Introduction
Every trip is a unique experience that forever leaves a vivid imprint on the traveler. People travel for different reasons, some more than others, and some like only the occasional trip to a neighboring city. Nevertheless, people will never stop traveling, no matter the conditions. During the pandemic, travel has taken on a new form – virtual tours, walks on city maps, exhibitions in museums, and online meetings (Ruel & Esther, 2020). Gradually, society will evolve, technology will go far ahead, and travel will remain one of the main ways to obtain vivid impressions. What will be the future tourism: what will appear in 50, 100, 150 years? Will borders between cities and countries disappear, and will there be more freedom of movement? I am sure tourism will always flourish: first on Earth, then on the Moon, and then into interstellar space. It is amazing how the technology of moving around in space and sharing information develops and is introduced into our lives every day. I want to show what future tourism will be like and how we can already influence it.
Year 2100
Back in 1995, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), and the Earth Council developed and drafted a document that outlined the plan for tourism and travel in the 21st century. It was found that, in general, the needs of travelers are met, but in some ways, the cultural value and ecological process suffers. In 2021, the environmental agenda is widely publicized, with more and more activists encouraging consumers to buy environmental goods. These products include personal care supplies, containers, edible utensils, eco-friendly clothing, and more for travelers (Spenceley & Snyman, 2017). Eco-tourism is developing with the support of modern technology (geneticists, biologists, chemists, agronomists help preserve natural complexes). That is why I am sure that tourism will be eco-friendly in the future: solar energy will replace gasoline emissions of personal cars, airports will not pollute the environment, and travelers will completely switch to rational consumption.
Closely related to the ecological progress of tourism in the development of mechanical engineering. The future seems filled with flying cars, daily flights to the Moon, and rapid travel to the fifth space (like in “Interstellar”). For more than 50 years, people have been flying into space, exploring it, and looking for ways to travel to distant planets. If a satellite could go beyond the solar system, why can’t scientists find a way to send tour groups to the Moon? I am sure that in the next fifty years there will be aircraft or even trains that will allow tourists to get to their desired destinations in a matter of moments.
Development of transportation technology is closely related to the growth of the world’s population. As the general standard of living and needs increase, people need transportation that coordinates seamlessly with ordinary life (Future of Tourism Coalition, 2021). With the emergence of fast ways to travel, people will use them to travel: it will be possible to travel quickly to London from China and to Antarctica from Antarctica; a shuttle bus with a stop in Egypt will follow. As crazy as the idea of cars seemed at the beginning of the 20th century, every person in the world now uses a car to go shopping in a hypermarket. Future tourism is about environmentally friendly, new, fast, and convenient transport that is ready to take you anywhere in the world or even the universe.
Tourism will also develop in the socio-cultural direction: information exchange systems and means of communication will improve. Thanks to information technology, intelligent machines recognize speech (Google’s online translator). But they are still imperfect, so creating new ways of processing visual and voice signals with more layered coding can facilitate language exchange. Information technology will simplify communication difficulties: automated machines will be able to recognize speech and understand gesture language and tell the user how to behave correctly.
Earlier I mentioned two vital aspects of tourism: virtual reality and conscious consumption. Information technology altogether provides a person with the capabilities of virtual travel through audio, video devices, and different goggles (Coyne & Jennings, 2020). In future tourism, the virtual journey will prove to be one of the leading tourism sectors due to its convenience and accessibility. Moreover, they will stabilize the economic environment and allow cultural experiences even when it is impossible to be physically present (Ruel & Esther, 2020). Conscious consumption and tourism are also closely linked because the wise use of natural and cultural resources will increase their value and preserve them for future generations. The historical footprint cannot be replaced by photographs or virtual reality, so tourism will develop in such a way as to direct economic resources toward the preservation and restoration of heritage sites.
Conclusion
The future becomes possible when experience is transformed into the present. Knowledge, skills, technology are accumulated, and people change their opinions about specific events. The tourism industry needs to learn how to interpret the world and promote human development in culture. I am sure that the penetration of technologies into the sphere of tourism is permanent because every year, progress is farther and farther. If at first tourism was just a necessity for trade and search of new territories, now it is a whole multilevel system consisting of culture, impressions, natural sites, camping, gastro tours, and much more. Developing as trade, education, sports, tourism gradually became a separate branch of social interaction, taking a high place in today’s culture.
References
Coyne, J., & Jennings, P. (2020). The world after Covid-19. In After Covid-19: Australia and the world rebuild, 1, 60-126. Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Future of Tourism Coalition. (2021). Guiding principles. Future of tourism. Web.
Ruel, H. & Esther, N. (2020). AI redefining the hospitality industry. Journal of Tourism Futures, 7(1), 53-66. Web.
Spenceley, A., & Snyman, S. (2017). Protected area tourism: Progress, innovation and sustainability. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 17(1), 3-7.