a disruptive technology enabling distributed, encrypted, smart and secure peer-to-peer transactions. The fragmented nature of the tourism industry with a high number of contracts and transactions between several parties has security issues, disputes and delay. Although these motivate the use of blockchain, scholars have barely begun to systematically assess the value proposition of blockchain in the hospitality and tourism industry. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts, opportunities and challenges of blockchain in the tourism and hospitality sector. The authors present early use cases of blockchain in the tourism industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a multiple case-study approach and grounded this study based on the technology acceptance management literature with context-specific variables that are pivotal to the study of this topic.
Findings
This paper outlines the useful features of blockchain in the tourism industry in seven major streams and raises four future research questions. This review will enable hypotheses to be set out for consumers and producers involved in tourism to uncover potential motives and barriers to embracing blockchain.
Research limitations/implications
Blockchain is a relatively new technology, and given that all use cases are limited to the proof of concept and have not been fully adopted by the industry, empirical assessment of case studies is not feasible yet.
Originality/value
As blockchain is becoming more known and used in the tourism industry, there is a need to identify challenges, issues and concerns relevant for this industry moving forward. This paper fulfils this need and provides directions for future research.
... Pilkington [11] considers the BT could be used for decreasing poverty, by eliminating the corruption problems in countries suitable for tourism-like Moldova, and also promoting new destinations and forms of tourism with the BT [12]. ...
... State laws, plans and development strategies often mention the importance of tourism development. However, it is acknowledged that despite this interest in the field of medical tourism, this rather promising area of business, especially its links with culture, to various infrastructure industries, is developing quite chaotically [11][12][13]. In such a situation, it is quite difficult to analyze new types of tourism, with a precise definition of the term itself, unclear detailed areas, activities, unknown forms of communication and methods of disclosure in the general tourism system; it is difficult to elaborate both socio-cultural and economic effects [4]. ...
Sustainable medical tourism is an emergent and growing business worldwide, combining different and very specific purposes from pleasurable travel to sometimes-stressful services of health care. Lithuania can boast of medical technologies and the professionalism of doctors, but this is not enough to compete in the field of sustainable medical tourism. In this situation, cooperation is very significant in sustainable medical tourism. This research investigates a conceptual framework for cooperation possibilities in sustainable medical tourism. Based on a systematic and comparative analysis of scientific literature, the authors of this paper present the conceptual model illustrating the dissemination of sustainable medical tourism through cooperation. The overall results imply that facilitators’ cooperation perspectives in sustainable medical tourism should be highly beneficial for participants and medical tourists. The basis for the improvement of cooperation is communication, contact development, the form of work organization, coordination of work, sharing of knowledge and experience. Cooperation in this particular field determines the role of tourism development, but it is concluded that cooperation in this area is not developed well.
... Yet, in the literature only a handful of solutions or frameworks have been proposed, and only a small fraction has been tested in a real world scenario. Before discussing such applications, it is worth mentioning that the Abid Hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan is the first Asian hospital to accept a cryptocurrency called PakCoin [28,29]. ...
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) consists of the pervasive application of the IoT paradigm in conjunction with analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) in industrial scenarios. Industry 4.0 (I4.0) extends further the IIoT model with the inclusion of robotics and automation, whereas Hospital 4.0 (H4.0) is the application of the I4.0 paradigm to the healthcare sector. H4.0 relies on cyber-physical systems managing several devices and software components. and the exchange of a huge amount of sensible data that includes medical records. Medical records can be much more valuable to criminals than financial data, indeed the control of medical data allows criminals to plan and realize different frauds, that the victims may identify only too late. Furthermore, the complexity of a typical H4.0 cyber-physical system makes healthcare records particularly vulnerable. Blockchain is today an emerging technology for the management of data that may avoid or mitigate the impact of threats related to data storage and management, in general, and to the administration, in particular, of healthcare records. The blockchain technology relies on cryptography and distributed consensus to guarantee data integrity, accountability and security. The exploitation of such technology is considered in this chapter, showing the advantages when used in a H4.0 scenario.
... Health tourism is currently a US $100 billion global business and this aspect of tourism is currently experiencing an average growth rate of 25%. As such, the stakeholders are continually relying on income from medical tourism because of the perceived growth in medical tourism [6][7][8]. ...
