Cast your mind forward to the year 2070. What might the future of travel look like? How will your kids, or grandkids, get from A to B? And what out-of-this-world holiday experiences are coming down the pipeline?
Well, speculate no further, easyJet’s 2070: The Future Travel Report reveals how we might travel in 50 years.
The report was authored by leading academics and futurists who gazed into their crystal balls and divined the transformative innovations looming on the horizon.
While the report was written with a specific geographic context in mind, the technologies’ advancements within it could impact the entire world of travel.
One of the report’s authors, Professor Birgitte Andersen, believes that the next 50 years will bring the largest technological advances in travel and tourism:
“Aspects of how we holiday will be transformed beyond recognition,” she said.
“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.”
The report is a mind-boggling read, so we’ve cherry-picked a few key innovations that will leave you flabbergasted.
Heartbeat and biometric passports will enable passengers to breeze through airports using their unique cardiac signatures.
Ergonomic and biomimetic sensory plane seats will adapt to passengers’ body shape, height, weight, and temperature, providing a tailored comfort flying experience.
Inflight entertainment will be beamed directly in front of passengers’ eyes, replacing the need for onboard screens or downloading movies before flying.
e-VTOL air taxis will do away with the airport car park shuttle – the journey to the airport will be quicker and more convenient than ever before with passengers arriving from their homes by e-VTOLs at the terminal.
According to the report, as technology advances, the accommodation we holiday in will undergo significant changes.
Hotel buffet food will be 3D printed, reducing food waste and allowing holidaymakers to customise their meals.
Subterranean hotels will become energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, while smart hotel rooms will cater to guests’ preferences in advance.
Holographic personal holiday concierges will provide up-to-date information and assistance throughout the stay, and 3D-printed recyclable holiday clothes will eliminate the need for suitcases.
And human powered hotels which harvest energy from its guests’ footsteps in order to generate power.
In one of the more outlandish predictions, time-travelling holidaymakers will be possible through haptic suits, which will immerse holidaymakers in live historical surroundings.
Tourists will also be able to preview holiday destinations using bionic and meta technologies before booking trips, and aquatic “sea-faris” will allow for deep-sea exploration of marine life in underwater marine parks.
“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,” Professor Andersen said.
