The future of travel: where will we go and how will we get there?

The author William Gibson once said “the future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed”. In the case of travel this is certainly true. The travel industry has experienced dramatic change post 9/11 but it is the Internet that has really shaken things up. The web has connected new low-cost operators with newly empowered customers with the result that intermediaries like travel agents are becoming increasingly redundant.

So what else is happening and what else can we expect to see in the not too distant future? In terms of airlines the general trend seems to be towards polarisation. On the one hand low-cost operators like JetBlue are expanding low cost services outside the US, while on the other hand national carriers like Virgin Atlantic are upgrading business class services to the point where aeroplanes are starting to resemble hotels and airline lounges are starting to resemble restaurants. Up at the pointy end of the aeroplane we’ve already seen innovations like in-flight mixologists, private fridges, flat beds, in-flight massage, sky-nannies and personal chefs and it won’t be long before we see showers and possibly lockable cabins. Down in economy we’ve got self-check-in, pay-as-you-go lounges, Internet access and pay-TV on some planes so things like seats that inflate and deflate to fit individual body shapes can’t be far off. Other innovations include business class only flights (e.g. Lufthansa and OzJet) and business class only terminals. Interestingly, one consequence of tighter security screening at airports is that people (in the US at least) have started to dress more casually. Gone are lace-up shoes, belts, coats and jewellery and in are more search friendly t-shirts and track pants.

Of course getting from the airport to your hotel can be a bit frustrating so we’ve seen a number of transport innovations here to. These include the Heathrow Express (rumoured to be the most expensive train journey in the world on a per mile basis) and the Maglev (magnetically levitated) train that runs between Pudong airport and Shanghai city centre.

Over in hotels the rate of innovation is not as great but we are still seeing some interesting new concepts. One of the latest ideas is Miniature hotels,(for example easyhotel.com and yotel.com in the UK). These are like boutique hotels but without the frills. Rooms are typically very small (in one case smaller than a prison cell) but they’re also very cheap.In some cases this means no phone, no wardrobe, no toiletries (except soap), no chair and no shelves. If you want to watch TV or have a window that’s extra – as is fresh laundry after your first night. Other recent hotel ‘innovations’ include bath butlers at the Sydney Hilton (to run your bath for you), e-butlers at the Dorchester Hotel in London (to explain how everything in your room works), personal oxygen bottles (Optus hotel in Vancouver), iPod hire (Dream hotel in New York), Wi-Fi access inside elevators (Langham hotel London) and personalised room lighting (Sofitel Paris). However my favourite hotel innovation is the humble room safe at the Langham Palace hotel in Kowloon (China). Not only is the safe large enough to hold a laptop, there’s a cable inside to charge it up. Now that’s what I call a real customer need!

But what about somewhere to go? According to the World Tourism Organization, cultural holidays are the fastest growing sector of the tourism market. In other words more of us are getting tired of just sitting on a beach and want to see something interesting, authentic or both. Hence the growth in ‘holidays that help’ — vacations that combine an interesting location with conservation or making a difference in some other way. We’re also seeing the growth of more exotic destinations (Brazil and Dubai for example), the rise of the mini-break (taking a series of short holidays each year instead of just one due to time pressures), the growth in religious tourism and the emergence of rich-packers (wealthy urban professionals that return to the countries they once visited as penniless back-packers).

And what about the more distant future? One area to watch is socio-economic trends including demographics. In the future there will be less young people, more single person households and more (active) old people.There will also be much more outbound tourism from countries like India and China (in 2003 there were 800 million domestic trips taken in China – that’s approximately the same number of trips taken by the rest of the planet that year). The latter could mean that popular tourist sites (even whole countries) will have to ration access while ecotourism could actually become harmful to the planet. However, looking even further ahead, this issue of growing tourist numbers could be solved by the emerging oil crisis. Put simply, nobody has yet invented an alternative to jet fuel so when the oil really starts to run out travel will once again become the preserve of the ultra-wealthy. For everyone else it will be a case of either staying put or taking your vacation closer to home.

Here are a few other travel related innovations I really like:

1. A company called Vocation Vacations lets people try out other jobs.
2. The ‘whatever, whenever’ desk at W Hotels.
3. Pillow menu at Hilton Hotels (airlines should steal this idea immediately).
4. The double beds on Virgin Atlantic Airways.
5. The women only floor at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza in Washington.
6. Cabin lights in first class on Emirates airline that resemble the night sky.
7. Borrowing a goldfish bowl for your room at the Monaro Hotel in Chicago.
8. Retro-tourism — using the slowest means possible to get from A-B.
9. Space tourism – coming soon to a galaxy near you.
10. The Laboratory of Experimental Tourism (it really exists).

2 thoughts on “The future of travel: where will we go and how will we get there?

  1. Thanks for the comments about The Langham, London and Langham Place, Mongkok. I think you’re right – it’s hard to be innovative in the hotel industry. I guess the real point is making innovations that truly meet the guests’ needs and are not just a gimmick.

    The Langham has a history of innovation – when The Langham, London opened as Europe’s first grand hotel in 1865, it was the first luxury hotel to feature water closets in every room, moving rooms (now called lifts or elevators depending on which side of the Atlantic you are on), as well as airconditioning!

    That tradition continues today with personalised internet phones which I think you will have come across during your stay at Langham Place. You can even personalise these to include family portraits, pre-programmed with your favourite telephone numbers and monitor the weather or stock codes of your investments.

    We hope to become even more personal – you will soon be able to select the guest room based on the ‘type’ of guest you are – whether you are an entertainment junkie / gym rat / movie buff and so on.

    Keep up the interesting work on your blog.

  2. I can’t wait for a technology change, eventually we’re going to have to stop buring fuels to get us around the planet. I’m not saying teleporting, but aircraft that have much less in the way of costs to maintain will be coming soon.

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