Designing IoT-Enabled Smart Contracts for Transparent and Secure Tourism Transactions

Abstract

Tourism transactions face persistent challenges related to transparency, security, and dependence on online travel agents (OTAs), which reduce local providers' margins and limit direct customer engagement. Existing blockchain-based tourism solutions remain fragmented and often lack modularity and platform-agnostic integration. This study proposes SmartTourismChain (STC), a modular smart contract architecture deployed on the Ethereum Sepolia test network. STC is designed as a plug-in framework supporting cross-platform adoption through interoperable APIs and SDKs, with backend services for reservation, verification, and nonce management, and frontend integration via wallet connection or Sign-In with Ethereum (SIWE). The architecture supports dual transaction modes, enabling fast off-chain operations while maintaining auditable on-chain records. Functional validation demonstrates a 100% success rate for booking execution, token transfer, and QR-based verification. On-chain deployment records a gas consumption of 175,550 gas ($\approx 0.00026$ETH), indicating technical and economic feasibility. Security analysis confirms resistance to common smart contract vulnerabilities, including reentrancy and unauthorized state manipulation. Overall, STC reduces OTA dependency and supports the development of decentralized, IoT-ready digital tourism ecosystems.