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Futurologist tells travel companies to embrace computer games
Travolution Summit special report: Travel companies should be teaming up with the computer games industry to send people on virtual holidays according to a BT futurologist.
Speaking at the Travolution Summit Ian Pearson said travel suppliers should be taking advantage of the popularity of computer games.
“Holiday companies are in the best position to capitalise on offering people travel to virtual environments in the comfort of their own homes. There are thousands of people out there playing computer games with hundreds of thousands of dollars changing hands. The travel industry knows how to make things visually appealing.”
Pearson also advised companies not to underestimate the power of converging technology such as mobile phones with internet and e-mail.
“It’s going to be a really good source of future revenue and this year is the first year when you can buy a gadget which does it all.”
He warned however that there would be a backlash against technology in the next couple of years as e-mail and the internet take up more of people’s time.
Pearson said consumers would increasingly see technology as invading their lives and begin to question the environmental repercussions as well.
He said: “We’re starting to see people question whether it is good to fly thousands of miles for a £10 ticket and that will have a profound impact on the travel industry.”
However other speakers at the Summit disagreed there would be an anti-technology backlash.
Hotels.com marketing director Patrik Oqvist said: “If anything the rate of acceptance is going up. People are happy to get to grips with new pieces of technology and it’s getting easier to get to grips with it. These days you don’t need a PhD to use it.”
Report by Linda Fox
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