Travel experts have predicted that holidaymakers could swap poolside relaxation in Benidorm for space excursions and beach breaks up mountains 30 years into the future.
Manchester-based travel company Travel Counsellors has teamed up with ‘applied futurist’ Tom Cheesewright – a consultant who helps businesses plan for the future in light of technology, societal and climate changes – to delve deeper into what a holiday may look like in 30 years.
The experts predict that people will have different priorities in the future and that their chosen escapes will reflect this.
For example, as technology continues to weave itself into every aspect of our daily lives, the holiday of the 2050s might be used to detox from the constant connection to screens and seek time with other humans.
Hotels may start to crop up that hide technology from view, bringing you back to a time of yesteryear when check-in signatures were made with pens rather than touch screens, and real metal keys were used instead of electronic ones.
While some may feel that they need a break from a technology-fuelled lifestyle, others are predicted to be embracing high-tech innovation that has reimagined how we travel across the globe.
Holidays to space, for example, are forecast by the experts to be a top travel trend of the future.
Space tourism is already in development, with billionaires such as Jeff Bezos having already successfully launched six tourists into zero gravity at the edge of space in May, and businessman Jared Isaacman completed the first-ever private spacewalk in September.
However, Cheesewright predicts that companies could spend as little as £10 in sending humans into orbit in the future, making space trips to see the curvature of the Earth that little bit more accessible in years to come.
Celebrating the dawn of new technology yet to be fully realised could also be found in ultra-fast journeys on planes.
By 2054, the experts believe that supersonic jets will take to the skies, offering long-haul travellers a chance to get to their destinations in unimaginable record-breaking times.
Companies like Venus Aerospace are already trying to develop high-speed travel in the form of hypersonic technology. In October, it unveiled a new hypersonic engine which it hopes could propel hypersonic commercial flights into reality.
For those travelling short haul, electric jets could also become the new normal, with fully-electric aircraft being used to reduce noise and emissions, reducing environmental footprints.
Battery technology doubles in capacity every five to seven years, so by the 2050s, aviation could be transformed by more sustainable ways of powering a passenger plane.
Along with quicker, more environmental flights, Cheesewright also suggests that airport queues will dwindle and pre-flight stress will be a thing of the past thanks to better technology in the future.
Multi-spectrum sensors and biometric scanning of your face, heart rate and breathing, could mean that cumbersome security checks could be a lot swifter than with the current machines that are used.
However, the threat of climate change could impact where people fly to, as extreme weather is causing travellers to rethink their holiday plans, with many already actively avoiding destinations that are more prone to harsh weather events.
Cheesewright predicts that much-loved summer destinations may become too warm to visit, prompting holidaymakers to travel further north for alternative locations.
He believes that new resorts may emerge in traditional winter destinations, such as the creation of man-made beaches at alpine lakes amongst the mountains.
Speaking about the findings, Steve Byrne, CEO of Travel Counsellors, said: “It’s exciting to envision the future of travel and the ways these advancements could transform our experiences.
“While technology plays a strong role in creating seamless, cutting-edge ways to discover the world, people’s desire to make the most of their leisure time, along with the need for authentic human connection, remains just as essential – both in the holiday experiences themselves and in the personal touch that travel professionals provide.”
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