# The Impact of Blockchain Technology Adoption on Tourism Industry: A Systematic Literature Review
## 3 Results and Discussion
### The Advantage of BC Technology Adoption in the Tourism Industry
#### 3.2.2 Data Treatment  
According to [PERSON] et al. [11], the introduction of recent digital tools into tourism activities, such as smartphones, big data, smart sensors, ICT, AI, etc., has improved the connectivity and exchange of information among stakeholders, as well as the mapping of consumers' choices. However, this new typology of tourism, called \"smart tourism\" (SmT), presents some inconveniencies regarding security, privacy, and the management of data that are useful for companies to profile customers. Additionally, [PERSON] et al. [21] state that most of the existing security solutions are not able to include all aspects of the industry necessities. For achieving high scalability, robustness, secure data storage, network latency, auditability, immutability, and traceability, the promising tool is BC technology. Indeed, [PERSON] [6] and [PERSON] et al. [22] argue that BC ensures data authenticity and therefore prevents the risk of their manipulation by unethical parties and protects customers' privacy. Indeed, a number of travel companies, such as LockTrip, Globaltourist, Winding Tree, and Travel Chain, have developed BC-based platforms and systems in order to meet the requirements of their personal and customers' privacy [11; 22]. In line with this, BC application in the medical tourism sector has huge potential. For instance, [PERSON] et al. [23] state that BC technology offers a \"privacy-by-design\" solution that helps to diversify the information and restricts access to sensitive data, such as the personal information of medical tourists. Similarly, [PERSON] et al. [24] discuss the importance of blockchain technology to improve disintermediation, transparency, and trust in healthcare services, significantly increasing the efficiency of operations, such as the transfer of expenses required to settle disputes, disbursement of payments, etc. In this sector, usually the time is a decisive factor for obtaining the desirable result; moreover, the cost of the service is the important factor, and the abilities of the automated fulfillment of the agreement and disbursement of payments are advantages of the healthcare system. Thus, [PERSON] et al. [25] illustrate the benefits of BC adoption in medical tourism. The authors state that it simplifies the search for healthcare providers, provides a fast and secure payment method, ensures data security and privacy and reliable review systems, minimizes the waiting times for obtaining travel-related documents, and guarantees their authenticity. [PERSON] [26] argues that BC, thanks to its characteristics, is the suitable technology to apply in activities that require data collection, the investigation of identity, the management of the transaction process, and the exploration of provenance. BC technology simplifies customer authentication and thus hastens the reward delivery or the offering of adapted discounts [4]. Moreover, BC can be used to achieve interoperability, which provides the possibility of earning loyalty points or airline miles and using them elsewhere in this sector, in order to simplify communication with partners and provide a benefit with efficient payment options [7]. Travala and the TravelCoin Foundation are examples of successfully operating decentralized applications (DApps) in the tourism industry that are connected with BC [11]. Additionally, BC platforms provide opportunities to tourists to share their personal information, as well as their purchase history, travel location, search history, booked entities, and other activities, in a trustworthy and secure way [22]. As merit for giving up the above-mentioned data, customers can be awarded with a voucher that can be used in the future to buy flight tickets, book a hotel, or rent a car. Furthermore, this kind of digital ledger is beneficial for service providers since it ensures an immutable reputation and rating system. Certainly, once the review data is registered and protected by BC technology, it cannot be eliminated or modified by counterfeit users [27].