Holidaymakers will be able to 3D print their buffet breakfasts and stay in underwater hotels, according to a new easyJet report into the future of travel.
According to the travel giant, by 2070 the average tourist will be sleeping in underwater hotels on a smart bed set to your desired firmness, before a holographic personal holiday concierge explains the local sights to see.
If your luggage gets lost on the way there, a handy 3D printer will be on hand to spew out as many pairs of short-shorts and Hawaiian shirts, in your size, as you could dream of.
Getting through airport security on the way home will be a breeze as heartbeat passports will do away with the need for physical travel documents.
In the future you will arrive home rested and relaxed, having spent a comfortable flight nestled into seats that change according to a passengers’ body shape, height, weight, and temperature.
This is how the world of travel will look in 2070, according to the easyJet 2070: The Future Travel Report.
The budget airline commissioned a group of academics and futurists, including Professor Brigitte Andersen of Birkbeck; Dr Melissa Sterry, design scientist and complex systems theorist; and renowned futurists Shivvy Jervis and Dr Patrick Dixon, to make their best guesses for how travel and tourism will change.
As space-age as these predictions seem, the authors insist they won't just be for the super rich.
"The goal of the report is to find what the future of travel will look like for everyone," they told the Mirror. "Just as 50 years ago the idea of low-cost airline travel seemed like a far-off dream, this is now a common reality, therefore these predictions show what travel for every traveller will be like."
The futurologists believe that every part of your holiday - from the travel agents to the journey, the food to the hotel - will be vastly different to how it is today.
The journey
Your trip through the airport will be much smoother thanks to heartbeat and biometric passports that will replace traditional travel documents.
Much like fingerprints and the retina, every person’s cardiac signature is unique, meaning passengers can be identified by a heartbeat signatures and biometric details that will be logged on a global system.
Plane seats with smart materials will adapt to passengers’ body shape, height, weight, and temperature, providing the ultimate tailored comfort flying experience.
Meanwhile e-VTOL air taxis will do away with the airport car park shuttle, making the journey to the airport much quicker and more convenient than ever before.
The hotel
In the future the average hotel guest will always be right to the extent that they'll be able to magic up exactly what their heart desires.
A digital menu will be on hand so you can type in what you want, from omelette to kedgeree, pancakes to a fry up, before a 3D printer spews it out.
The futurologists insist it will "taste just like the real thing."
Your holiday provider could supply you with a digital holographic personal concierge, and driverless transfers will include alerts for staff so they can check you in remotely and be on hand to help with bags.
Meanwhile all hotel rooms will be smart rooms with beds pre-made to exactly desired firmness, ambient temperatures and the guests' favourite music playing when they enter the room.
A recyclable clothing service at your destination using 3D printers mean you could "find a wardrobe filled with outfits in your exact size", according to Professor Graham Braithwaite, director of Transport Systems at Cranfield.
He added: "When you leave, clothes can be recycled and reprinted for the next tourist. Not only will this reduce the stress of packing, holiday fashion becomes more sustainable.”
New tech will help hotels keep green, including corridors that can harness human footprints in order to generate power.
Entertainment
While we may not have worked out how to go back in time by 2070, given that would likely require travelling faster than the speed of light, we may have cracked the next best thing.
Tomorrow’s travellers will be able to holiday in past by wearing haptic suits, the futurologists predict, which would allow you to experiences sights and sounds of the past in the likes of Ancient Greece, or medieval French markets.
Dr Melissa Sterry said: "Haptic suits could intensify the experience, to make you feel with every fibre of your body that you are actually there, experiencing it just as they would have all those years ago."
Bionic and Meta holiday previews harnessing the same tech will let holidaymakers try before they buy, so disappointing trips to pokey hotels or overcrowded beaches can be avoided.
Relying on Google translate or speaking loudly and slowly to order a full English will also be a thing of the past with in-ear devices to translate local languages in real-time.
Meanwhile E-foiling, cable skiing and flyboarding will be normal holiday activities, taking water sports to another level.
Heading up the report, Professor Birgitte Andersen of Birkbeck College, said: “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 holidaymakers 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.”
TOP 15 TRAVEL PREDICTIONS BRITS WOULD MOST LIKE TO SEE BECOME A REALITY:
“Time-travelling” holiday experiences via haptic suits that allow you to visit historical sites, but see how life would have played out many years ago, i.e. seeing Colossus of Rhodes in 280BC – 42%
Hassle-free airport security, using biometric heartbeat passports – 38%
Underwater “sea-faris” taking tourists on aquatic adventures to the depths of the ocean – 32%
Subterranean hotels built into the fabric of the earth that are super energy-efficient and at one with the environment – 26%
Smart hotels with personalised holiday rooms that adapt and configure to travellers' needs and wants on arrival – 25%
Local language hearing aids will be available to take with us on holiday, allowing us to speak the local lingo – 24%
“Try before you buy” bionic and Metaverse holiday previews will provide holidaymakers with a virtual experience allowing them to see, hear, smell, and feel a destination before booking – 23%
Ergonomic and biomimetic sensory plane seats that adapt to passengers' body shape, weight, and temperature, providing ultimate comfort – 20%
3D printed hotel buffet food serving up any all-inclusive breakfast, lunch, and dinner that holidaymakers desire, and reducing food waste – 19%
Inflight entertainment beamed directly in front of passengers' eyes, doing away with the need to download shows before you fly, or the need for on-board TV screens – 18%
Week-long holiday package trips to the moon – 17%
e-VTOL air taxis taking passengers from home to the airport terminal, as well as ferrying holidaymakers around city locations abroad – 14%
Autonomous rent-a-car services on location, i.e. driverless hire vehicles that ferry travellers around their holiday destination – 13%
A digital holographic personal concierge that accompanies holidaymakers to provide up-to-date destination information and advice – 11%
3D printed recyclable holiday clothes available on arrival at the hotel, doing away with suitcases – 10%
