09 Jul ASK A TRAVEL FUTURIST: HOW ARE VACATIONS, TOURISM AND TRANSPORTATION CHANGING?
Travel futurists and keynote speakers are in high demand these days. You’d be surprised just how much airports, hotels, hospitality providers, destination management companies (DMCs), and other firms are on the hunt for individuals who can help anticipate trends and developments in the field. To this extent, travel futurists’ work often spans areas like transportation, hospitality, eco-tourism, travel technology, and customer behavior. And, of course, working pros here can often be found using tools from future studies, strategic foresight, and various research methods to make these suggestions.
Wondering what sample types of responsibilities and areas of focus a travel futurist may spend their day on? The answers may intrigue you to discover:
Mapping Emerging Developments: Tracking and monitoring changes in traveler behavior, emerging destinations, shifts in transportation, and transformations in the hospitality industry, among other new happenings and factors.
R&D and Consulting Work: At the same time, you may frequently see travel futurists analyzing and forecasting how new forms or developments in technology can change the way we vacation or voyage. We’re talking keeping an eye on all sorts of promising innovations from augmented and virtual reality in trip planning, AI and machine learning in personalized travel recommendations, self-driving cars and flying taxis in transportation to the application of blockchain in secure and seamless travel bookings.
Sustainability: Given growing concerns about climate change and environmental degradation, travel futurists could play a key role in envisioning more eco-friendly forms of tourism going forward to boot.
Sky High Outings: As companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin continue to develop, the idea of space tourism is becoming more plausible. Practitioners in the space could explore the implications and possibilities of this new frontier in destinations.
Overall Economic Impact: You may also see working pros in the field contemplating how changes in the travel industry might affect societies and economies around the world, especially given that tourism (no surprises here) tends to be a large and considerable source of income for many countries.
Consulting for Businesses and Governments: Travel futurists often use their insights to advise travel and tourism businesses as well as governments on how to prepare for and capitalize on future trends. You might also find them consulting and speaking on potential risks and help develop strategies to mitigate them.
Thought Leadership: As with peers in other fields, you’ll no doubt find myriad travel futurists sharing their findings and predictions through public speaking engagements, articles, books, or consulting reports as well.
