The metaverse can be summarized as an expanded world. So, naturally, it also affects travel. Spatial communication and digital twins will make certain types of travel less likely, and while AR and automation will reimagine the travel we actually do, both how and when people travel can be profoundly different. Booking.com for businessNow, titled “The Future of Business Travel,” we explore travel over the next 30 years.

AR and Space Hotels

The report begins with the Future Travel Forecast Timeline. To the dismay of augmented reality enthusiasts, the report says AR is coming in his 2027. This is the same year as “Space Hotel”. The report acknowledges existing AR use cases such as augmenting regions with contextual information. But the author is waiting for something better.

“At the moment, AR is limited, lacking a wide field of view, and has resolution, battery, and 3D sensing issues.” read the report. “By 2027, people will have access to unlimited, immersive AR experiences, and travel professionals will see the benefits that come with it.”

Why 2027? While the paper doesn’t explicitly mention powerful AR wearables, its timeframe and their claim to an “unconstrained” experience suggest that this is what the authors are waiting for. We already have consumer AR glasses with limited FoV, but these are almost exclusively virtual screen ‘viewers’ and can’t provide the real-time contextual information people want.

in a recent interview AR post Lumus vice president of optics, David Goldman, plans to launch consumer AR devices based on Z-Lens around 2025, with models with 50-degree FoV eventually widening to 70 or 80 degrees in 2027. It seems to be becoming more in line with people’s expectations of AR travel.

Interested in more VR?

Extended travel and virtual travel are different things. Virtual reality brings greater immersion through heads-up interfaces, higher graphical fidelity, and wider perspectives. Additionally, VR hardware is becoming increasingly available, affordable, and popular with consumers.

The report also included a collection of the most searched for travel trends, with virtual travel among the top three. Our ranking of the most talked about travel trends in the media also included “Hotel Metaverse” at #3 and “Hotel Virtual Events” at #8.

The authors attribute this to virtual travel, which has “reduced the number of required business trips and given corporate travelers the opportunity to explore the world through VR and Metaverse experiences.” Specific use cases envisioned in the report include pre-booking immersive tours, virtual meetings and events, virtual site visits to digital twins, and immersive in-flight entertainment.

Metaverse details

Immersive technology is at the forefront of our heads and hearts here. AR post, But the Metaverse is more than just display technology. The report also includes forecasts related to other emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain.

For example, the authors predict blockchain technology will become the norm in hotels a year before they predict the launch of AR. And early in his next decade, the authors predict, “most hotels will have guest comfort and energy efficiency managed and optimized by AI.”

See below for more predictions, including hotel-specific cryptocurrency-powered rewards programs and robotic assistants. full report.

lots of fun

All predictions should be moderately salted. This is especially true for predictions based on when certain developments will occur. Disclaimer aside, Booking.com shows some very interesting trends in what people want from the metaverse when it comes to travel.