2020 Travel Trend Forecast by Globetrender provides strategic insights into ten key trends for the year ahead…
What will the world be like at the start of the next decade? In 2020, it’s rumoured that Apple will be releasing game-changing augmented- reality eyewear, and 5G will be rolled out across the UK allowing for download speeds up to 100 times faster than 4G. If Virgin Galactic achieves its mission to take paying customers on sub-orbital flights, it will set in motion a whole new industry of Space Tourism.
At the same time, Britain will likely be entering a transitional period ahead of it leaving the European Union, and the US will be undergoing a presidential election. Will Trump be ousted? The world will be watching. Meanwhile, Tokyo will be hosting the 2020 Olympic Games in the summer, the Dubai Expo 2020 will be taking place in the autumn, and the UN climate change summit – the biggest since 2015 – is on the calendar for November.
1. CASTAWAY ISLANDS
Long-suffering urbanites crave a Robinson Crusoe existence but thousands of the world’s islands are at risk of being submerged by rising sea levels. A new wave of private resorts are welcoming guests while they can
2. CASH-FREE CULTURE
Paper notes and coins are soon to be a thing of the past. As travellers increasingly rely on mobile banking, smart devices and cryptocurrencies, businesses need to ensure they are equipped to take their money
3. CYBER WORLDS
As virtual reality comes of age, and offline experiences digitise, a compelling new medium that blends technology with immersive theatre is generating new reasons to travel, especially among Generation Z.
4. MODERN NOMADISM
The growing freelance movement is liberating professionals from the shackles of nine-to-five working. As people take overseas sabbaticals and set off on round-the-world adventures, hotels are also embracing no-fixed-abode concepts.
5. BIOMETRICS & BIOHACKING
Facial recognition is transforming the way passengers move seamlessly through airports, making boarding passes and physical immigration checks redundant. But human microchipping is the bleeding-edge innovation to scrutinise.
6. SPACE TOURISM
In all of history, only 536 people have ever been into space and just 12 have walked on the moon. But that is set to change as private companies vie to take regular paying Earthlings off-world on their very own rocket ship.
7. UPSKILLING ESCAPES
Whereas experiential travel granted people bragging rights around the dinner table, and transformational travel inspired them to disconnect, going away to learn new skills will be the motivating force behind betterment trips of the new decade.
8. ULTRA HIGH SPEED
For the first time since Concorde, supersonic flight is making a comeback, meaning that having breakfast in London and lunch in Vancouver will soon become a reality. Equally, super-fast trains are transforming overland options for city-breakers of tomorrow.
9. CANNABIS TOURISM
The green economy is opening up higher ways of being for holidaymakers looking to turn on, tune in and drop out, if only for a week. Cannabis tourists can look forward to luxury CBD spa treatments, marijuana fine-dining, weed tours and even stylish mega dispensaries
10. CHINESE DOMINATION
China is about to surpass the US as the world’s biggest economy. Shunning groups in favour of individual travel, Chinese millennials are breaking away from the norm and looking for destinations in which to spend their newly acquired wealth.