100 Keyword Predictions for 2024 | Travel (21-30): Underground Cocoon, Westworld and Offline Travel

What trends may emerge in 2024? In this article, the author shares the content of the "2024 Future Trends 100" report released by Wunderman Intelligence. Today, we share 10 trends in "Travel & Vacation".

In 2024, the Dragon's Journey begins!

Every Spring Festival, it is the time for Wunderman’s “2024 Future Trends 100” to be released. The report is structured in 10 sections, supported by 100 forward-looking keywords, and guided by nearly a thousand innovative cases, making it the world’s most valuable annual trend forecast report.

The entire report consists of 10 sections: "Culture", "Technology and Innovation", "Tourism and Vacation", "Brand and Marketing", "Food and Beverages", "Beauty", "Retail and Business", "New Luxury Life", "Health", and "Work", with 100 keywords and 100,000 words.

• In the first article "Culture", I saw 10 key words: emotional value, collective warmth, new climate, new etiquette, pro-social, trend deceleration, ephemeral beauty, Luddite model, natural human rights, and co-living community.
• In the second article "Science and Technology and Innovation (11-20)", we saw 10 key words: new identity, digital space, empathy technology, gesture language, elderly intelligence, digitization of smell, full language technology, super charging destination, human-machine symbiosis, and artificial intelligence workforce.

Today, let’s take a look at the 10 trends in “Travel & Vacation” in 2024.

1. Underground cocoon: seclusion, tranquility and health

The hotel and spa go deep underground in search of tranquility.

• In the summer of 2023, Zedwell opened an underground hotel in London. With the help of sleep experts, these rooms are designed as "underground cocoons" without windows, TVs or any electronic devices, instead with noise-reducing walls and circadian rhythm-based lighting. Zedwell said this was done to "create the ultimate sanctuary" and "help deep rest and recovery."
• In Australia, the Contech Sorrento Hotel opened an underground spa and bathhouse in April 2023, offering salt therapy rooms, cold immersion pools and mineral baths. "There is a deep connection between wellness and hospitality," said Nik Karalis, the project's lead architect; "Hotels, and the inns, monasteries and inns that preceded them, have a long history as places of refuge and healing."
• The Londoner Hotel in the British capital is located eight floors below ground level and calls itself the city's first "underground hotel". The underground space includes a banquet hall, cinema, swimming pool and spa.
• Claridge's in London unveiled its underground wellness centre in 2022. The renowned destination excavated five levels beneath the busy city to accommodate spa guests who want to get away from it all. The 650 square metre space includes a steam room, pool, sauna and seven treatment rooms.
• UK-based studio Seilern Architecture has recently added an underground spa to the Boksto 6 complex in Vilnius, Lithuania. Built within a large brick basement at the UNESCO-protected site, the subterranean spa and pool provide secluded peace and quiet.

In China, Chongqing, after air-raid shelter hotpot and air-raid shelter cultural tourism, has integrated "health" to a high level, so you can consider it!

Innovation Inspiration

The hotel and spa offer guests an all-inclusive escape from the hustle and bustle of life.

2. Transcendental Travel – Deepening Self-Discovery

“Self-transcendence and moments of transcendence” become the new travel requirement.

Black Tomato is launching their latest travel experience, Meet in the Moment, in late 2023: an experience designed to “help you and your travel companions (whether friends, family, or both) taste the world together in a meaningful and memorable way.” Forget the traditional trip of just gathering friends to lie on the beach!

• The Challenge is one of five "Highlights" categories. It includes an expedition to Cap Tierra del Fuego on Argentina's Mitre Peninsula, where "guests will face an extreme physical challenge together in the rugged waves where the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Oceans meet."
• On the Journey, guests can choose to sail aboard a sustainable motor yacht to New Zealand’s Poole-Knight Islands – “in search of some of the best diving in the world”.

Black Tomato co-founder Tom Marchant told VML Intelligence that the idea for these experiences was born out of a post-pandemic “hunger for connection” and a “desire to do something really memorable that you can not only enjoy the moment with others, but that you can look back on and really savor, and perhaps be a catalyst for further action.”

Black Tomato’s Bring it Back service draws on a similar concept, planning customers’ travel routes with answers to bring back questions in mind.

That means heading to Morocco to spark creative thinking, or to Outer Mongolia to discover a new perspective on family relationships. “The idea is to use travel as a tool to reach out to these communities and see how they approach family, career, or love… to give you a different perspective. And then bring that back home and incorporate it into your daily life,” Marchant said.

According to statistics, 26% of Generation Z and Millennials choose their travel destinations for the purpose of "deepening self-discovery", and 32% said they pursue personal growth and development.

Innovation Inspiration

Travelers are eager to engage in truly transformative experiences that will have a lasting impact on their lives.

