Trying to be Colombia’s first Tour Operator to implement payments with Cryptocurrencies!

in #travel7 years ago

After almost a year of making part of this amazing Steemit community and to my surprise 113 followers later, I decided to take back on my writing skills. I have been absent from sharing any new content because I’ve been in a constant search to understand the ecosystem and finally after absorbing lots of information about how to take advantage of the transition that Blockchain technology is having in businesses and the way we share information. I’ve managed to bring digital currencies into the company I’ve been a part of for almost 6 years already and we are trying to be the first or one of the main Tour Operators in Colombia that receives payments in Steem, Bitcoin and other digital currencies for the touristic packages for those that are interested in learning more about of our diverse culture and exploring our country.  


(Part of the Living Trips Team)

(Part of our fleet of vehicles, we have a total of 11 cars)

(We also offer Lodging in Boutique Hotels, surrounded by nature)

Living Trips is a tour operator focused on the international market and we are based in the beautiful city of Pereira, Risaralda in Colombia. We offer the services of transportation, lodging and guidance in six languages (English - Spanish - French - German - Italian - Portuguese) . A lot of our clients are wholesalers worldwide and majority of the transactions are handled in USD, so at the moment of making the conversion to Colombian Pesos there’s some money that is lost in that process due to high fees and specially with our Colombian Peso being devaluated as the inflation in our country plays a huge role in this. Accepting payments with digital currencies is a strategy that we’re trying to implement but first it’s our duty to educate our clients with crypto and Blockchain technology so they can understand the potential behind implementing the use of this. I have had the opportunity to attend the first blockchain event in Latin America that was hosted in Cartagena last December and a great experience was The Blockshow Europe 2017 that was held in Munich at the beginning of April of this year. Going to these events definitely gave me a better understanding of Blockchain technology and how we can bring solutions to the tourism industry in Colombia to make reservations of hotels and flights more efficient. 

(https://steemit.com/fintech/@bitshares-munich/conference-blockchain-latinoamerica)

(https://steemit.com/life/@martin-wichmann/cointelegraph-blockshow-europe-2017-in-munich)

We have the capacity of having tours and activities for 1 person or we can attend special events of +2,000 people. Our services go from cultural activities, sport and adventure to conventions and bachelor getaways. The idea is that I will start posting more about everything that we do and about the experiences we have had with passengers to show to the world that there is a high quality Tour Operator in Colombia to meet the high expectations of our country as one of the uprising countries in International Tourism. 

The following are some pictures of a familiarization trip (this is done for people to come experience what Colombia has to offer and than they can start selling the country as a product) that we sponsored for travel agents from the USA - Ecuador - Mexico - Peru - Spain

(Coffee Farm - Typical Colonial Architecture!)

(Walking through the coffee fields!)

(Local gastronomy - Red beans - rice - avocado - fried plantain - grounded meat - chorizo)

(Horseback riding through the Cocora Valley!)

(Natural waterfall Hikes - Yohany is one of our guides and specialized in Birdwatching!)

(Another typical colonial house that offers lodging!)

(Local and authentic life in the beautiful old fashioned town of Salento, Quindio)

Also I know that the Steemit community is about sharing and caring, so any ideas on how we can get this strategies going or anything that is already out there that we can implement and make it a complement to achieve our goals, would be kindly appreciated!!  


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Hey @magz8716, have you discovered other tour operators, agencies, or anyone else in the tours & activities space who have adopted cryptocurrencies or are actively moving in that direction?

Hey @pomodoro, to be honest here in Colombia I know there are a few hostals one in Medellin and the other in San Andres island that are accepting Bitcoin. Here in the Coffee Cultural Landscape where we are located we are the first ones moving towards this direction of accepting not only Bitcoin but other important Cryptocurrencies like Steem, Ethereum, Dash, etc.

Anything you need feel free to contact me!

Greetings!

There are interesting projects in tourism technology using blockchain and cryptocurrencies. For example, http://windingtree.com/ platform and its applications will distribute tourism products (including tours, hotels, hostels) among a decentralized network. I'd be happy chat about it. May I email you? (Does steemit have a PM feature?)

That sounds awesome! email me if you can please ([email protected]) I'd like to learn more about it.

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