If you want to discover future travel trends, SPACE.com is the place to go. In "The Future of Travel: Aquatic to Cosmic Destinations," you'll see that space-based hotels, if technologically feasible, will probably not be affordable for a mass market. Other future concepts include helium-filled airship hotels, or Hydropolis, a $500-million underwater hotel on the coast of Dubai and scheduled for opening in December 2006, where you'll be able to sleep with the fishes. The article also describes future hotel 'pods' that can be moved around the globe according to specific demand for a destination. And if none of these residences tempts you, you're welcome to book eco-friendly holidays, which will jump from 1 percent today to 5 percent of all trips by 2024.
The article details the conclusions of a report written by Thomson Holidays, the U.K.-based travel group, "2024: A Holiday Odyssey," before looking at future space hotels and underwater destinations, such as Hydropolis, the world's first underwater luxury resort hotel built on the coast of Dubai.
Hydropolis is to be located off the Jumeirah coast. As the world's first underwater luxury hotel, the plan is to construct three distinct areas: one on land, a connecting tunnel, and the submarine complex. There will also be a ballroom, spa, restaurants, shops and separate underwater villas.
"Hydropolis is a splendid refuge far away from the stress factors of everyday business life and is ideally suited for guests from top management seeking to regenerate their inner strength," explains a project fact sheet.
Here is an artist's rendition of a sideview of Hydropolis (Credit: Hydropolis).
In a review of this hotel, Four Seasons Travel writes the following.
Now comes Hydropolis, the $500-million underwater hotel, 220 suites sitting on the floor of the Gulf, 20 metres below the surface, complete with adjustable control panels for sounds and smells. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'sleeping with fishes.'
Finally, SPACE.com reports about future hotel pods, a concept developed by M3 Architects (Caution: Full screen, Flash based site).
Hotel "pods" that can be moved to any spot on the globe is the way to go, contends Nadi Jahangiri, Director of m3architects in London. He and collaborator Ken Hutt foresee the pop-up pods planted anywhere from the Australian rainforest to the Antarctic.
"We propose a temporary, licensed, pre-fabricated, self-sustaining, transportable facility that can be located on sites and locations all over the planet in places where establishing a traditional holiday resort would be unacceptable environmentally and politically," Jahangiri and Hutt reported at the Future Holiday Forum (,an event sponsored late last year by Thomson Holidays].
Here is an artist's rendition of these 'pods (Credit: M3 Architects).
These futuristic pods can remain in place for up to 15 years, or could be dismantled as demand drops for a destination. Constructed on stilts, the holiday pod is designed to leave only a small mark on the local environment.
Different sized rooms within a hotel pod can be upgraded or downgraded according to a tourist’s travel budget. Inside the rooms, ‘active’ walls and floors will show changeable images. Pod guests can use this mode-changing select-switch and pick whatever mood they wish, be it an ocean panorama, desert landscape, or jungle scene.
For more details about future travel trends, read the SPACE.com article.
Sources: Leonard David, SPACE.com, June 23, 2004; and various websites
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