Where will you go in 10 years’ time? The answer may be both closer to home and much further away. Concerns about air travel’s contribution to the climate crisis (flying accounts for about 2.5 per cent of global carbon emissions) mean that we’ll spend more time exploring our own backyards.
That is, until the first electric aeroplanes take to the skies: Nasa’s Maxwell air-craft, powered by 14 electric motors fitted with lithium-ion batteries and designed for short-haul commercial flying, will begin test flights late this year. In the meantime, we can expect a growing trend for domestic holidays here in Britain. "We’ll see more people travelling within shorter distances and finding the transformative experiences they crave closer to home," says Jennifer Rubio, who co-founded the luxury luggage brand Away.
Many destinations will offer holidaymakers the chance to try their accommodation before booking. "We’re looking into creating virtual-reality tours to help our guests discover the perfect holiday rental," says One Fine Stay’s chief markets officer Lavina Liyanage. Yelena Rachitsky, the executive producer at Facebook’s Oculus, whose company mission is "to defy distance", agrees. "Let’s say you’re in London and your family live in the US – you’ll all travel together using VR," she says. Within a decade or two, the sensory technology will be so advanced that "you’ll feel as if you’re actually touching each other". It won’t be long before you can travel to, say, Africa without leaving your sitting-room. "You’ll be able to interact with animals on safari, or walk into a shop in Morocco and start a conversation," says Rachitsky.
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Space exploration is another area that Oculus is working on, and those travellers for whom money – and carbon emissions – are no object may soon have lift-off. The SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell’s ‘aspirational’ timelines for the Elon Musk-owned company will see its Starship craft or bit within the next year, and land on the moon in 2022.
Wherever we go, chances are we will be travelling together. "As people spend more and more time looking down at their smartphones, the need and craving for community is gaining relevance," says Rubio, who also believes that the continuing dominance of social media will drive us to seek out further-flung destinations – those Instagram trophy spots.
"We’ll prioritise exploring unique, undiscovered corners of the world and value the excitement of reaching serene, untouched locations." Rachitsky agrees. "I don’t think VR is ever going to replace the magic of travel, or the element of danger," she says. "Technology is going to make things more accessible wherever we are, but people will always want to have adventures."
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2020-01-13 09:00:00Z
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/culture-news/a30455136/future-of-travel/
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