Lots of things have changed about travel, from how travelers access information, how people travel, how travelers address travel challenges, among many others.
Certainly, the greater percentage of these changes are attributable to technology. Today, you can pinpoint your location through a mobile phone as well as knowing what’s nearby.
Also, a traveler will keep in touch with friends and family regardless of the location, do gambling in sports, or even stream a Netflix series while on a flight. Apparently, flights will have changed greatly in the near future.
The much-witnessed changes in travel beg the question, “what will travel look like in the year 2020?” We have compiled 12 travel-related predictions most likely to come true come next year.
1. Wi-Fi in the Sky:
While many airlines offer online access to passengers in the skies, these services are sometimes patchy and not always enough to do your sports betting online. Facebook hopes to develop a fleet of drones that would beam superfast Wi-Fi to literally every corner of the globe.
2. Virtual Reality:
Virtual reality is a technology that helps travelers explore destinations, to plan and finalize your travel plans. Hotels with VR services help their guests to enjoy virtual experiences of different locations from the comfort of their rooms. The same VR technology can be used to showcase the hotel property to prospective guests. A lot is lining up for VR, with next year expecting a fair share of this technology.
3. Augmented Reality:
Augmented reality is yet another travel tech that is gaining a lot of progress. Take Skully AR-1 motorcycle helmet, for instance, where the driver is provided with a heads-up display on the front face shield of the helmet. The shield displays information such as driving direction, temperatures, and others to help with a smooth ride. And this being just an entry of AR into the travel world, a lot is definitely sure to follow.
4. Wearables:
Since the arrival of apple watches, wearables have gained fast entry into travel space. Currently, airlines have streamlined the boarding processes by the help of smartwatches. Away from smartwatches, there are many other wearables gaining momenta such as Google’s glasses and fitness trackers. It seems that wearable devices are a potentially disruptive force the future travel scenario.
5. Chatbots:
Travel is making use of artificial intelligence and machine learning like never before. Now with cognitive computing, these chatbots are rumored to work as travel agents.
Chatbots can provide menu information, enable remote ordering and provide ease of access to their customers. If travel agencies come up with similar techs, traveling will become a lot cool by 2020.
6. Smart Vehicles:
Just imagine a vehicle with an automatic driver in the seat. Well, Uber together with Google is already exploring the possibility of smart vehicles. Although there is yet a lot to accomplish in this tech, it is expected that this travel tech will be successfully implemented by 2020.
7. High-Tech Museums:
In a bid to give clients new experiences, Museums are also becomingly increasingly high-tech. Head on to Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center near Chicago and listen to the survivors of the Holocaust give their accounts of their experiences during World War II. High-Tech Museums can only get better by 2020.
8. Flying Objects:
Travelers have kept on dreaming about flying, not on passenger airplanes, though. This seems to be within reach. Many tech enthusiasts are looking into airborne and water taxis that can take people to their destination. Uber is expected to launch its flying taxis by 2020.
9. The Robots are coming:
Robot technology is finally in tourism, though a little slower to develop than might expected. Robots in travel can perform various duties such as scanning boarding passes, providing help in different languages, and giving direction to travelers. Today, if you realize that a spot in the airport is so clean, then be sure a robot was behind the task. They are fitted with object avoidance systems to ensure that they don’t collide with travelers. The robot tech has a lot in store for us come 2020, let’s stick around.
10. Google Translate and Maps:
Today, Google has seriously used tech in many ways. The tech giant was behind one of the most powerful innovations- Google Buds.
These are special headphones which can understand up to forty different languages, as well as giving direction, playing music, making calls, etc. Adam Champy explained that “it’s like you’ve got your own personal translator with you everywhere you go.”
As if that’s not enough, efforts by Google to map the world continues exponentially. It’s believed that by 2020, the street view will extend to the whole world for travelers to get a view of various spots without leaving their location.
11. Supersonic Travel:
Although the first-ever supersonic jet went out of service decades ago, now supersonic travel is right back on the horizon. NASA is working to release a much quieter supersonic plane that could be ready to fly as early as 2020. Japan Airlines is also looking at developing its own version of economical Concorde.
12. Circular Runways:
Your supersonic journey could probably start with a circular runway. The idea to have an aircraft take off and land under the same conditions gave the idea of a circle. This will most likely see implementation by next year.
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