# The Impact of Blockchain Technology Adoption on Tourism Industry: A Systematic Literature Review
## 1 Introduction  
The processes of economic digitalization involve many countries and the opening of organizations to new business models. For instance, the adoption of technologies such as blockchain (BC), information and communication technologies (ICT), artificial intelligence (AI), and big data or the Internet of Things (IoT) are transforming the way that people act and engage in their businesses, and the way that they produce goods and share useful information among the rest of the stakeholders along supply chains. Moreover, the integration of these technologies with the collaborative approach of the stakeholders can strengthen the overall effect [1]. Over the past decade, BC has attracted a lot of scholarly attention for its unique features, which are able to improve the performance of some economic sectors, such as finance, health, agriculture, etc., contributing to the obtainment of transparent, efficient, and sustainable products or services [2]. Blockchain is a particular type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that was first used as a component of the bitcoin protocol, which is a cryptocurrency that was launched in 2009 by [PERSON] [3]. Subsequently, it reduced the costs for both companies and consumers in different economic areas. Additionally, it increases process efficiency, improves the level of trust among business partners and in personal data protection, and reduces the role of intermediaries [4]. Its success and diffusion worldwide are further due to the possibility of connecting this technology with other ones, modernizing different industrial sectors, and changingthe so-called Industry 4.0. At present, no univocal definition of BC is considered. For instance, [PERSON] et al. [5] define BC as a distributed ledger technology that allows the storing and sharing of data in a decentralized and immutable manner in a peer-to-peer network. Similarly, [PERSON] [6] considers BC as a digital, distributed, and decentralized ledger, where each transaction is added and recorded in chronological order, with the goal of making a permanent and tamperproof register. Thus, BC is a technology that is able to permanently store and protect data from alterations. The tourism and hospitality industry has been applying BC since 2014 in order to increase the benefits for all the actors involved in this sector [7]. Generally, tourism is characterized by different actors, such as hoteliers, airline companies, travel agents, tour operators, insurance firms, payment service providers, and others, who have complex business relationships and high competition among each other. Thus, the use of BC jointly with other technologies, such as ICT, AI, smartphones, mobile devices, etc., can overcome these problems and improve the quality of the services offered to customers. Indeed, ICTs have already been widely adopted by the tourism industry and have resulted in the rapid development and generation of considerable data [8]. [PERSON] et al. [9] call this new tourism business model \"intelligent tourism\" or \"smart tourism\". However, if, on the one hand, this new model of tourism helps to solve problems, meaning improved customer services, decreased competition among stakeholders, and reduced service costs [4], on the other hand, it creates new challenges, such as secure big-data storage and analysis [9; 10; 11]. Currently, the introduction of BC technology in the tourism sector is growing. Thus, it is important to analyze its advantages and disadvantages. To reach these goals, a systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out that aimed at: (1) offering an updated overview on the application of this technology in the vacation sector; and (2) providing an in-depth analysis of the advantages and challenges of BC adoption in the tourism industry from the perspective of enhancing services and reducing costs for the actors involved in this sector.