Medical tourism provides an essential advantage for destinations. On the other hand, the knowledge of developing competitive medical tourism destinations is still limited. This study models a conceptual framework on novel ways of sustaining the United Arab Emirate (UAE) Vision 2020 with reference to the existing models on behavior. In the current study, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which is health-related, along with the Finance, System and connection (FSC) model, is employed. Using an empirically based methodology, the data for the investigation is collected with the aid of a questionnaire. As such, the study employs finance, system, and connections variables which are commonly adopted in testing medical tourism development. The designed model incorporates these three important factors that have remained the focal points in the world of medical tourism. Hence, the result reveals empirical evidence suggesting that the finance, system, and the connection factors significantly foster the growth of tourist arrivals in Dubai. Moreover, it predicates that the significant improvement in the economy of Dubai administrative government is likely to be connected with the development of its medical infrastructure. Additionally, by employing the use of SMART PLS (partial least square) software package, the structural analysis tests, like model fit, further affirms the robustness of the results. In addition, the study presents policy implication for the stakeholders in the health sector, tourism sector, and the government.
In recent decades, hospitality and tourism scholars have shown increasing interest in medical tourism research. However, a comprehensive and systematic review of medical tourism research is lacking. To address this gap, this study undertook a review of 131 medical tourism studies published in the Social Sciences Citation Index-listed journals from 1987 to 2022. Their research designs, geographic foci, types of medical tourism, and applied theories were thoroughly described. Based on thematic analysis, critical reflections were conducted on five existing research streams, including the medical tourism economy, medical tourism destination management and marketing, medical tourism suppliers, medical tourists, and local community involvement. A conceptual framework was developed and visually presented. This study concludes by addressing the existing knowledge gaps and highlights several implications for future medical tourism research, including destination management and marketing, as well as conceptual and methodological aspects. These critical reviews and implications offer medical tourism scholars a wide range of research domains, research questions, theoretical frameworks, and methodological approaches for future inquiries.
This study aims to (a) develop the innovation of BoT prototype; and (b) provide an effective platform to recommend tourists activity, implement and trials blockchain prototype for booking travel activities, whether booking travel programs, air ticket booking hotel stay visits to attractions and payment of goods and services, and evaluate tourist intention to use BoT. The developed architecture enables the integration of blockchain technology capabilities into IoT technology based on high performance of usability, stability, accuracy, and completeness. The BoT prototype is evaluated by 428 users to support smart tourism. This support is significant and the level includes the BoT functional benefit (security, process, and availability) that is positively related to the intention to adopt BoT, and user benefit (trust, usability) is also positive related with intention to adopt BoT. This study significantly contributes to revolutionizing the tourism industry by implementing BOT in smart tourism destinations to gain competitive advantage.
The types of fraud encountered in enterprises are mainly classified into asset abuse, corruption, and financial statement fraud. The literature deals with the use of big data to detect these frauds from various sectors’ perspectives. The studies have stated that the data generated in the enterprise’s internal and external environments provides faster access than the database, reliable evidence is obtained by analyzing these data, and this evidence effectively detects fraud. In this study, big data in detecting fraud in hotel businesses is presented within the literature framework. The hotel industry has diverse data generated from management information systems, websites, social media, and blogs. Big data transforms these multiple source data into valuable, meaningful, and processable forms. When big data is interpreted with appropriate analysis techniques, it enables enterprises to manage fraud risks.
The literature review allowed us to notice that despite the increased interest in medical tourism research, especially in the last two decades, there are still not many studies that synthetically refer to the participation of marketing factors in the process of exchanging medical tourism offers between the patient–tourist and the supply entities of the medical tourism market. Leading researchers have hinted at the role of marketing in medical tourism, but these have usually been superficial reflections of discursive nature of empirical studies results relating to single instruments of marketing composition, especially the medical tourism product. To date, no attempt has been made to analyse this issue in an in-depth manner that would allow for a detailed definition of marketing composition from the perspective of the customer and their experiences and the insights of other stakeholders. Furthermore, due to the focus on inbound and outbound patients, the participation of domestic buyers and their opinion relating to marketing incentives coming from private healthcare facilities and medical tourism destinations have often been overlooked. Furthermore, the existing terminological difficulties related to the concept of ‘medical tourism’ – which is still ambiguous, often used interchangeably with ‘health tourism,’ ‘therapeutic tourism,’ or ‘ (spa &/medical) wellness tourism’ – does not allow for a full understanding of the marketing decisions made in commercial clinics/hospitals and tourist offices, including understanding them by medical tourism intermediaries and other representatives of entities directly or indirectly related to the medical tourism market. There is a clear cognitive gap in theoretical and empirical considerations on the implementation of marketing orientation with the use of marketing mix instruments in medical tourism supply entities from the perspective of consumers and other stakeholders.
