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https://www.wittenborg.eu/imagining-future-hospitality-2030.htm

What will the hospitality industry look like in 2030? This was the question HBA Hospitality Management students at Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences had to explore, then present their findings by way of a poster presentation. Hospitality Business Administration (HBA) is a double-degree programme offered jointly with the University of Brighton in the UK. 

The poster presentation is considered an alternative way of presenting research in lieu of the traditional oral or paper presentation - a snapshot if you will - which in this case was favoured by Brighton.

Students, divided in two groups, were tasked with developing an innovative concept which they imagine will be pertinent and relevant by 2030 and give them the edge over competitors.  One group proposed that by using augmented reality guests will in the future be able to experience hotel rooms and tourist attractions before booking them by way of special glasses. "With the virtual reality feature of the glasses, a guest will not just be able to do a booking, but actually see the hotel room in advance. Guests will know exactly what they are getting, leading to greater satisfaction. With visiting tourist attractions, the glasses will enable another layer of information, such as reviews, crowd level or by suggesting landmarks wherever the tourist is and providing historical context."

A Walk Among the Stars

The other group looked to the stars for inspiration and predicted that by 2030 the hospitality sector would have developed at such a pace that the space hotel would be a reality. "Space tourism is an exciting concept which many people dream about. The idea behind it is to allow regular, non-professional people to take a trip into the cosmos.

"The tourism industry is a hundred-billion dollar industry on earth alone. With that comes the possibility of turning space travel, which was previously only costing the government money, into another billion-dollar business."

Wittenborg lecturer and tutor, Radostina Zasheva, explains: "Two groups of students were expected to develop a concept or a product relating to a trend or issue of significance to the hospitality sector and promote it.

"They had to explain why it is important and the likely impacts of this concept on the contemporary and future hospitality industry. They then had to plan, build and operate an exhibition stand that displays and presents the concept and the key ideas underpinning it."

WUP 15/1/2020
by Anesca Smith
© WUAS Press