Russian Region Yugra to Launch Blockchain-Enabled Tourism Platform

The Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra,  a federal subject of Russia, will launch a blockchain-enabled tourism platform, major state-owned media outlet Tass reported on June 7.

Per the report, during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum this week, the general director of the region’s development fund, Roman Genkel, signed an agreement with Alexander Borodich, the CEO of blockchain startup Universa, to launch the platform.

According to a blog post from Universa on June 7, the system will enable tracking public spending and investment to ensure transparency. The company claims:

“Tagging the money using distributed ledger technology will protect government grants and investments against misuse.”

The firm will also reportedly develop the platform to support multiple languages, with the overall goal of connecting all participants in the tourism ecosystem — suppliers of tourist products and services, transportation, accommodation and catering providers, investors and tourists themselves.

As Cointelegraph reported at the time, Russia’s Federal Agency for Tourism head, Oleg Safonov, claimed that blockchain technology has the capability to transform the country’s tourism industry in November 2017.

In March last year, news broke that Dubai is launching a virtual business-to-business tourism-specific marketplace using blockchain as part of its Dubai 10x initiative “to be 10 years ahead of other world cities.”

Also during the Economic Forum this week, the head of Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft stated that the company has not ruled out the possibility of paying for oil using cryptocurrencies in the future.