3. Immersive Theme Park - Live-Action Westworld

The theme park has been updated once again, reimagined and recreated as an all-encompassing new experience.

In the spring of 2024, Japanese entertainment company Katana Inc will open Immersive Fort Tokyo in Odaiba, Tokyo, which the company calls "the world's first immersive theme park." The 30,000-square-meter venue will include 12 immersive attractions, 6 shops and restaurants.

• The company said the immersive Tokyo Fortress will showcase "dramatic events from the worlds of movies, anime and games."
• Katana CEO Tsuyoshi Morioka told The Japan Times that “immersive attractions allow individuals to be more involved, so the experience is completely different.” For example, visitors can “become part of a murder that only they have witnessed, or be in the middle of a gunfight and have to decide what action to take.” These experiences will unfold in a variety of scenarios, including “super-intense large-scale immersive theater,” “terrifying immersive horror experiences,” and sudden “performances that erupt in restaurants.”

The pioneer of this experience is the interactive digital museum led by TeamLab. Their goal is to "explore the relationship between self and world and new forms of perception."

Phantom Peak is another immersive theme park in London that they bill as "script-killing room x immersive theatre x real-life gaming".

• In this Western-style, steampunk-inspired theme park, each visitor takes on the role of "an explorer and detective, solving mysteries, bargaining with locals, and catching platypuses."
• “When you come to Phantom Peak, you’re actually coming to a real-life open-world role-playing game,” co-founder Nick Moran told London’s Wharf Life after Phantom Peak opened in 2022. He noted, “It’s not like immersive theatre where you don’t know what you’re doing – you’re guided through the experience.”

In fact, Disneyland, China's Henan "Only Henan Drama Fantasy City" and Xi'an's "The Longest Day in Chang'an" already have a certain immersive experience, what they lack is openness and more sense of participation.

Innovation Inspiration

In the US, UK and China, 75% of people told us they enjoy being transported to other worlds through stories and narratives. As a result, more and more theme park visitors expect a journey, not just thrills. Whether through virtual reality or through performances and narratives, these expectations are driving the theme park experience to the next level.

4. Picking Adventure - New Knowledge and New Experience

Travelers are heading to the mountains, forests and oceans to forage for their own produce in search of unique culinary and foodie experiences.

After an unusually wet winter in the United States, The New York Times published a beginner's guide for first-time mushroom pickers in February 2023. "The mushroom boom this season coincides with the growing number of people interested in them," the newspaper wrote, adding that it was "great fun and a great reason to plan a trip."

Tourist destinations around the world are capitalizing on the growing interest in picking tourism.

• At Cappella Sydney in Australia, winner of the City Star award in the 2023 National Geographic Traveler Hotel Awards, guests can forage for local foods with the guidance of an Australian Aboriginal guide.
• At the new Glen Dye Wilderness and Bushcraft School in Scotland, visitors can take part in a three-hour guided foraging tour through the deep woods, learning how to identify and prepare edible plants.
• Luxury tour operator Black Tomato offers a variety of foraging excursions, including an afternoon aboard a traditional 40-foot speedboat in Norway's Lofoten Islands, where participants catch, clean and cook cod, and a private truffle-hunting expedition in Italy led by a local forager.
• Airbnb offers more foraging experiences, including a popular seaweed foraging tour in California. This 90-minute ocean foraging experience teaches basic algae science and sustainable harvesting techniques. At the end of the experience, participants can enjoy traditional Japanese ramen made with their freshly picked seaweed.

Emily Fitzroy, owner of Bellini Travel, said she has seen a surge in demand for cooking skills to be learned while on vacation. “Clients want to go home with newfound knowledge,” she told the New York Times.

Innovation Inspiration

Picking tourism is the latest example of a trend in educational adventures where travelers are looking for enriching travel experiences while also hoping to bring back a new kind of "knowledge" as a "souvenir".

5. VVIP Lounge – Secret and Seamless

Upper-class travelers are driving a resurgence in demand for super-exclusive lounges.

• Windsor Passage is part of Heathrow's VIP service, where British royalty, celebrities and world leaders fly in. Prices start from £3,025 for three people. As part of the service, guests are driven by a dedicated driver, can enjoy a menu designed by Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton, served by a personal waiter, and can also have a personal shopper on hand to help.
• US company PS describes itself as a "private luxury terminal serving Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL)" that offers "the convenience, privacy and security of a private flying experience" to commercial flights. Booking a one-time private suite at PS, with no membership required, costs $4,850, while booking the same suite with an annual membership of $4,850 costs $3,550.
• The Qantas Chairman's Lounge is open only to a select group of people. According to Australia's ABC, only "politicians, judges, business magnates or A-list celebrities" know about it.
• Tel Aviv's Fattal Terminal is a private airport experience that offers check-in, passport control and security screening, where guests can enjoy private or VIP lounge accommodations, refreshments and duty-free shopping, and be transported directly to the aircraft by chauffeur. Prices for the service start from $490.

