ABSTRACT
The growing literature on blockchain technology for tourism and hospitality has identified many ways in which the tourism and hospitality industry and other tourism stakeholders, like local destinations and tourists, can benefit from blockchain technology and its applications. This chapter builds on these existing conceptualizations of blockchain technology benefits and discusses them in three specific contexts: smart tourism, the Metaverse, and sustainable tourism. In doing so, it outlines possible ways in which blockchain technology and tourism and hospitality will shape each other in the future and projects a thriving symbiosis between the two. However, it also discusses potential drawbacks of blockchain technology and warns against uncritical and passive attitudes and approaches. It argues that the development of blockchain technology is a means to an end rather than the objective itself.
