TICKETS for Granada's Alhambra Palace can now be bought using Bitcoins thanks to a firm in Murcia, a pioneer in using the cryptocurrency in Spain.
CEO of 13tickets.com, Juan Antonio García, says that until now, very few Spanish companies have been accepting the 'virtual' global money, but that it can be used on this website with 'all the same guarantees' as buyers are used to when using tangible currency.
On 13tickets.com, customers can book a number of excursions and entry tickets to popular tourist sites, although the Alhambra Palace is expected to be the bestseller – many visitors opt to buy their entries online in advance to avoid the queues on the day, and the Mediaeval Arab complex remains Spain's most-visited tourist attraction.
As well as Bitcoin, 13tickets.com accepts the burgeoning cryptocurrency known as Touriscoin, which is very slowly catching on and carries numerous advantages, including not having to pay what García calls 'abusive commissions and exchange rates'.
Sites which allow payment in Touriscoin often provide discounts and allow customers to buy at much more economical prices than they would with a credit or debit card or via a tradition tour operator.
With Spain being the third most-visited country in the world, literally millions of tourists will be able to use their cryptocurrency via 13tickets.com.
As well as the Alhambra, over 60 trips, visits and experiences can be booked on the site, including Sevilla cathedral – the largest in Spain – the Alcazaba, or Arab fortress in Málaga; whale-spotting in the Bay of Cádiz, and plenty of others across the country.
Madrid, Granada, Sevilla, Málaga and Cádiz are the only cities at the moment where customers can book trips using Touriscoin, but next year, 13tickets.com plans to increase the options to cover Valencia, Barcelona, Murcia, Zaragoza, Mérida, Murcia, Cartagena, Santiago de Compostela, Bilbao and Córdoba.
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