Aruba to Become the 'First Country' To Use Ethereum as Tourism Distribution Platform

Aruba is reportedly partnering with Swiss-based startup, Winding Tree on a blockchain marketplace to help connect the many small hotels on the Caribbean island directly to potential tourists.

Winding Tree’s platform is built using Ethereum – a public, decentralised blockchain technology that incorporates “smart contracts” – a type of language that allows developers to write their own programs.

According to reports, Aruba wants to lower its reliance on the likes of Expedia and Priceline, and decrease the amount of tourism revenue getting shipped offshore. The island has been investing heavily in new technologies for some time in an effort to make it better prepared for the future. Its Smart Island Strategy for the tourism industry, for example, has piloted biometric checks at airports and embraced renewable energy.

Meanwhile, a separate Caribbean cryptocurrency has been launched, known as bitt, whose aim is to help islands in the region become less dependent on foreign banks. Other countries are also launching their own digital currencies, most notably Venezuela – situated close to Aruba - the most recent.

Winding Tree will start beta-testing the platform with early adopters early next year, with the hopes of launching commercially by the end of 2018, first with hotels and later with airlines.