Imagine this: After previewing where you want to travel to in the metaverse, you finally decide which subterranean hotel to book. The day of the trip you head to the airport in an electric shuttle and breeze through security thanks to a quick and simple biometric passport screening; you’ve packed your in-ear language-translation device but not much else, because most things you need can simply be 3d printed when you get to your destination. And you’re not just going to a physical place, but back in time to experience a particularly fascinating moment in history. Sound too wild to be true? It seems like science fiction now, but a new ground-breaking report “The Future of Travel,” commissioned by airline easyJet, claims this may just be what future decades of travel look like.
Heading up the report, Professor Birgitte Andersen of Birkbeck College, says, “This next 50 years will bring the largest technological advances we have ever seen in travel and tourism. Aspects of how we holiday will be transformed beyond recognition; in the future holiday-makers will be queuing at the hotel buffet to have their breakfast omelettes and fry-ups 3D printed by machines, our heartbeat will become our passport, and in-ear devices will translate the local language in real time and enable us to speak the local lingo. Looking forward, by the year 2070 the destinations we fly to, the type of accommodation we stay in, and the experiences we have, will have changed immeasurably.”
The report forecasts innovations in airport journeys, air travel, accommodation, and holiday experiences, with the help of data and contributions from Europe’s leading futurists and experts from the worlds of aerospace, innovation, and engineering. Below are some of the highlights from the report.
Biometric Passports
Artistic rendering of future seamless airport security – courtesy of easyjet.com
The airport journey and air travel experience will be revolutionized by technological advances. Heartbeat and biometric passports will replace the traditional passport for passengers to breeze through their airport. Much like fingerprints and the retina, every person’s cardiac signature is unique. Passengers’ heartbeat signatures and biometric details will be logged on a global system in the same way finger-print scanning technology works today.
“Try Before You Buy” Experiences
Vacations, even the most budget-friendly, are a considerable investment compared to most other expenditures. What if you could take part in a “try before you buy” system before committing to a trip? Utilizing bionic and metaverse technology, people could now “sample” a vacation before making the full investment by experiencing holiday previews. This might allow for more efficient planning, in terms of specific hotel locations and desired experiences.In-flight UpgradesArtistic rendering of future airplane ergonomic seating – courtesy of easyjet.com
Ergonomic and biomimetic sensory plane seats will become the norm, with smart materials adapting to passengers’ body shape, height, weight, and temperature, providing the ultimate tailored comfort flying experience. Inflight entertainment will be beamed directly in front of passenger’s eyes, via optoelectronic devices, replacing the need for onboard screens or downloading movies before you fly.
Local Language Support Devices
Several translation apps offer a similar service by scanning written signs or documents and converting to other languages, but nothing as yet exists to make real-time conversations easier for foreign travelers. The report predicts that soon local language in-ear devices will be available to take on vacation to translate the local language in real time and even enable visitors to speak the local lingo.
More Sustainable Hotels
Artistic rendering of 3d printed hotel food – courtesy of easyjet.com
As technology advances, we will see significant advances in the accommodation experience abroad. 3D-printed hotel buffet food will allow tourists to print whatever they want to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, while reducing food waste. Similarly, 3D-printed, recyclable holiday clothes on arrival at the hotel will remove the need for suitcases and fast holiday fashion as travelers can print the clothes required in their hotel rooms, tailored to their perfect fit and style, and recycle the materials for the next guest to enjoy.
To save on energy, hotels will be able to harvest energy from its guests’ footsteps in order to generate power, essentially becoming “human-powered.” Subterranean hotels will also be built into the fabric of the earth that are super energy efficient and at one with the environment.
Personalized Hotel Rooms
All hotel rooms will be smart rooms with beds already pre-made to exactly desired firmness, ambient temperatures and favorite music playing based upon preferences you select in advance of booking the holiday. A holographic personal holiday concierge will accompany vacationers to provide up to date destination information and assistance throughout their stay.Underwater Adventures
The report also imagines new ways to see more of the world. Consider this the ultimate upgrade from your traditional cruise experience exploring the seas: the underwater “sea-fari.” These would be aquatic adventures onboard submarines for tourists deep beneath the sea discovering marine life in underwater “marine parks.” While much less exotic than the underwater marine park prediction, the report also sees beach vacations getting an upgrade and that e-foiling, cable skiing, and flyboarding will become the norm at oceanside destinations, truly taking water sports to another level.
Time-Traveling Experiences
One of the most intriguing ideas from the reports are “time-travelling” experiences. Tomorrow’s travelers will be able to vacation in the past by wearing haptic suits at historical sites that enable them to immerse themselves in live historical surroundings marveling wonders of the ancient world like the Colossus of Rhodes during a stroll in Rhodes Town, or cheering among the crowds of the original Olympic Games in Ancient Greece.
The report also included a survey to gauge how interested prospective travelers would be about all the different potential technology and travel features. Time-traveling trips took the top spot when it came to most anticipated with 42% of those surveyed looking forward to those vacations. Most people were also excited for “try before you buy” metaverse previews (23%), language translation devices (24%), smart hotels (25%) and subterranean hotels (26%), “sea-faris” (32%), and biometric passports (38%).
— Click here for the full report.