Travel Counsellors agents have been advised to speak to clients about the prospect of space tourism as part of their approach to planning for the future.
Tom Cheesewright, a consultant and author, delivered a keynote speech at the homeworking agency’s annual conference in which he outlined how the travel industry might look in 30 years’ time.
“In 2054, will space tourism not just be for the billionaire few, but for the masses? Maybe,” he said.
Going on to refer to the Concorde era, he predicted supersonic travel would likely return in a “few years’ time” to provide a luxury means of reaching a destination fast.
“Electric jets are certainly coming by 2054,” he added, noting these would be much quieter than existing aircraft and have less impact on the environment.
He also claimed flying cars would be introduced in the coming years. “You’ll be able to get one fairly soon,” he said.
Climate change would have a “dramatic impact” on the travel industry over the next three decades, he said, causing a need for the sector to adapt.
“We’ve got to respond to the pressure, but it’s not an existential threat to travel,” he said, adding that travellers’ destination preferences would shift as temperatures rise.
“We’re going to see migration north and new destinations,” he said. “We’re going to see the remarketing of winter resorts for the summer.”
He outlined the possibility of artificial beaches being created in mountainous locations.
In the more immediate future, he said, agents should take advantage of a number of developing trends, including a greater desire for “longer, slower travel”, heightened interest in shoulder-season trips and a strong demand for luxury holidays.
“Post-pandemic, there’s been an enormous boom in people chasing five-star hotel rooms,” he said, adding: “Everyone is now in the top end of the market. A huge proportion of the market is people earning £100,000 to £1 million.”
He also said travellers would increasingly seek destinations that are less well-known, a development that would coincide with attempts to address overtourism.
“People are going to crave the novelty of being the first to go and do something and not follow the beaten path,” Cheesewright said. “They want to say, ‘I’ve been here, where nobody else has’.”
He recommended that agents should make use of new technology – including artificial intelligence – and advised them to spend 1% of their time thinking about the future.
He said: “Get excited by the far future – the possibility of tourism in space – and talk to your customers about it. See if they’re excited too. But act on those near-term trends – slow travel, luxury [trips], time-shifting [off-season] travel and that desire for novelty.”
This year’s conference, which celebrated 30 years of Travel Counsellors, was held in Manchester and hosted more agents than ever before.
Photo: Shutterstock/Alones