Posted on Thursday, 2 October 2014

Flight comparison website Skyscanner has published the third and final part of its Future of Travel report, which could hardly be described as ‘conservative' in its predictions.

This last instalment looks at how hotels could change over the next decade, and examines a number of destinations that could emerge as travel hot spots.

Skyscanner enlisted "travel futurologist" Dr Ian Yeoman for part of the report, who suggested that Lebanon could be "the new Dubai" and that one of the "new global players in luxury travel" could be Bhutan.

Dr Yeoman also said that Angola could become one of Africa's future winners in global travel, with its growing economy and "good national parks.” It is also safer than South Africa, says Yeoman, and is benefitting from a great deal of Chinese investment. The gradual repair of damage caused by the civil war 10 years ago is also a key factor in Angola's revival.

Yeoman's optimism as regards Angola's tourist industry echoes a report by the World Travel and Tourism Council, which in May listed Angola as one of 50 tourist destinations that could take off in the next 10 years.

Extinction Escapes

Another key driver of tourism to less-travelled locations is "the extinction race", where people set out to glimpse endangered animals before they go the way of the dodo.

Polar bears are given as one of the animals popular with "extinction race" tourists, alongside leatherback turtles in the Indian Ocean and the Chinese alligator on the Yangtze River.

Galactic Getaways

But former war zones and endangered species-spotting weren't enough for the Skyscanner team; they also examined the possibilities of the final frontier – space.

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic project will, says the report, be a reality by 2024 – enabling (very well off) people to experience space travel for the first time. Other firms, such as World View Enterprises, with its advanced helium balloon, hope to offer a service that takes people 20 miles into the sky.

For those without the huge funds needed for real space travel, a close second might be Barcelona's Mobilona Space Hotel, which will offer residents panoramic "views" of the galaxy in its "immersive" suites.

Sea Views?

But if you have more aquatic interests, then Dubai's Water Discus Hotel may well be of interest, being as it is partially submerged in the sea and boasting its own dive centre.

Healing Hotels

Indeed, the Skyscanner report suggests there could be big changes all round for hotels. Within 10 years, says the report's Nik Gupta, “Travellers will have no need to encounter a single human being from the time that they enter their chosen hotel to the time that they check out of their room.”

But while you may find such a hotel unnecessarily anti-social, you might be won over by “chromatherapeutic lighting – violet to relax muscles, yellow to aid digestion…" that will, according to another futurologist called Ian Pearson, be available in some hotels.

The report makes no mention of how travel insurance might change over the coming decade – but here at starttravel.co.uk we predict it will be easier and quicker to get a quote and take out high quality cover than ever before – at least if you take it out with us!

You can read all three parts of the Skyscanner report here.

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