The research problem of this book results from the growing popularity of health trips as part of medical tourism in Poland (and elsewhere), which gives rise to a demand for in-depth recognition of behaviours and measurement of experiences of medical tourists, which are the basis of customer segmentation in this sub-market. The growing supply of these services results in an increased interest in marketing activities, the main objective of which is to control (influence) the attitudes, behaviours, and assessments of domestic and foreign (especially German, British, and Scandinavian) buyers and meet their needs in a way that guarantees satisfaction.
This study aims to identify marketing mix instruments in medical tourism supply entities and their perception by consumers. It is important to identify the importance of marketing factors influencing behaviour, including the experience of consumers (medical tourists). The research process was divided into three stages, each of which constituted a separate research project with complementary objectives to the main aim of the study. The following specific objectives were identified:
§ the conceptualisation of the term ‘medical tourism,’
§ identification of marketing factors (marketing mix instruments) constituting incentives for consumption behaviours of medical tourists,
§ identification of typical purchasing behaviours (domestic and foreign) of medical tourists,
§ to identify in-depth consumer behaviour in the market of (outbound) medical tourism and its relation to marketing factors against personal and financial factors related to the medical tourists,
§ recognition of the essence of ex-post medical tourism experience (MTEX) by redefining the dimensions of this experience,
§ characteristics and selection of consumer segmentation criteria on the medical tourism market,
§ in the context of marketing factors and formation of marketing mix instruments, identification of challenges faced by representatives of medical tourism supply entities, i.e., managers of private healthcare facilities, destination managers, and other stakeholders of the medical tourism market functioning in conditions of variability, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), taken as a random factor.
For each of the projects, research methods of quantitative (CAWI technique) or qualitative (individual in-depth interviews and in-depth online interviews) nature were applied, respectively. To achieve the main objective and complementary (specific) objectives in the first stage of quantitative research conducted among domestic and foreign medical tourists, the following hypotheses were adopted:
H1: Consumer behaviour in the Polish medical tourism market is determined by marketing mix instruments.
H2: Evaluation of ex-post experience of medical tourists form an index for measuring their experience (MTEX).
H3.1: For the ex-post experience of medical tourists in Poland, the dimension of the MTEX indicator related to the infrastructure of the private healthcare facility is of particular importance.
H3.2: For the ex-post experience of medical tourists in Poland, the dimension of the MTEX indicator related to customer satisfaction is of particular importance.
H4: The evaluation of marketing mix instruments used in private healthcare facilities differs according to consumer segments in the Polish medical tourism market.
Then, two subsequent stages of qualitative research conducted among outbound medical tourists outside Poland (second stage) and Polish and foreign experts representing selected stakeholders of the medical tourism market (third stage) were the basis of posing the following two research questions:
RQ1: What factors particularly influence the behaviour and experiences of medical tourists participating in outbound medical tourism and what is their relationship with marketing factors (marketing mix instruments)?
RQ2: How do marketing factors in relation to the random factor (VUCA conditions) influence the formation of marketing mix instruments in medical tourism supply entities
The monograph consists of an introduction, a conclusion, and six chapters. The first two chapters refer to theoretical considerations resulting from the analysis of literature, the next ones describe the methodological and empirical parts.
The first chapter presents different concepts of international and Polish researchers in terms of explication of the concept of medical tourism and their approach to individual buyers. Due to the wide range of customer needs, the sometimes controversial (sub)categories of medical tourism were presented and their negative effects of development were critically addressed. The patient, as one of the key actors in the medical tourism market, was defined and characterised. In the context of consumer behaviour and partly within the marketing analysis, selected external factors of medical tourism development in terms of domestic, inbound, and outbound tourism were presented. The chapter ends with the conceptualisation of two proposed perspectives of defining medical tourism, relating to business and the customer, in this case, medical tourists.
The second chapter reviews marketing theory/concepts, including marketing composition and directions of change in line with one of the basic paradigms – marketing orientation referring to experience as a manifestation of a new paradigm in marketing. The marketing mix instruments were discussed, which were to a greater or lesser extent the area of interest of other researchers related to medical tourism. Given the turbulent environment of medical tourism entities in the market, special attention was paid to the linking of marketing decisions and the use of individual marketing mix instruments under VUCA conditions. The theoretical framework of the marketing mix in medical tourism under VUCA conditions became a reference point for the qualitative research carried out among experts.
