13 years
More travelers will think about turning off technology on the road
I agree with this one. Traveling with gadgets will increase overall, but there will be some travelers who increasingly consider constantly being plugged in to be uncool. There is already some backlash against being plugged in all the time while traveling, at least from some businesses:
http://www.hostelmanagement.com/forums/hostel-trends-2010-your-opinions-predictions.html
I think these predictions from 2010 will continue in 2011. For some specific technology predictions in 2011:
- There will probably be an increase in mobile devices and tablet computers (touchscreen devices like the iPad and Galaxy Tab which function something like giant iPhones). They are lighter and cheaper than laptops.
- Those GPS-enabled devices will cause location-based services (LBS) to really hit the mainstream, including "check-ins", mobile coupons/discounts, and LBS travel guides. (My presentation on LBS from the GoMio conference is here.)
- There will be many sites trying to provide travel recommendations based on users' asking questions to their social networks. Examples: Gogobot and Quora. Existing websites and social networks will try to integrate this "ask your friends" feature.
- "word-of-mouth" reputation will increasingly be amplified by the new types of online social networking...
- Google will continue to try to be a one-stop destination for all of a business' information. E.g., Google's filling up the search results with Google Places and hijacking the reviews of other websites in order to make Google the final destination for researching reviews. See the screenshot below which shows Google filling up the search results with their own hostel review pages. There will be less reason to visit Tripadvisor or Hostelworld if Google has all of the reviews right there on one page. With an interactive map.
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