South Africa has its first travel-based NFT

TRENDS

If the world of NFTs seemed daunting before, buckle up because South Africa has just taken its first step into the world of NFT travel with the NFT-based travel collection, an initiative started by local premium short-term rental company Euphoric Leisure time.

NFT stands for non-fungible token, and this incredible initiative that started as an internet hobby has quickly taken the world by storm. An NFT is a unique digital identifier that cannot be exchanged or replicated. Similar to the way bitcoins are bought and sold, tokens are a form and unit of cryptocurrency on a blockchain.

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Previously we saw things like selling digital art and music on the blockchain, but now Euphoric Leisure is expanding the horizons of the platform with their Pangolin Collection NFT. With only 111 exclusive and unique NFTs, this initiative will give NFT holders lifetime access to travel benefits and long-term returns.

“We have been a professional holiday rental company with a national portfolio for a long time,” said Dean McLuckie, the founder of Euphoric Leisure.

“First there was a demand for rentals, then there was timeshare travel, then Airbnb – which revolutionized travel and leisure – but this is the first time concrete travel benefits and privileges are linked to tradable, transferable digital assets in this way by a local company.

We wanted to make short-term rentals an absolute breeze, and we’ve been rebranding for a while. We just created the Pangolin Club, which gave space to the Pangolin collection and this brilliant idea to expand our portfolio into the technical area.

The start of the Pangolin Collection initiative came in 2017, when McLuckie first heard about NFTs, having been active in the cryptocurrency industry since 2015.

Once he found that it was a real way to symbolize real values, he was hooked.

“It was so cool for me. I found that there was a way to attach a deed to a token and effectively sell that token. I could see that there was a genuine opportunity to revolutionize property in South Africa, and actually be able to make the transfer of property much easier, not only for us at Euphoric Leisure, but even for the government.”

Making this dream a reality was easier said than done for McLuckie and his team. Once they had conceptualized their plans, it was time to get people on board to effectively make the dream a reality. First, they had to get the homeowners on board by negotiating the terms and exclusive membership rates they would agree to. Next, they had to get exclusive NFT artists to design the Pangolin Collection NFTs, and finally came the consultants, who were able to adequately advise the team on how to effectively launch the Pangolin Collection.

“We wanted to create this truly exclusive community of NFT holders and homeowners, so we gave our customers two ways to join the Pangolin Club. The first is to purchase one of the 111 exclusive NFTs, and the second is to have a listed property in our Pangolin collection, which will automatically give them a membership in the collection,” McLuckie said.

The marriage of technology and leisure is one that hasn’t been widely embraced yet in South Africa, but with companies like Euphoric Leisure pushing the boundaries, the future seems pretty bright. As they build a consumer base, they hope to continue to push the boundaries of travel and create access that can bring more travel benefits to their customers.

To date, an owner of a Pangolin Collection NFT will receive customer benefits such as 50% off a seven-night stay across Pangolin Collection’s accommodation offering, excluding blackout dates such as Christmas or Easter.

They will also receive a 20% discount on all stays of less than seven nights, even during blackout dates, among many other perks that McLuckie says have the potential to grow and be added.

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Pangolin Club makes international travel fun and easy, moving with technological advancements, which can never be a bad thing.

It may be time for you to get with the times too and take a leap of faith by getting your first NFT.