In turn, the third chapter presents methodological problems of research on consumers’ perception of the marketing mix in the medical tourism market. The research model was presented and the multifaceted research methods (along with their limitations) used to achieve the adopted research aim and specific objectives were described.
The fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters constitute the analysis of the original, empirical research. Each chapter is preceded by the characteristics of the research sample and ends with a summary. In these parts of the work, the author tries not only to refer to the results in a synthetic way but also to indicate the essence of marketing orientation shaped by five marketing mix instruments in medical tourism supply entities.
The fourth chapter refers to the results concerning the behaviour and experiences of domestic and foreign medical tourists and their perception of marketing mix instruments. It discusses the differentiation of purchasing behaviour resulting from the influence of socio-demographic factors. Ex post customer experiences were measured and based on the assumed dimensions of such experiences and assessments of the marketing mix, which are strong behavioural factors; additionally, consumers in the medical tourism market in Poland were segmented. Five segments were distinguished: the ‘Optimal medical tourist,’ ‘Typical medical tourist,’ ‘Inertial medical tourist,’ ‘Native medical tourist,’ and ‘Dental tourist.’ The profile of each of them is described, showing significant differences between them.
The fifth chapter is a reference point for the evaluation of marketing activities and service quality of medical tourism supply entities in Poland. It provides in-depth information on the behaviours and experiences of Polish medical tourists and their opinions related to marketing activities of private healthcare facilities outside Poland.
The content of the sixth chapter is an analysis of marketing factors used in medical tourism entities from the perspective of Polish and foreign experts. In the light of their opinions, there were indicated directions in the formation of marketing mix instruments, taking into account the nature of the entities (a medical centre, medical tourism intermediary, and medical tourism destination). In the summary of this chapter, particular attention was paid to the challenges in shaping the marketing component of the above-mentioned entities operating under the conditions of VUCA.
The tourist activity realized early on the advantages in the adoption of technology for the performance of its activities. With the emergence of the technological environment provided by Industry 4.0, blockchain technology emerges as the most disruptive and consequently more challenging technology for the tourism industry, since it has excellent potential to leverage innovation in this activity, whether in terms of products, processes, management, marketing, or institutionally. A bibliometric analysis was carried out to investigate affected studies in the tourism area, including the hotel, restaurant, marketing, and other sectors. Application of blockchain technology may be the key to boost tourism since its applicability presents several opportunities for tourism stakeholders, adds security and confidence in business transactions, can influence changes in the tourism value system, in terms of the value creation for customers, value creation for business, and in the tourism distribution chain.
The subject of this paper is the development of a loyalty program based on blockchain, tailored for the application in smart cities. The goal is to propose a collaborative loyalty scheme that would enable consumers to collect loyalty points across a smart city, through traditional buying of products and services from partners, but also through participating in different collaborative activities, such as crowdsourcing, crowdsensing or crowdvoting. Additionally, the points can be spent across the smart city with any of the partners. In the paper, we give details on the business model for the proposed loyalty scheme and present a prototype of the implementation on the Hyperledger Fabric platform. We discuss the advantages of the proposed loyalty program and give implications for different stakeholders.
Achieving sustainable tourism is a process that focuses on numerous goals and faces many challenges. The advent of disruptive technology like blockchain could help to tackle some challenges in sustainable tourism development and address its goals. This conceptual paper aims to discuss how blockchain technology could contribute to sustainable tourism. Precisely, the authors investigate the potential benefits of blockchain technology to disrupt tourism operations and boost local economy, manage food supply chain and mitigate food waste, achieve tourists’ satisfaction, affect the tourists’ sustainable behaviour, and address awareness rise issues. The authors conclude that blockchain technology has a potential to contribute to sustainable tourism development as well as the SDGs and propose the directions for future research.
