IT’S ALL A BIT CRYPTO

In this article I take a deep dive into the dynamic festival travel industry, which is experiencing a global explosion of growth with little signs of slowing down. Check this out, according to data gathered from Festicket’s users*, travelers who went abroad for a festival rose by 29% this year. The standout destination globally was Hungary with a 773% growth in festival visitors, but festivals in Portugal (127%), Spain (132%), Belgium (120%) and the Netherlands (104%) have all seen massive growth in 2018 and this is only set to grow further through 2019.

Revenue in the Music Events segment will amount to US$34b+ in 2019.

Revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate of 9.8%, resulting in a market volume of US$50b by 2023.

Moving past the stereotype of the muddy camper, revelers are passing over the humble tent for more luxurious quarters. While 43% of global festival travelers still choose camping for its convenience and cost, increasing numbers are opting for luxury at the end of their festival day, particularly hotels (31%) or apartments (16%). 9.3% of Brits are even choosing “Glamping” - an upscale version of camping.

In fact, investing in festival experiences is an ongoing trend, with the average booker now spending €167 on their trip. Australians and Swedes are most likely to spend more on their festival experience, with an average spend of €334 and €309 respectively per person. Meanwhile, frugal European neighbors, the Netherlands and France, spend an average of €114 and €111 respectively on festivals.

So we scoured the internet to find companies that are innovating in this space and one stood out above the rest “Travala”. As a core enabling technology for Travala, Blockchain signifies a third evolutionary leap for human connectivity (firstly voice telephony, secondly data transmission), and is now empowering real value exchange between network participants. In the travel industry, where a central authority was previously required to validate bookings and guarantee payment, it is becoming possible to link buyers and sellers directly to benefit from lower fees, instant payments and trustworthy reviews.

Younger generations of consumers are driving the movement towards decentralized technologies, best symbolized by the rise of Bitcoin and other peer-to-peer cryptocurrencies. Most importantly, demographic groups such as that referred to as Gen-Z (born between 1995 and 2010, the eldest now 23 years of age in 2018) are fundamentally different consumers to those classified as Baby Boomer and Generation X. Gen-Z dislike the established order, have not yet formed their brand loyalties, and yet are tech-native and extremely sociallyaware. This generation of consumers are expected to travel more than any group before them, but are also forecast to do so in new ways.

As the Travala consumer base continues to grow, usage of their AVA token is integral to their experience on the platform. With its use incentivized by real-value rewards, demand for AVA can be expected to grow in-line with platform adoption, leading to the establishment of a healthy internal token economy from which all stakeholders may benefit.

We understand that artists need to get to their destinations on a budget, and agents/managers and promoters spend a lot of time trying to find the best deals for accommodation, to maximize revenue for their artists, so by saving on travel, this is an important aspect of the music industry.

When booking on Travala users can pay with over 20 different crypto currencies as well as FIAT currencies and importantly enables users to benefit from an average of 15% discounts (on the mainstream OTA sites) when booking their next trip, AVA tokens are rewarded to users who leave authentic reviews, contribute rich content, and make successful referrals, and AVA tokens are paid as fuel cost by other platforms when they leverage the Travala infrastructure to improve their own offerings. Look out for a series of posts from Rondo in collaboration with Travala, where we highlight music conference and festival specific, destination packages worldwide.

I hope that you find this series of articles informative and would appreciate your comments, written for and published in "Iconic Underground Magazine" as part of my regular series "It's all a Bit Crypto" as I delve into music and blockchain and the amazing companies that are boldly innovating throughout the music industry.

Written by Jonathan Finberg, Founder - Rondo

Sources: www.travala.com www.festiticket.com and www.statista.com