Encrypted Forest Trekking Ticket Booking And Real-Time Validation Platform

Abstract

With the rapid growth of digital tourism and forest-based adventure activities, managing trekking permissions, ticket reservations, and visitor information has become increasingly complex and security-sensitive. Traditionally, trekking bookings and validations were maintained using manual registers or semidigital systems that relied on paper records or unsecured databases. These approaches often resulted in delayed booking confirmation, inaccurate slot availability, unauthorized record modifications, lack of transparency, poor audit capabilities, and difficulty in preventing duplicate bookings and overbooking. Furthermore, the absence of secure data management mechanisms exposed sensitive user information to potential security threats, creating the need for a reliable and automated trekking management solution. The proposed system introduces a secure web-based trekking ticket booking and real-time validation platform that integrates role-based authentication, automated slot verification, encrypted document management, and controlled information sharing within a unified framework. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption and RACE Integrity Primitives Evaluation Message Digest-160 (RIPEMD-160) hashing are employed to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and protection of sensitive booking records and user data. The platform is developed using the Flask framework with TinyDB as the database and supports secure user registration, online route exploration, automated booking confirmation, schedule management, administrative monitoring, and encrypted file handling. Realtime validation prevents overbooking and scheduling conflicts, while role-based access control restricts unauthorized activities. The research enhances operational transparency, strengthens data security, improves booking efficiency, and provides a scalable foundation for secure smart tourism and digital forest management.