Innovation Inspiration

For today’s ultra-wealthy, the pinnacle of luxury often lies not in being conspicuous but in moving through the world as seamlessly and privately as possible. From exclusive lounges to private terminals, these premium airport experiences meet these travelers’ expectations, offering dedicated, low-key spaces away from the hustle and bustle of commercial airports—for a price, of course.

6. Stratosphere Tours – Hot Air Balloons Take Tourists to the Edge of Space

In the next five years, low-carbon hot air balloon flights will take off, carrying pioneers to the stratosphere and providing perspective-changing views of the Earth.

• Céleste is a luxurious pressurized capsule powered by a giant high-altitude balloon that will offer a low-carbon lift-off into the stratosphere. Designed by renowned architect Joseph Dilland for French space travel startup Zephalto, the sleek, eco-friendly craft offers three luxurious "butterfly capsules" for six travelers. From 2025, travelers will pay €120,000 ($132,000) per person for a custom six-hour journey from Zephalto's French spaceport. Fine dining and specially selected wines will be served during the voyage, and passengers will enjoy a breathtaking view of the Earth's curve, blue halo and stars as they cruise at the edge of space 25 kilometers above Earth. The company says travelers will be able to "admire the Earth's curve, blue halo and stars."
• Florida-based Space Perspective claims to offer the world's only carbon-neutral spacecraft. Its Neptune capsule features an ocean landing. The company is partnering with car brand Mercedes-Maybach to offer a completely luxurious experience, including onboard meals and cocktails. Arizona-based World View offers a choice of launch sites at seven wonders of the world for its hot air balloons, offering stunning views from the start, including the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and the Great Wall of China. Its first year of operations in 2024 at the Grand Canyon Spaceport is already sold out.
• First to take to the skies, however, may be Japanese startup Iwatani Giken, which plans to launch a commercial capsule powered by a helium balloon in March 2024. Prices for the initial four-hour journey are set at 24 million yen ($166,000), but the company hopes to bring that down through its "democratization of space" program.

Innovation Inspiration

A trip to the Stratosphere offers a true pinnacle experience, providing visitors with the chance to make history while experiencing one of the few pristine places that remain accessible today. Travelers will have the opportunity to experience firsthand the famous Overview Effect - the change in perception astronauts feel when they see the beauty and fragility of Earth from a distance.

7. Autistic Travelers

The world is changing for autistic travelers.

With an estimated 15% of the world’s population experiencing some form of mental disorder, organisations from airlines to tour operators to entire cities are working to provide greater accessibility to this diverse population.

• Mesa, Arizona, became the world's first certified autism-friendly city in 2019, a certification awarded by the International Board for Accreditation and Continuing Education Standards and Autism Travel. Autism Travel defines a certified autism center as a facility or organization where at least 80 percent of the staff is highly trained, fully equipped, and certified in the field of autism.
• In addition to Mesa, the BBC reports that Dubai (UAE), Palm Springs, California, and Toledo, Ohio are working on obtaining certification, while two American cities, Visalia, California, and Hept, North Carolina, have already received certification as certified autism-friendly travel destinations.
• Some resorts are especially welcoming to autistic travelers: Trade Winds Beach Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida, was designated one of five "autism-friendly" places by the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD).
• In China, six scenic spots in Sichuan offer free tickets to families with autism children around the world.

Operators are also tailoring travel options for the diverse population of people with mental disorders. US travel company Explorateur Journeys announced the launch of its "Autism Travel" service in 2023, providing "customized travel" for these groups. Such as crowded crowds and queues, unclear time, long hours without rest and over-stimulation locations.

Airlines are also working to focus on the experience of this special group of passengers. In October 2023, Emirates announced a partnership with Dubai International Airport to "improve the travel experience for passengers with mental disabilities." In 2022, Breeze Airways became the first autism-friendly network airline in the United States to be certified by the American organization Autism DoubleChecked. As part of the certification, the low-cost airline implemented a training program for its customer-facing employees to provide "a safe and enjoyable travel experience for people with autism."

Innovation Inspiration

As autism diagnoses increase — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported one in 36 children will have autism in 2023, compared to one in 44 in 2021 — the travel industry is making changes to ensure it can better serve future customers.

8. Three new travel destinations: Holm, Anji and Atacama Desert

1. Bornholm, Denmark

Bornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, with a fairytale landscape of steep cliffs, leafy forests and beautiful beaches. The island has many attractions, including the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Kadeau, which is open on the island in the summer and whose low-key, wood-lined space offers stunning views of the Baltic Sea.

