What’s in our future?
The changes in travel over the past 30 years have been immense. The digital revolution has impacted everything from marketing and booking through to transport and the delivery of travel experiences. Even who is travelling has changed, as people from more and more countries are undertaking leisure trips. Expectations are also higher, with a large proportion of tourists having travelled since childhood, growing more sophisticated in their tastes.
So, what will this mean for the future? In many respects, travel should be even easier. Technology will surely have a huge impact, dangling the possibility of more personalised itineraries, seamless transactions when booking, five-star accommodation as the norm, and efficient eco-friendly transport. But does all this mean that travel will be almost too easy?
In the early days of Wanderlust, we often wrote about culture shock and how to deal with it. But the world is increasingly homogenised, with the same fast-food outlets and stores across many cities and countries. Up-and-coming destinations now even boast of having a Starbucks.
This could lead to a swing back towards travellers wanting to explore the differences in cultures, celebrating all that is unique. To some extent it is already happening, with an explosion in bookable local activities that can now be accessed.You can already learn how to paint azulejos (tiles) in Porto, bake delicious dolmas in Sarajevo and take part in a traditional tea ceremony in Kyoto. We will inevitably see further and deeper growth in what is offered. Will people want to learn languages that were once in danger of disappearing? Or try being a shepherd in the Alps for a few days?
There is already a growth in Indigenous tourism, with destinations such as Australia and California already having launched dedicated websites to help promote experiences. At a recent tourism forum in Saskatoon, Matricia Bauer, who hosts a number of Indigenous cultural experiences in Alberta, told the assembled international media present that demand is outstripping supply in Canada. This may be causing short-term problems but bodes well for the future for both members of Indigenous communities and for travellers.
Thanks to modern travellers’ inexhaustible search for the perfect selfie, photography is fast becoming a controversial topic. A town in Vermont made the news this fall by closing a road to the hordes of people eager for a shot of its autumn leaves. Around the world, fed-up farmers, such as those who grow lavender in France, get frustrated at the crops trampled by selfie seekers.
Meanwhile, Madrid’s Reina Sofia museum (p234) has just lifted a 30-year ban on photography, as museum officials hope that in doing so, they will ease congestion around Picasso’s iconic Guernica painting by decreasing the amount of time visitors spend in front of it. A spokesperson was quoted as saying: “It only takes a few seconds to take a selfie, and so the pace of the public will flow more.” That’s all very well for the photographers, but not for those who want to savour this great painting. So, will selfie-taking become frowned upon in favour of appreciation of the sight? Could the experience and the moment once again become more prized instead.
There will be challenges too. The greatest unknown for travel is the impact of climate change on the world and what actions will be taken. But, hopefully, the world is waking up in time to stabilise and even reverse what is taking place. Whatever happens, our choice of when and where we travel will evolve.
And what about overtourism, you may ask? It is already an issue in many of the most popular cities and sights, although some destinations are fighting back, whether by capping numbers or introducing levies. Replica sites and augmented reality tours could help ease the pressure on the originals. But, while well-known sites are submerged in tourists, they are just islands surrounded by other wonderful and special places that are overlooked and may even be craving tourism. The bottom line is that there are so many places to discover and explore. The next few decades should see us travelling far more widely, discovering that there are many more Inca trails than the one that is commonly known; that there are far more Maya sites than Chichen Itza; that Angkor Wat isn’t the only temple complex in Cambodia. Our world is only getting bigger.
One hope is that we will move past the bucket-list mentality. Technology can be a tool to help us travel deeper and in a more fulfilling way. We may also find ourselves craving simplicity, such as appreciating the joy of just sitting in nature and admiring a view, or immersing ourselves in a quiet corner of an ancient site, or watching a humpback whale breach. Sometimes, just making a connection with someone from a very different heritage and understanding their story is the biggest adventure of all.
Where will we travel?
Some of the destinations we’ll be travelling to in the future will inevitably change, whether due to the climate, overtourism, differing tastes or politics. This has always been the case, but one factor really stands out.
Climate change may be the biggest future influence on when and where people will go for their summer break. If we’re already talking about Belgium’s tiny strip of coast becoming a summer hotspot, as happened this year, who knows what’s next? It could be that school holidays will change to accommodate shifting weather patterns, or maybe summer breaks in Europe will see us heading to cool off in the Himalaya, Scandinavia or the Arctic? The same places will surely flourish in winter, as snow becomes less predictable outside of the polar regions.
Changing tastes will have their say too. Currently underrated regions such as the Balkans will likely see a boom, as the world catches on to the beauty of its landscapes, historical sites and traditional culture. In Central America, for example, El Salvador and Nicaragua have the potential to become as popular as Costa Rica is now. And Guyana could just be the next dream rainforest destination.
There is big tourism potential in the Middle East, where destinations are finally realising their potential. As well as cultural and active escapes, there is room for nature tourism as rewilding efforts increase. Iraqi Kurdistan could be the next adventure-travel hotspot, while Syria and Libya have historical sites that will be a huge pull if their political situation changes. Christmas in Baghdad, anyone?
When will we travel?
If you’d booked a UK break this past autumn, then you might have felt pretty smug about it. September was the joint-warmest since records began in 1884, as temperatures nudged the high 20s (°C) in early October. The Costa del Cornwall had never had it so hot.
Conversely, other destinations suffered dire consequences from the unusually warm, arid conditions this past year. In Canada, the wildfire season that typically begins in May flared in March, while the terrible fires afflicting Greece were also linked to extended periods of searing weather.
As long ago as 1999, the World Wildlife Federation predicted that climate change would soon make destinations in the eastern Mediterranean uncomfortably hot in the high season, with temperatures increasingly soaring above 40°C. Why swelter in August when you could soak in the sun comfortably in balmy May or October, many are now asking?
“We have been adapting our itineraries for some time with climate change in mind, expanding our shoulder and off-season departures,” explained Hazel McGuire, general manager for UK & Ireland of tour operator Intrepid Travel. “[In 2023,] we’ve seen a 61% increase in shoulder-season bookings for Western Europe and a 29% increase in Southern Europe.”
Young people are having their say too. A poll commissioned by The Advantage Travel Partnership exploring emerging trends for 2024 showed that 70% of those aged 18 to 24 are somewhat or very likely to change the time of year they travel as a result of changing weather patterns.
“It’s far too
