The global travel site’s Future of Travel 2024 report states that by 2024 space will be the final frontier for well-heeled intrepid travellers taking them to the outer edges of our planet’s atmosphere.
It also highlights new destinations around the world we’ll be travelling to and predicts how travellers’ social media profiles will enable hoteliers to create a truly bespoke and intuitive experience, based on each individual’s needs and desires.
Going Up & Going Down: Space travel and Underwater hotels
By 2024 the race for space will initially take travellers to Earth’s low orbit allowing them to experience the stunning curvature of the globe from ultra-high altitude. Looking beyond 2024, orbital travel may not simply be a matter of going up and coming back but instead travellers will be able to stay there long enough to enjoy and savour an exciting, alien environment. In the meantime for those with an appetite for space travel there are sky resorts being built that will contain zero-gravity spas, space gliders and space observatories where guests can even experience weightlessness.
Commenting on the report, Skyscanner’s Filip Filipov said, “Taking travel to space will be a ground-breaking milestone for mankind in general but what is even more exciting is the transfer of technologies that space exploration can bring to commercial aviation. A regular traveller might see a London to Sydney flight in 2.5 hours, which will make travel even easier and faster than ever before, breaking time boundaries.”
By the next ten years space tourism will become more affordable for the ultra-luxury market but journeys to the bottom of the sea will be a much more mainstream, fashionable option.
Underwater hotel rooms already exist as niche and novelty destinations such as The Neptune and Poseidon suites at the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai. However, as space on land becomes more expensive, a new wave of innovators are scaling up the concept aiming to build entire resorts* under the waves – including spas, gardens and pools, all with aquarium style-windows allowing guests to go outside in diving gear.
The Hotel Rooms of 2024 & Hyper-Personalisation
Over the next ten years, the advances in technology will also mean that hotels will empower their guests with incredible levels of hyper-personalisation through their mobile devices to provide a tailored overnight experience. Travellers will be able to book rooms where everything from the air temperature to the strength of the power shower is set specifically for them. Hotel room walls will be fully interactive capable of playing films, showing pictures, displaying Skype calls from loved ones and even frosting up to provide private work spaces within the room.
Hotel rooms of the future will be able to take advantage of the latest technologies to provide additional comfort for guests. Pillows with embedded electronics will provide sleep-aiding massages and wake up calls, while the internal clocks of jet-lagged guests will be aided with light boxes. Guests’ skin and hair will be improved by showers offering water infused with Vitamin C while advances in 3D printing will mean that guests no longer need worry about bathroom amenities as by 2024 they will simply be able to print everything they need, including toothpaste and soap.
New destinations to discover for the first time
Bragging rights will be a key travel motivator in 2024. As Chinese tourists flock to classic destinations such as Paris and New York, unique journey experiences that make travellers the envy of friends and family will be sought after. The emergence of ‘forbidden zones’ – areas such as Afghanistan and Iran currently deemed inaccessible by conflict – will become attractive new destinations for tourists to discover. Off the beaten track destinations such as Bhutan are already seeing an increase in interest (Skyscanner searches are up 40% YOY) but by 2024 it will have become a far more fashionable choice.
The Skyscanner report is the result of in-depth research and a series of interviews with a team of 56-strong trend experts and futurologists. The full report can be read or downloaded at www.skyscanner2024.com and also includes sections one and two launched earlier this year which look at how emerging technologies will change the way we book holidays as well as the impact on airports and the flight experience. To contribute to the conversation use #FutureOfTravel.