2. Anji, China

Located in eastern China, Anji, China, has been designated China's first eco-county and is described by travel company Scott Dunn as a "magical eco-resort."

The area is also becoming a high-profile destination, with the massive Anji Culture and Arts Center designed by Beijing-based MAD Architects scheduled to open in 2025. The 149,000-square-meter center will include a large theater, conference center, leisure center, sports center, youth activity center, and art education center; Swiss spa brand Clinique La Prairie plans to open a health resort in Anji in partnership with China's Sunjoy Group.

3. Atacama Desert, Chile

As consumers increasingly grapple with climate change, the way they live and travel is changing. This is prompting efforts to educate travelers about the beauty of arid climates. Set in Saudi Arabia’s granite mountains, Desert Rock is scheduled to open in 2024, showcasing the country’s “spectacular desert landscapes.”

Chile's Atacama Desert attracts travelers with its awe-inspiring desert environment and its status as a dark sky destination - the high altitude, low humidity and lack of light pollution provide an ideal environment for stargazing. The area is home to several astronomy projects. In an effort to attract more amateur astronomers to the area, high-end resorts have opened.

Guests can enjoy hiking, biking, climbing, paragliding and stargazing, taking in the cosmic wonders described by Our Habitas as "from salt marshes to Mars-like valleys."

9. Staying in the Exhibition Hall

The showroom sleepover event for fashion lovers has been presented in a new format, giving participants the opportunity to stay overnight in the showroom.

Independent fashion brand House of Sunny, based in Hackney, East London, has partnered with Airbnb to invite two guests to stay overnight in its showroom, giving them the chance to fully immerse themselves in the fantastical and vibrant world of designer Sunny Williams until September 2023.

"House of Sunny's design and philosophy has always been inspired by culture, architecture, interior design and our community's love of travel, home and aesthetics," said Williams, who considers the showroom his home and uses Airbnb to combine fashion with hospitality to provide guests with a more intimate opportunity to become a part of House of Sunny. The overnight experience includes trying on the latest House of Sunny collections in the "dream dress" closet and a tour of the showroom with a host.

Fashion consultant Giorgia Viola set up her own showroom in the five-star Nolinski Venezia Hotel during the Venice Film Festival in 2023. In an interview with Forbes, Viola described the symbiotic relationship between haute couture and high-end hotels: "Creating a luxury hotel experience is the same principle as creating haute couture: always paying attention to every nuance, color layering, fabric choice, and the smallest detail."

DJ Khaled is offering a unique Airbnb experience in December 2022, giving fans the chance to spend the night in a replica of his cozy sneaker closet in Miami. Sneakerheads can sleep in his unique collection of shoes, including the Jordan 3 Grateful and the Jordan 8 Oregon PE.

Of course, you can also experience a whole new kind of exploration in museums, zoos, or the Great Wall.

Innovation Inspiration

The perfect blend of style and hospitality provides guests with a unique and stylish showroom stay experience.

10. Digital Offline Travel - Pure Nature

People are ditching smart technology while on vacation, looking for a distraction-free travel experience.

The Finnish island of Ulko-Tammio claims to be the first phone-free tourist destination in summer 2023. Ulko-Tammio, located in the Eastern Gulf of Finland National Park, has launched a campaign to encourage visitors to go on a digital fast to better interact with nature.

Travel agency Skyscanner released its 2024 Travel Trends report in October 2023, finding that Generation Z is tired of constantly posting content on social media, and instead chooses older technology to record their travels. The report shows that 16% of young people aged 18 to 24 in the UK will take a Polaroid camera on vacation, while 13% will take a video camera and 11% will take a 35mm film camera. This is consistent with the generation's choice of "Luddite" mode when traveling (see above).

In the UK, Unplugged has launched Unplugged Weekend, which encourages visitors to rejuvenate in nature. These WiFi-free zones are located just an hour away from major cities such as London and Manchester, and guests are asked to lock up their technology and go on a three-day digital disconnection upon arrival. There is scientific evidence for the 72-hour digital disconnection - studies have shown that immersing oneself in nature for three consecutive days or more can reduce stress levels and improve cognitive function.

In China, Japan and South Korea, vegetarian/spiritual healing theme tours, meditation experiences, and summer camp experiences in temples have also become a new way to travel.

Innovation Inspiration

A survey by VML Intelligence asked people around the world about their personal reasons for traveling, and found that the top answer was pure enjoyment, followed closely by being close to nature. This has prompted a return to a purer style of travel that allows travelers to fully interact with their surroundings.

Author: Brand Yuan, WeChat public account: Brand Yuan (ID: brand-yuan)