**1. Introduction**

Modern conditions for the development of socioeconomic systems, characterized by high uncertainty of geopolitical, macroeconomic, and epidemiological processes, lead to the need to form new organizational and economic mechanisms that ensure innovative economic growth of the Russian economy. In the current conditions, a serious reboot and a comprehensive transformation of all sectors of the economy are required. Great challenges and threats pose new challenges to the tourism industry as the most vulnerable to external shocks and threats. At the same time, the importance of the tourism industry in terms of developing the country's interior and mobilizing the existing natural, cultural, human capital, etc., is difficult to overestimate.

Today, influenced by digitalization, the global world tourism industry is undergoing very significant changes. The digitalization of the activities of enterprises and industries is happening at a tremendous speed. This dynamic is the result of many factors, such as increasing the speed and breadth of internet coverage, optimizing business processes through integrated automation, and many others. The global COVID-19 pandemic has become a significant driver of the digitalization process, creating an objective need for online services and services.

The problem is that in the face of growing uncertainty that threatens the economic security of the country, and the rapid digital transformation of the economy, the need for rational use and optimization of the management of the tourism industry is becoming more urgent. It is required to develop an integrated scientific and methodological approach to modeling and designing systems for monitoring and managing tourism products, facilities, and processes in order to maximize the contribution of the tourism industry to the socioeconomic development of regions.

The need to develop a tourist destination is primarily related to such problems as security [1], the presence of intermediaries, high demand for a national product, etc. The development of information technology has made it possible to solve some of the identified problems using distributed registry technologies.

Distributed ledger technologies are at the initial stage of development, but their influence is observed in many areas: science, manufacturing, economics, etc. They set new development trends, as they offer data anonymity, the absence of a third party in commodity-money relations [2], and low commission for economic transactions [3].

Since 2020, distributed registry technologies have been gaining ground in the travel and tourism industry [4]. The main direction was the development of smart platforms for the implementation of new systems and methods of conducting tourism activities [5].

The significance of this system in the field of tourism was confirmed in the study of a trial product. To demonstrate the usability and effectiveness of the developed approach, [6] present a hotel booking case, the analysis of which shows the significance of the proposed system. A similar result was achieved by other researchers [7].

It is important that the development also concerns such a fairly new phenomenon as medical tourism, which is travel abroad to receive medical services. Medical tourists as well as healthcare providers can benefit from technology that makes it easier to find a healthcare provider, make fast and secure payments, and keep data secure and private [3].

The further development of the tourism industry is closely related to the development of smart platforms, which are similar in technical characteristics to technological platforms. The term "technology platform" was introduced in 2004 by the European Commission to identify prioritized scientific and technical areas for the development of the European Union to ensure Europe's technological independence [8].

According to the authors [8], the tourism technological platforms "must provide the solution to the following main tasks:


*Perspective Chapter: Prospects of Using Blockchain Technology in the Tourism Industry DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108526*

• solving significant social problems (preserving and building up the human potential of a region, industry, corporation, country, and civilization; improving the environmental situation; ensuring safety)."

Tyan et al. [5] highlighted the following positive aspects of developing a smart platform for tourism:


As noted in the study [9], the most important advantage of such a system is the creation of new forms of communication between the supplier and the consumer. In decentralized systems, there is no need for outside support to complete a transaction. The transaction occurs due to a consensus mechanism that protects the network and provides a mechanism for the interaction of its participants. The development of this technology will especially affect the SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) sector [10], where there is the greatest pressure from large companies [7].

Developers of smart platforms for various industries, including the tourism industry, are faced with the task of choosing the optimal technology that provides a mechanism for interaction between participants, maintaining confidentiality, eliminating intermediaries, etc. This study also aims to substantiate the need for a tourism smart platform based on distributed ledger technology as a tool and mechanism for optimizing tourism industry development *via* digital transformation under the influence of current challenges.
