Australia Set To Boost Its Regional Tourism By Investing In Crypto Startup

BTC Wires: According to an official statement cited on August 1, the state government of the Australian province of Queensland is all set to issue grants for upcoming crypto startups. The grant will be issued as a part of the innovative funding initiative of over $8.3 million.

As per the official statement, TravelbyBit, a platform for digital currency for travel and tourism industry, features among the 70 companies which will receive Advance Queensland Ignite idea funding. The funding venture aims at developing businesses of new entrepreneurs in Queensland.

The objective of the company is to bolster the number of tourists in Central Queensland by selling the travel offers through cryptocurrencies, along with creating new job opportunities.

Caleb Yeoh, the CEO and Co-founder of TravelbyBit stated that the company has entered into an agreement with Brisbane Airport Corporation with an intent to launch the “world’s first digital currency friendly airport”. The company has implemented the blockchain-backed point-of-sale system in the regional tourist towns.

The crypto-medium through which travellers can pay includes Bitcoin (BTC), XEM, Litecoin, Dash, Ethereum and the company is planning to introduce BNB in the near future.

It is to be noted that Australia is not the first country to inculcate the approach of cryptocurrencies to promote tourism. Earlier in spring, German National Tourist Board (GNTB) came up with a statement that they will be accepting BTC and other cryptocurrencies as modes of payments in return for the services rendered.

Back in June 2014, the first IrishCoin was introduced in the scheme of things by the tourism sector of Ireland. The coin was launched as an instrument of discount vouchers at restaurants, hotels, participating bars and tourist attractions. Thus, the trend of using cryptocurrencies in tourism is by no means a novel approach in 2018, as it had been introduced year after year by several countries. Now it’s only a matter of time for more states to join in the wave.