The Future of Travel

A leading food and travel journalists depicts and predicts the good, the bad, and the ugly about the future of travel — and how we can transcend the complications of climate change, AI, and touristification . . .

In the future, tourists will strap on a VR headset that serves up information about the storefronts and cathedrals they pass, letting them “ see Paris” without actually laying eyes on it. Instant-translation earbuds will mean we’ ll never have to learn the words Dó nde está la biblioteca? – and who needs a library or bookstore when Spanish-English dictionaries and guidebooks are obsolete?

Meanwhile, thanks to AI, travelers will have an unprecedented fount of information at their disposal – but how much of it can be trusted? And is it really “ saving time” if AI bots are sending everyone to stand in line at already-overrun tourist spots?

And what about those over-crowded spots, such as Barcelona, where residents are so traumatized by crass crowds of visitors that the walls are graffitied with “ TOURISTS GO HOME, ” and signs to “ PLEASE PEE IN THE RIGHT PLACE, ” with a QR code optimistically pointing them to self-cleaning public toilets.

In the coming years, more cities and countries will take drastic measures to combat not only a flood of tourist but of a growing worldwide workforce of “ location-independent professionals, ” by forbidding apartment-sharing apps, turning away cruise ships even as biofuels and hybrid tech make them more environmentally friendly, enacting congestion pricing and car-free zones, and grounding budget airlines such as Ryanair (or “ Ruinair, ” as climate activists have dubbed it) in favor of zero-emission, hydrogen-fueled train networks.

In The Future of Travel, award-winning food and travel writer Daniel Maurer — himself a veteran globetrotter — will predict epic tugs-of-war between the travelers and the locals who are marginalized by these trends, and the stakeholders who benefit from them. We’ ll see a push and pull between cities that have hit a breaking point with touristification and outlying towns that continue to court “ remote workers, ” even as they shun the lower-earning “ migrants” who follow in their wake, delivering their $20 bagels.

We’ ll see what happens when technology allows entire new classes of travelers to move — as far as they can, as much as they can.