Blockchain technology and its economic, social, and technological implications, have seen significant upsurge among researchers across the globe. Blockchain has revolutionized the concept of transactions by enhancing their security and efficiency. The blockchain technology is primarily associated with Bitcoin but however, the technology has the potential to go far beyond cryptocurrencies across various verticals. In a recent survey performed by Deloitte, more than 53% of the responds across various industries see blockchain technology as a critical requirement for their respective organizations [4]. The hospitality industry is one such domain where blockchain can prove enormously beneficial. The paper explores major application areas that involve the applicability of blockchain technology in the hospitality industry. The work investigates the implications of blockchain technology in enhancing operational efficiency, increased revenue and improved security and privacy for the hospitality industry. The paper establishes a link between blockchain technology and the hospitality sector and subsequently analyses recent works and case studies. A two-step research study has been introduced to present a systematic review of some of the main contributions in the literature that focuses on the integration of the blockchain technology and hospitality industry. The article adds to an interesting concept of blockchain technology, and its current research trends with respect to the hospitality industry and their various areas of application.
Introduction As technological innovation is increasingly affecting business models and the organization of business activities, an unprecedented interest is given to the role of digital technologies in service business transformation. New opportunities for service innovation have become available, and several technological solutions are gaining momentum as the radical innovation that could dramatically change services sector. Among these, blockchain and crypto-currency have received much attention both at empirical and theoretical levels. Nevertheless, the actual impact of these solutions on services innovation is still under-studied. Skeptical arguments coexist with enthusiastic reviews. Given these premises, this paper reports the results of an exploratory piece of research, aimed at assessing the sentiment towards blockchain and crypto-currency in a specific services sector. Particularly, we analyze how the relationship between the Tourism sector and those technological solutions are emerging in the social media.
The growth of tourism in the industry 4.0 exchange has led to the development, also in this sector, of «smart» techniques, defining the concept of «smart destination». The currently most innovative technologies dedicated to it are linked to the Blockchain because the decentralized nature of this technique is less susceptible to manipulation and counterfeiting, endowing the system with a high level of security. To this end, cyber security acquires an essential value in sectors such as the nautical one and in particular the yachting on which the project conceived in the present work is based. It is based on innovative technologies and Blockchain, instruments that can guarantee secure, easily accessible and able to generate important savings.
Healthcare has been a noted laggard when it comes to adopting technology solutions; however, this time lag appears to be decreasing more recently, in particular, when we look at blockchain technology and its embracement in healthcare. Examples of blockchain technology in e-health are to date focused mostly on electronic health records. The process of electronic prescriptions and medication management has not as yet been considered. We contend that this process offers a variety of opportunities for automatization and digitalization. Further, there is a significant potential for cost savings for various stakeholders not only the insurance companies. At the moment, research on blockchain technology seems to be technology driven. We suggest that to be truly beneficial, further research needs to also focus on patients’ acceptance as well as major barriers and facilitators.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce and explore blockchain technology and its potential implementation to hospitality and tourism firms’ wide range of business operations and transactions from a technological and functional point of view. This study’s central interest is to produce novel and rigorous in-depth-review analysis and foundations for a broad discussion and outlook on the potential applications of blockchain technology benefiting hospitality and tourism research, as well as the industry as a whole.
Design/methodology/approach
This study identifies and proposes several potential areas of the adoption and implementation of blockchain technology to the hospitality and tourism industry, including payment and cryptocurrencies, tracking and service customization, the disintermediation of hospitality and tourism, innovative loyalty programs, smart contracts, integrated property management systems, verified rating and review systems, collaborative initiatives and due diligence and smart tourism, each of which represents fertile avenues for future research.
Findings
This paper provides extensive critical discussions, reviews and answers to a fundamental question: “What critical functions of Blockchain mechanisms can be implemented to the existing core operational (i.e. booking and reservation systems, guest management, etc.) and business functions (i.e. loyalty/reward programs, agent transactions, etc.) of hospitality and tourism companies?”.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies should specifically delve further into various angles of this “BizTech” environment based not only on business operations and competition but also on vendor and customer collaboration.
Practical implications
This study intends to serve as a guidance for future research, facilitate knowledge accumulation and create a new understanding and awareness in both practice and academia. One of the most important applications of blockchain in this industry would be that pertaining to direct booking, online reservation systems (i.e. airlines and online travel agencies) and check-in/out with digital identities. With industry-wide blockchain adoption, guests’ personal information can be digitally validated, saved and secured as previously established cryptographically secured codes verify one’s identity without disclosing essential personal information.
Originality/value
It is obvious that the hospitality and tourism industry needs urgent technological transformation, industrial innovations and new growth avenues such as the adoption of blockchain technology and systems to maintain its global market share in the future. Therefore, the implementation of blockchain systems can promote the formation of multi-center (i.e. guest operations and customer service), weakly intermediated (i.e. loyalty programs and/or review and rating systems) areas in this industry.
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