10 holiday ideas for the future

1. Your mobile is your passport
It’s also your boarding pass, immigration forms etc.

2. Suncream for oldies
There is sun cream for all skin types, sun conditions and even babies. Why not sun cream for those aged 65+? It changes colour when you’ve had enough sun.

3. Digital deckchairs
Built in sleep/sun exposure timer, sensors and GPS so it knows when it’s not being used (and holiday makers can locate it using a smart phone), sockets to charge mobile devices. Future versions could change shape according to body size and weight.

4. Augmented reality sunglasses
Tells you who other people on the beach are using facial recognition. Can also overlay historical facts about places; show reviews for local cafes and bars, display maps and so on.

5. Tech-free tourism
Zoned ‘No Internet’ hotel floors (the joys of disconnection). Older hotels could also be sold to customers on the basis that they do NOT have Internet or Wi-Fi connections.

6. Holiday finance
Loans and easy payment terms for holidays. We take out secured loans for home improvements and cars, why not for our leisure?

7. Weather insurance for individual holidaymakers
“Spread bet” insurance – you pay for a policy and receive a payment for each day it rains or alternatively pay extra on your premium when the sun shines

8. Tourist Toggs
You fly without check-in bags, but your clothes are already at the resort – either they are sent in advance or you select what you need online and the hotel buys them for you. At the end of the holiday you can either have them washed and sent home (again no checked baggage) or donate them to local people in need.

9. Pay per kilo flights
The airline ticket cost depends on the combined weight of you and your luggage – another incentive to get serious about that pre-holiday diet.

10. Luggage with GPS fitted
So it/you knows where it is (no more lost bags). Can include a self-weighing facility and motorised wheels and guidance system so it can follow you around the airport and send an SOS to your mobile if you board a plane to Hawaii and it’s in a hold bound for Hanoi.

This is the eleventh and final post on the future of travel and holidays. If you would like a free pdf of the whole report – called Destinations 2030 – this will be available from next week. Please get in touch via “comments” below to reserve your copy.